Michigan governor proposes two important ED initiatives Thursday, February 06, 2003 Michigan's new governor, Jennifer Granholm, proposed two interesting economic development initatives in her first State of the State address. The first is the Technology Tri-Corridor. The Corridor will focus new technology business recruitment and development in three critical areas: the life sciences, the automotive industry and the emerging homeland security sector. In an interesting twist, the governor is using the state's leverage to steer investment into the Corridor. About 240 private investment funds do business with the state government. The State Treasurer is now telling those fund managers that they'll get more of Michigan's business if they make sound investments in the Technology Tri-Corridor. More important, Governor Granholm is making a tight connection between early childhood education and economic development. In an global economy that runs on brainpower, this connection makes sense. Project Great Start will focus on two critical interventions: parent education and reading to pre-school children. It represents a broad call to increase learning in the critical years from birth to age five, because, as the governor notes, "Education must begin at birth." Governor Granholm gets it: "Scientific research on the brain is clear: By the time a child arrives for kindergarten, 85 percent of the brain is developed. If the brain is purposefully stimulated and nurtured before a child is old enough to tie his or her shoes, that child's lifelong capacity to learn will be forever enhanced. And, unfortunately, if it is not, an opportunity is lost forever. The challenge to completely shift our thinking to seize this incredible opportunity is immense." States in the South, prodded by the 1998 Commission on the Future of the South, have been focusing on this issue for a few years now. As the Commission noted in it's report, "Workforce development starts with a pregnant mother." (Disclosure: I worked on this report for the Commission.) posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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