Michigan's Hot Cool Cities Initiative Underway

The Cool Cities program, the state of Michigan’s economic development initiative to combat brain drain across the state, has been progressing slowly since the Governor first proposed the program in 2003. "Between 1995 and 2000, Michigan lost an estimated 43,000 young college graduates, who left the state for everything from jobs to warmer year-round weather." The Cool Cities program awards grants for the development of loft housing, parks, art centers and other "cool" urban amenities that may appeal to twenty-somethings. The criticism and the slow progress of some of the projects are not deterring city and state officials, who continue to support the program and point to the millions of dollars in investments and the hundreds of jobs that have been created and retained as a result of the program to date.