Over the past year we haven’t heard much good news about the state of Michigan. For the most part the state is facing extremely tough times, and the news we hear reflects that. Michigan has the nation’s highest unemployment rate, foreclosures continue, the auto industry is struggling, and many residents have lost confidence in our state government. But how do we get past all the bad news and create a future?

To start a new year, Michigan Radio will take a look at how we can make things better in our state. We’re launching a series of interviews called “Three Things.” Michigan Radio’s Morning Edition host Christina Shockley will be asking artists, politicians, business owners, teachers, and people from all walks of life to give us their three ideas for things each of us can do to revive our state.

The series kicks off on January 4 with an interview with Governor Granholm. That first week we’ll also hear from Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, actor and musician Jeff Daniels, Rich Studley from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, and ArtPrize founder Rick DeVos. Then each Monday in the coming months we’ll present more ideas for improving the state from other well known Michigan citizens — but also from you. We’ll be asking for your ideas at michiganradio.org/threethings and inviting people who submit interesting ideas to talk to Christina about their “Three Things.”

Learn more about this series and share your suggestions at threethings.michiganradio.org.

“Then I made a joke after that, on that same Facebook thread. I said, ‘Sometimes I wish there were a support group for people who decide to stay in Michigan.’ I was joking, that implies that it’s traumatic or something, and I don’t think it is. And then somebody else was like, ‘I would join that group.’ And then, so George and I started chatting online and he was like, ‘You should make that group, make a Facebook group.’ So I was like, ‘Alright.’ So I made the group and George is an admin…”

Buist wants Michigan by Choice to be a place to exchange ideas and promote a positive attitude. He likes to call it the “Mich-i-can-do attitude.”

“And I know that that’s glib, and I know that it’s overly simplistic. And I know the other organizations that are like, ‘Yeah, Grand Rapids is awesome!’ I know that it’s one sided, and it’s just kind of one-dimensional. But in the context of a larger dialogue, that kind of thing plays a really significant role. I mean it’s like a pep rally or something. Nobody walks into a pep rally and says, ‘Hey guys, stop playing. Stop playing that music. You understand that we might lose? We’re going to play this game and we could lose!’ Everybody knows we could lose. Everybody knows it’s hard…but there’s still a value in having certain streams of information or certain places of connection where just the positive — like, ‘Yeah, we can do it. You can do whatever you want.’ Where that –- even if it’s not entirely true -– where that is the prevailing notion.”

He says this positive attitude is contagious, and young people are more likely to invest in the community if they have hope.

You can check out the Michigan by Choice group on Facebook.

(Click to enlarge)

A few weeks ago, Paul Kedrosky posted a graph on his website depicting the number of unemployed per job listing in the 50 most populated metro areas in the U.S. As of October 2009, metro Detroit had 13 unemployed people for every one job listing — the worst ratio on the list.

The graph (featuring data from Indeed.com, which was in turn from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics) shows that Washington D.C. and Baltimore both have one unemployed person per job posting.

Lauren Silverman reported in a recent blog post that about half of Michigan college students move out of state after graduation, and that some of the most common destinations include Illinois, California, and New York. It’s interesting then to see that some metro areas in those states are low on the list: Chicago is #32 (with a 4:1 ratio of unemployed people to job openings), San Diego is #36 (5:1), and Los Angeles is #47 (6:1).

The data on Indeed.com must have changed slightly since Kedrosky’s post. For example, Los Angeles is listed at #40 on his chart.

(Note: Metro areas were also ranked based on whether the ratio had recently gone up or down.)

Grand Valley State University Downtown Campus

Last weekend, I took a road trip to Grand Rapids. I had never  been there before, and was actually very impressed by the city. Over the years I had heard that Grand Rapids was one of the other “cool cities” in Michigan (this is coming mostly  from U of M students who grew up there).

More importantly, everyone told me that Grand Rapids had much less of a brain drain problem.

So I went to investigate. And it turns out, they are right. (Soon you will be able to hear the news piece I produced on Grand Rapids and really get a feel for what’s going on there).

Just a few days ago, the President of Grand Valley reported that 96 percent of Grand Valley’s alumni are employed or in graduate school; and of those working, 94 percent are pursuing their careers IN MICHIGAN.

Grand Valley State University also reported that it has increased the number of students graduating more than any other Michigan public campus.

That is pretty impressive, considering Grand Valley receives less funding per student than any other state university. This year, Grand Valley received $3,026 per student as compared to the state average of $5,719.

Downtown Flint (Photo by Sarah Razak)

Mlive.com reported last Sunday that Flint, Bay County and Saginaw County have all started young professionals networking groups to fight brain-drain.

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, young people in Jackson also have also been getting together to make connections and help each other out finding jobs. Now city officials are catching on. Unlike Jacktown Connect, groups such as the Flint Young Professionals, Saginaw Valley Young Professionals Network, and Energize (of Bay County), charge a membership fee — ranging from $10 annually in Bay County to $60 in Flint. The groups are working to provide members with benefits and discounts to local restaurants and stores.

In addition to traditional networking, some of the groups are also trying to engage young people in the community. Energize hopes to get young people interested in serving on boards and doing other community work. Focusing on community activism opportunities as well as employment opportunities is really important, given that most young people want something more than just a good job.

(image from epicself.com)

Tracking job opportunities in Michigan over the last few months has been like watching a tennis match between two kids. The ball’s been all over the place, and there hasn’t been one rally — but everyone still wants to be optimistic.

Back in September the Detroit News gave those looking for jobs some good news. Under the headline “Michigan Gets Jobs Boost,” they reported that companies representing the automotive and technology industry in Michigan would soon put 2,000 or more Michiganders to work.

The two companies responsible for most of the prospective jobs are General Motors’ Hummer division and an information tech services firm from California called Systems in Motion. Both companies chose to relocate in Michigan because the state offered them millions in tax breaks.

Jobs in the film industry have been booming (months ago, 3,000 direct jobs had already been created). And Governor Granholm just announced last week that that the Michigan Economic Development Corporation is working on 12 projects that “are expected to create 2,245 new jobs (883 direct and 1,368 indirect), retain 11,254 jobs, and generate over $791 million in new investment in the state.”

But there was also some bleaker news last week. University of Michigan economomists forcast no employment growth until 2011. Yeah, that’s ZERO, NILL, NADA job growth for more than a year.

It’s not surprising then, that Generation Y seems to be a bit confused. Some young people tell me it isn’t actually that hard to find jobs in Michigan. Others say they have no faith in the Michigan job market and are planning their escape as soon as they graduate.

We can at least be certain that next year will be better than 2009, simply because 2009 was so bad. George Fulton, who wrote the survey that predicts no job growth until 2011, said 2009 “was one of the worst years in modern history, and it could have been the worst in terms of the number of jobs.”

Jacktown Connect's November Meeting (Photo courtesy of David Buchanan)

Every third Tuesday, young professionals from the Jackson area get together to network and talk about local job opportunities. David Buchanan, who’s a member of the group they call Jacktown Connect, told me that it has been hard for young people in Jackson looking to start careers.

“We are finding that it is not only a good idea to support young professionals but it is vital to the city’s renewal and economic future,” Buchanan said.

You can check out some more photos from Jacktown Connect’s most recent event on Flickr.

Every day I am getting more e-mails about young people working to find and create jobs here in Michigan. In my next story, which airs on Friday, you’ll hear about a group of students from across Michigan working on policies to revitalize Detroit and make it a city they want to be in after graduation.

Apparently, five advertising agencies with offices in Detroit are developing campaigns targeted at Generation Y to “Sell Detroit.” The ads will appear in the December 7th issue of Fortune Magazine and on three Web sites: cnnmoney.com, fortune.com and time.com.

The goal is to change people’s perception of Detroit and attract young people to the city. “Selling Detroit” is part of a larger year long initiative, called Assignment Detroit, that is sponsored by the Time Inc. unit of Time Warner.

As I said in the second story of the Generation Y Michigan series, “Why They Leave,” perception is a major part of the problem. Time Warner’s ad contest, which the New York Times reported is worth $400,000, could help get the word out that Detroit isn’t as bad as people think.

But the problem isn’t just perception. Telling young people to come to the city with the highest unemployment rate in the nation, and a completely decrepit infrastructure, could generate some new problems.

To learn more, and to vote on the ads, go here.

If graduates do leave Michigan after college, they're most likely to choose these destinations (Chart by Lauren Silverman. Source: Michigan Future Inc)

Around half of all Michigan college students now leave the state after graduating, according to a Detroit News report from April. Where did the 14,000 Michigan graduates who packed their bags and left the state in 2008 all go?

Matthew Neagel is a researcher at a local think tank in Ann Arbor called Michigan Future. He says most graduates headed to a handful of major urban centers.

“About 35% of graduates are going to what I would call the big three, which is Chicago, the west coast and New York.”

Neagle says these cities offer generation Y exactly what they want – a lively and affordable place to live that’s easy to get around without a car and near a major urban area.

Research backs him up. A list of the best places for college-educated 20- to 29-year-olds put together by Richard Florida put big cities such as San Francisco, Washington, Boston, Los Angeles and New York on top.

Of all the hot cities, Chicago seems to be the most attractive to Michigan graduates. There are more Michigan State University graduates there than any other city in the U.S.

For more information, check out Michigan Future Inc.’s website and the report titled ‘Young Talent in Great Lakes: How Michigan Is Faring?‘

(Click to download PDF)

• What will it take to avoid a “brain drain” of students leaving the Midwest after pursuing higher education?
• How can cities and urban centers cope with chronic unemployment?
• What jobs can replace the thousands lost with the decline of industrial centers?
• How can we make the Midwest a place our generation wants and is able to live in?

Representative Ed Clemente (MI-14), and Rob Johnson, Director of the Economic Policy Initiative for the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute are the keynote speakers at the event.

The Policy Workshop will also feature 14 non-profit, policy-making, and political organizations working to transform the Midwest, including:

• Michigan Cool Cities
• Progress Michigan
• Great Lakes Urban Exchange
• TechTown
• Soul of the Community

If you are interested in going (I am going to try and be there Saturday) or want more information, go here: http://www.rooseveltcampusnetwork.org/event/fall-policy-workshop-detroit.