University Center for Regional Economic Innovation

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REI Update for June, 2014

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Announcements

2014 Innovate Michigan! Summit

Registration for REI's annual Innovate Michigan! Summit will be available on our website later this month. Save the date for Thursday, September 4th, and register early!

Project Updates

Several of REI's student-led faculty-guided projects can now be seen online. Michigan State University's Practicum program produced the innovative projects seen below:

• Art Incubators and Makerspaces: An Application in Benton Harbor, Southwest Michigan Planning Commission
• Accelerating Capital: Growing the Greater Lansing Region through Rare Isotope Beams, Lansing Economic Area Partnership and the MSU Center for Community and Economic Development
• Garden Project, Greater Lansing Food Bank
• Visioning the South Cedar Corridor, City of Lansing Planning Department
• Fenkell Commercial Corridor Study, Brightmoor Alliance

Make sure to check out this brief compilation video of these projects!

Co-learning plans are heading into the final stretch! Authors have finished their second drafts and are completing the final drafts now. Brief summaries are available on the Current Projects page.

Upcoming Webinars

• Wednesday, July 2 at 2:00pm
  Expanding Economic Literacy by using the Money Smart for Small Business (Amanda Blondeau, Northern Initiatives)
• Wednesday, July 9 at 2:00pm
  Engaging Michigan Community Alumni Networks as Catalysts for Development (Elizabeth Garlow and Dayne Walling, Michigan Corps)
• Thursday, July 10 at 2:00pm
  Youth Entrepreneurship - A Call to Action (Cheryl Peters, Generation E Institute)
• Wednesday, July 16 at 2:00pm
  Promotion of Cooperative Enterprises in Distressed Urban and Rural Communities (Dr. Edward Lorenz, Public Affairs Institute of Alma College)
• Wednesday, July 23 at 10:00am
  Improving Licensing for New Food Businesses to Promote a Stronger Detroit Food Economy (Jessica Daniel, FoodLab Detroit)
• Thursday, July 31 at 2:00pm
  Improving TIF Transparency and Accountability: A Consolidated TIF Database for Michigan (Dr. David Bieri, University of Michigan)

Also, check out this compilation video from last year's webinars.

Now Soliciting for Fall Semester Student Projects

The REI University Center is currently soliciting student-led faculty-guided projects for the fall semester of 2014 from our Higher Education network. These projects leverage Michigan's higher education resources to help distressed cities and regions while also educating students about techniques and ideas in the field of economic development. To learn more or to apply for funding, visit the Submit an Application page.

REI News

GLEQ Business Plan Competition Awards

The REI University Center is excited to attend MiQuest's Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest (GLEQ) Business Plan Competition Awards on Tuesday, June 17 in Ypsilanti. The GLEQ Business Plan Competition is run by MiQuest, a statewide organization with the goal of "Promoting a Culture of Entrepreneurship." Hope to see you there!

Kassandra Ray-Smith Retiring

We would like to give our warmest thanks to our secretary Kassandra Ray-Smith for her many years of service to the Center for Community and Economic Development and Michigan State University as she moves onto another chapter in her life.

REI Network

We would like to welcome the newest additions to the REI Network:

• Jennifer Carroll
• Sarah Craft
• Juliana Daukss
• Jeff Hall
• Matt Kane
• Hope Lovell
• Emily Proctor
• Kate Redman
• Jean Pierre Ngenzi Semuzana
• Andy Schor

Social Media and Listserv

Thank you to our REI members who have helped us reach nearly 1,100 followers on our Twitter feed, over 360 members on our LinkedIn group, and over 700 on this ListServ.