>> one.

that's right is on mackinac island for the detroit regional chamber's twenty twenty-three policy conference.

this year's theme is the power.

and just ahead, we're going to bring you some of the important conversations from the island on how to move michigan forward through partnerships, a special hour-long won.

that race starts right now.

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[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] >> we still have problems and we have one.

it is a ticking bomb.

it really does read everything else that we're doing.

and that's a property theft.

>> the greatest lessons that i learned was from working for the people who are the least successful because i learned what not to do missions always going to have for his longtime wife.

so, you know, i love the state.

i i mean this right?

can't imagine not investing in michigan.

>> our job is to make sure that the world knows what michigan has to offer.

our goal is to grow michigan and to succeed.

we've got to do it together.

>> policymakers, business and community leaders and academics have come together for the detroit regional chamber's mackinac policy count.

welcome to this special edition of one detroit, stephen henderson, one detroit contributor and the host of american black journal.

we are coming to you from the grand hotel on mackinaw island.

it is our thirteenth year bringing you coverage of this event from the conference sessions to the individual conversations right here, the one detroit.

that's coming up over the next hour.

we're going to share some of the highlights from this year's event.

we're going to hear from detroit mayor mike duggan on the city's progress and goals.

plus, governor gretchen whitmer talks about growing the state's population and then the state of the automotive industry from ford motor company, executive chairman bill ford.

also an update on the detroit public schools, community district superintendent nikolai vitti, plus diversity and equity in the workplace and the future of work and mission.

we have all kinds of great issues coming up.

joining me now, one detroit contributor, nolan finley, who is editorial page editor at the detroit news.

also, this is a clark, michigan radio's political director and one that rates newest contributor.

and so we welcome to the best a man can the newbies.

thanks for having me.

yes, no, it's great to have you with us.

the power of and that's the theme this week.

>> thank you.

cleared nfc.

i thought it was a powerful ampersand.

haha trying to get the same thing.

right?

the understand is that.

>> powerful symbol of some of what you see this week with the theme and the ideas of the bush era at the com let you know.

i think it's a.

>> it's a good theme to address something we are.

and it's at a point of great division in our communities in our state.

and, you know, it's like the very similar to what we've been trying to do with our civility project is get people to talk past their differences.

and nobody's expecting everybody to have a big cut down on the porch and set aside all their disagreements.

but if you can learn to talk through, at least be willing to talk to each other and, you know, this is a place all about the conversation and there's not a whole lot of conversation going on today in a productive wide.

so you may be this.

>> pushes toward that.

yeah.

has you been watching the conference really closely but also talking with some of the people or giving speeches dancing?

>> i think the theme is resonating with folks.

and i think because there is a deep yearning to see some compromise.

i sort of look through it in a a political lens.

you know, we say this over and over again.

i know with your civility project, you talk about it, that it's the left and the right and there's no compromise.

and, you know, we're so divided as a nation and it feels that way.

but when you individually talk to folks out about you guys, but i talk to people like we love the fight.

yeah, we're enjoying being more divided than ever.

we're enjoying yelling at each other.

i love going on facebook and twitter and just people don't want that.

and so i think it's this idea of like what can the leaders of institutions, foundations, whether the lawmakers or whomever duda model that kind of behavior that i think most michiganders, why?

yeah, yeah.

>> so you know, and mayor mike duggan and detroit has made this an annual centerstage first time.

he's for some of his biggest ideas this year.

he's really focused on taxes, tax rates.

what drivers pay?

you've been doing some reporting?

>> yeah, i think this is one of the bigger ideas he's brought to the island.

this idea of a land value tax where if you've got land in productive use, these are at with a home on it are in active business.

you get a lower tax rates significantly lower tax rate.

twenty-five to thirty percent lower.

then if you've let your land sit fallow, you're speculating you've got a blighted structure on it.

in that case, your taxes will go up dramatically.

i think it's a good way to provide what detroit ers have long needed, particularly, you know, the homeowners.

they need a tax relief.

taxes are too that high in the city.

the millage rates too.

high springs have millage rate down from i think somewhere around eighty-six to sixty or seventy seven.

yeah, i mean, it's a big cut and maybe it will encourage people to take their land out of speculation and actually put it into productive use.

and, you know, there's so much vacant lot and it hits its promise to hit some pretty important people in detroit.

yeah.

>> we do consider him sitting on land has landed a man who's not doing very much for the week.

>> room for people.

yeah, great lakes.

so it's not just, you know, the issue of vacant land.

but you were talking so much this week about population growth rate and and getting cities back up to where we want them to detroit and, you know, getting folks to move into the city will let's make sure there are some space for all these folks that we want to come and stay.

yeah, yeah.

>> the population argument and discussion is really interesting.

that's not just about the city of detroit.

it's also about the state of michigan.

i heard something this morning about michigan ranking forty-nine in population behind the west virginia.

believe the more i mean what we do to get ourselves up off the mat.

yeah.

>> but those are the people that we talked to were not going to do it.

haha, i mean, it's all about i like to sit on of the new president of the university of michigan's to michigan's sticky.

yeah, which i thought was an interesting.

where do you like we need to get people were coming for hire, ed, you know to stay here, right?

and the next workforce development.

i yeah, i was talking to someone earlier who has been in michigan about, you know, the same like this.

i born and raised almost four decades.

he said, you know, ever since i was a little kid, someone asked me the population of michigan and we just continue to say ten million.

yeah, it's not that it will not.

>> we've got to provide opportunity.

i mean, when you think about who's leaving, it is the young people graduating below something like two-thirds are college graduates graduates here that's not sustainable.

you have to provide them opportunity, job opportunities.

you have to provide them favorable environment to live in healthy cities, healthy communities, you know, and they've got to see a future for the state.

>> we've not done a very good job of painting of painted a picture of where we're going and where we want to be as i was go back to rick snyder during his very first campaign for governor.

and he said that that he wanted to do it in two phases.

one was that you had to do a lot of cutting and belt tightening because we were off upside down financially.

yeah.

but then he talked about and investment agenda that was going to come after that.

we never really got there.

the flint water crisis, the rail, the lot of his administration and some of his ideas.

but but but we still haven't turned to the things that would that would keep people here that would make this a place of opportunity.

>> the bout population didn't grow during his tenure that and since he's left, it's gone down and i think policies do a before he left.

but it's going to he ended his term with more people in michigan.

anything can and the current governors not likely to unless things change.

i think you've got a look at at policies and you've got to make this attractive place for people want to calm and start a business, grow a business.

it's not there yet.

got a look at our education system.

yes, schools are horrible.

yeah.

and so young families are going to leave or not calm.

>> but does the democratic majority's only make this in the easier?

>> and easier sell and was going to be a it's a fascinating question.

it's going to be fascinating to watch me.

the first six months of seeing democrats in charge for the first time in forty years, the rate we're seeing a lot of change and really quick.

i think it will be interesting to see what sort of policy oriented decisions around population.

we're going hear from the governor.

she's going to talk about what she'd like to see in terms of population growth will see if a democratic legislature gets behind that.

>> all right.

so let's start with detroit mayor mike duggan's keynote address each year.

mayor hughes is the policy conference is a way to bates civic and business leaders and the rest of the state on detroit's progress, investment and bolts.

>> when we talk about like the beauty beauty is spreading across the city so the tracks are coverage, dot, right?

i can sit outside in the speech.

well, we still have a couple problems and we have one that is a ticking bomb that really does threaten everything else that we're doing.

and that's a property taxes.

everybody who owns the house is a business in detroit.

you know what i'm talking about for more than fifty years, the property tax system has to defining characteristics.

whites were ordered building as punch lights rewarded.

building is part of going for fifty years and it's how we got lots of light, not many buildings.

so you want to know how far out of whack of mileage is troy livonia there in the fifties.

as far as the mills they love farmington ann arbor in the sixties ferndale warrant and the seventies in detroit stands along at eighty-six meals.

it is far more expensive to build a house and cell under detroit or to do any kind of business in detroit.

and here's the worst part.

we tax buildings, but there's a secret we don't exploit.

we have an exemption built into the law.

and so you look at the hudson's motor plant was known as cadillac stamping was in private hands since nineteen eighty-six to set up a kit.

either they pay taxes and keep it bake it for all those years.

are michigan central vacant for thirty years.

continental motors make it for twenty-five years and the owners pay the taxes and the packard plant that closed for sixty years.

you don't own and pay the taxes for fifty-five years.

and the reason is we don't tax white.

we only tax bill.

so we're talking about changing the tax structure has been in place for fifty years.

and that means it's going to be winners and losers.

and so my first point is that what we do, we're going to give people time to adjust even those who are taking advantage of the system.

and so what we're proposing is that whether you're getting a caught, whether you're getting an increase, we want to phase in over three years you get a third of the cost to benefit the forty-five thirty to twenty-six thirty to twenty-seven about ryan.

the mets.

anybody up by flipping a switch overnight because people have made decisions over a lot of years under the old system.

but here's my plan is really simple.

cut taxes and buildings.

thirty percent triple attacks in the morning.

cut the taxes on the billing thirty percent.

triple attacks on the way.

how do we do it?

we take out detroit's twenty mills.

we take out the state's six bills.

take that is zero.

we replace them with two hundred forty-six mill levy, a milan, but nothing the buildings.

it has the effect over thirty percent property tax cut on the bill gertz before we lose in the buildings.

we triple the texan.

lance sounds horrible, right?

how you triple attacks on my way.

you know what happens when we put this into place?

the guy who spent thirty bucks a year is paid eighty-five bucks a year.

i'm still spent a hundred bucks to cut his damn lot.

it sounds like a walk, but it really to me is a reasonable number.

we can give these homeowners five hundred to thousand dollars a year in state.

think about that.

and wealth building city detroit, what that adds up because most people generational wealth is in their homes and we can triple the tax and the people cause of the blaze and we can build a system of good investors succeed without celebrating attached to it.

that's my goal.

and if we do it right, this land value task can spread beauty in every corner of the city.

so we asking for your help as we hit our lansing legislators so that ten years from now, the mayor standing here was showing you nothing but development from one end of the city to the other.

>> investments in detroit and other cities are essential to drive in michigan's revival and making it competitive with other states in order to stand out.

michigan's got to build on its strengths, tracking residents, brother, talent base, and create inclusive communities.

>> well, i'm old enough to remember when cities were taken for debt.

you know, i grew up in newark, new jersey.

i saw that city decline and decay going to the of this.

and then over the past really twenty years, cities have come back in a powerful way and my works bit about what are the economic factors that make cities attractive?

how do they attract talent?

what is it about them in the kind of talent that tracked?

and now most recently with the rise of remote work, it's kind of a third phase.

it is remote work and lead to the end of cities ir.

you know, how is it can affect cities and what's going to happen to downtown?

so i just feel fortunate to be able to do this work.

>> what's the pitch for strong cities?

if someone you know, it's a rural area is going out to sea life.

the top of the what's the economic?

>> it was one of these ripping.

i'm talking about a lot here in the four here.

is that one of the things that's really interesting about america.

yeah.

but even more interesting about michigan, ok, is that you have a portfolio of places.

there are some people, young people and feed asked are some of the families that love gritty urban environments?

yes, there are other people like a walkable suburbs.

still other people like we're looking right out of the lake like to be at the lakefront community.

i think one of the interesting things about michigan is it has something for everybody.

and, you know, we know americans breakdown there, urbanites and suburbanites, the room lights and went out.

but the other thing that i find fascinating is sometimes people chase, sometimes you're entered the night when you're young and maybe want to go to a suburb.

when you get older, an eighty-one year-old, you come up with their suburban, go back to herman area.

so i think what it's not just about making cities great, it's about making all of our places is the best they can base.

>> how does that speak?

you're at?

i think one of the fascinating parts of richard's report to be released today.

it's the importance of places that are authentic, historic and have a trajectory of opportunity.

and i think one of the things that all of the cities of michigan have in different ways is those components.

detroit has this norm us possibility of becoming us and international center's mobility.

traverse city has a enormous set of opportunities around nature and environment, tense small downtowns and are brewing kraft.

yeah, indeed, do that too much of the but ann arbor has the possibility of really stretching what it means to be a great urban university serving city, you know, on and on and on.

and i think one of the things that we at kris kiev tried so hard to establishes that the building blocks from place to place to place aren't terribly different.

they're good education.

there are good opportunities to experience the environment.

there are places where diversity and inclusion become paramount, you know, on and on and on.

and i think what the report suggests is that those things are in place ready to go and we're ready to take advantage of.

well, let's talk about the report and i want to read the first line.

>> at the executive summary, which is michigan is at a historic inflection point.

i mean, this is what we're talking about at this conference is sort of feels like we have this opportunity to decide which direction we're going to go in.

>> oh, it's so interesting.

you know, my dad worked in a factory in newark, new jersey.

i know a lot about manufacturers working class kid.

yes.

and for years manufacturing was the country was de industrial industrializing.

and you know, although i think cars are interesting and fascinating for a lot of people, this thing, your computer and iphone, these new technologies are fascinating.

but what's happening in michigan is the car is changing.

it's no longer my dad's car.

my car.

it's a car.

powered by a battery.

doesn't have internal combustion engine.

it is connected.

it's smart.

it's an app that you download it right on the smart road.

but the interesting thing is that michigan is probably the most well positioned place of any place in the world.

it can do a first know the region that i know of that history.

if they lost the textile industry, they had to go to a new edition if they want to steal it, pittsburgh where that they had to go to robots, michigan could actually do a first as the car changes become the leader in that.

and what the report talks about is what it needs to do.

and what's interesting, obviously, it needs to develop the technology.

do you do any electrical shunned in the digitalization and all of that?

it needs to make sure it has the talent.

you know, the kids coming out of the great universities, an electrical engineer and computer engineering, chemical engineering for batteries.

but what was so fascinating what happened twenty or thirty years ago to do that, it needs great place.

that's what's sort of interesting.

it's not just about the technology that out.

those are critical to do that.

you need to have great places that people want to be.

and that's what the report talks about, how michigan could put that all together and avoid it.

>> business and community leaders here on the island are engaged in conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion and how that strengthens companies and organizations.

i had the opportunity to moderate a conference session on the connection between business and equity objectives.

>> when you think about diversity and inclusion in context of the communities which we serve, i believe they go hand in hand.

you know, one of the things that we talk about it, the bank is the power and it's about driving profits and purpose.

the purpose, as you heard from my co yesterday is all about the work that we do to drive responsible growth.

that's in a sustainable way.

that includes all the work that we do.

i'm not only for our employees but in the community.

i will tell you that it is absolutely driven from the top.

and so we do think we as a corporation have a role in creating economic opportunity and integration issues around racial equity in the community we serve but also for our own people.

and that's a lot of heart about my job.

when i think specifically about what that means and means it's embedded in business, review's meaning diversity, equity, inclusion.

it's in town of uses in performance management and we hope leaders accountable five accountable to our board.

it also means that we believe in both representation and inclusion and also the outcomes that we drive in our community.

our organization is fifty percent women.

we are fifty percent people of color.

we look like the world we live in and where and we want to look like the road we live in every level.

>> economic opportunity and greater economic equity is, you know, the last bastion of the civil rights movement.

i was, you know, raised with that ideal.

the company is based on those ideals.

and we're really proud of the fact that we provide a lot of, you know, solid middle-class jobs with great benefits and tuition reimbursement and all these other things for our employees.

i'm especially proud of the fact is we talk about, you know, providing equity in pathway up that more than forty percent of my management team is comprised of former hourly team members and we're completely unionized and our michigan facilities.

and so, you know, these things are possible.

we talk about the power and, you know, you can the union and deliver great results.

you can be union and have great labor-management relations.

you can perform at the highest levels.

i'm in a very technical space within the industry, even though it hasn't been done in some of these areas where people haven't access and shop for.

i think that it's appropriate for me to maybe just call out the chamber for having me on this panel.

this being a gala presentation on black voices and in particular black voices in detroit when it comes to voices.

mine is not black.

i'm here.

one of my kids telling me, thank you, captain obvious it.

but i am.

i think it's really important.

and if there's anything that speaks to the power of an.

>> i believe deeply that people who look like me and have position like me need to not only be part of this conversation, but to be held accountable for the out.

and i i implore those of you who are not invested in this conversation to become invested in this conversation because it's not only important for detroit, it's important for the region.

it's important for the country.

so we all have a stake and i'm getting back to that question about how business and this important issue.

intersects kelly is a big company.

we have thousands of employees.

we operate in almost every state in the in the in the country.

we work with prof for-profit companies, not for profit companies, governments for the largest provider of substitute teachers in the us.

so we have broad exposure.

i can tell you on the weather that the best-performing companies that we deal with more than ten thousand are those that have embraced the idea that opening up opportunity for more people is good this.

>> one detroit's ongoing future of work initiative follows the changing trends in the workplace and the work force one.

detroit contributor zoey clarke spoke with some of the state's leading innovators about the revolution of michigan in the streets.

>> do we have the proper workforce in michigan right now for these jobs of the future that we've been talking about this week?

we have the right people.

okay.

don't have the right workforce.

there's so much training available so much that needs to be done.

but these are jobs.

the jobs of today, our jobs of the future.

so people have not been trying to maintain ev charging stations installed ev charging stations.

they're not enough.

energy auditors here.

our next energy is doing battery cell manufacturing.

where are the experience?

battery cell manufacturers?

there are none because the industries are so new.

so we are on the precipice of creating the right workforce with the right people here in michigan.

so what is it going to take to do that?

it's going to take a lot of good training to be scaled an elevated.

one of the most exciting things for me is that there are groups of people training, but their training, tens and twenties and the hundreds.

and we needs hundreds.

we need hundreds.

yeah, and thousands in some cases to be trained in order to serve the needs of the clean energy industry.

lisa, you testified at a house committee of two years ago about laver shortages.

yeah, two years ago, two years later is the message of the same?

>> i'm pretty much ok, pretty much the same.

and so we're still working with and working through it.

you know, the best we can.

and i think, you know, because it's not it has the power of an right us all of us.

and so when we talk about, you know, that's my competitive.

and i've heard certain people say, you know, hiring people been able to i'm trying up the workforce.

that's my competitive advantage.

know if that is all has, you know, we all have to come together and set up these types of training programs that gives it gives everyone a pool of resources because not everybody that rain necessarily wants to work for me.

but maybe they want to work for carla.

maybe they want to or for dte, you know, and and the folks coming from dte, i can certainly use them.

but but there's a commonality.

there's a cop, common footprint that we all need to start.

and it may be us the math skills and we bring the math on that.

you know, i were talking about technology.

you know, what is technology really look like?

you know, when we talk about everybody talks about software coding, it's not just software coding.

you know, we have technology at everything that we touch.

when i look at that a mobile and look at it like an iphone.

it is what steve jobs said.

adding create the phone, right.

i created the playground that everybody wants to be.

so now we have energy coming into it.

energy in a different way.

we're looking at wireless.

you know, we're looking at the charge of the thing.

i'm good.

i'm excited about is looking forward and say how come i call talk to the next com, you know, and having all these different elements that come together to make that happen because it's going to it's going to insist upon us right now.

everybody is here.

you know what?

i like it and i did.

yeah.

i just love the smell of exhaust in the morning for.

>> i'm sorry.

how much of that novak and island horses in the morning?

yeah, that's an interesting have trevor, one of the sessions this week is our industry and consumers prepared for the electric revolution.

>> well, it's coming.

so i think the industry has to be prepared.

and i want to go back to your first question looming workforce, right?

so at least was talking about is we have to have a growth mindset at all.

think about how we get this workforce ready together because it's going to be a strategic advantage for michigan.

and all of the companies in michigan are eco structure, ecosystem, all benefit as we work on this together.

so we got to work on workforce together and make sure that we're all benefiting from that.

and when i think about the grid, we spend a lot of time talking about his oeuvre rid ready for electrification.

the good thing is it's not all coming at once.

and what we see is the majority of people that are charging their cars today.

eighty-two percent in our service territory do it in their own homes.

but then it goes into a how do you make sure the charging and electric vehicle electric ation is equitable across the service territory?

i think that's where we need to work with partners like these to to make sure that how do you put charging into the low income communities or the rental communities to make sure that they also have access to electric vehicles.

so and and this >> goes to this question about is it equitable, right?

is this electric future equitable?

so what kind of work needs to be done?

you're talking about and thinking about what are those next steps?

>> so dte we will file what we call transportation electrification plan.

we're doing a lot of stakeholder analysis with everybody right now trying to figure out what's the right place for dte to play in that.

look for people that want to install chargers, if you are installed private chargers and somebody small, but there's a market for that.

and there's a reason companies do that because they see profit in doing that.

there's other segments of that market installing chargers in the public areas for people to charge low-income areas, rental areas.

right now, that's not a profitable market.

so what we're trying to figure out a dt is where should we play?

where should we partner and what's that look like for the whole ecosystem.

so we move vehicle charging forward.

>> when we talk about the future of work, michigan success is going to depend on growing our population and making the stay and attractive place to do business.

governor gretchen whitmer address the state's population growth along with other important objectives in her keynote speech.

>> our goal is to grow michigan and to succeed.

we've got to do it together.

we're making progress, but we've got to do more.

it is time for a growth strategy led by leaders and experts focused on our collective goals rather than personal political or partisan agendas.

yesterday we laid out make it in michigan, which is our plan to win more projects and invest in people revitalize places growing our state and economy requires progress on all three of these fronts.

this morning i signed an executive order establishing the growing michigan together council.

this new council which is co chaired by ambassador john recall to junior a republican and surely stand caught.

a democrat will bring leaders and industry education and government together to focus on growing michigan's population in a smart strategic way.

so let's talk a little bit about the council's directives.

first jobs, talent and people.

the council identify a specific population goal for twenty fifty.

they will map out how to use all the different levers that we have, retention recruitment, domestic migration, immigration, so that we can continue growing our economy and create upward mobility for everyone.

the focus on how to build attract and retain skilled workforce that can compete with other states and nations.

we now drives we must create equitable pants to opportunities to michiganders can get the good paying jobs created by the cutting edge companies were competing to bring home infrastructure in places.

we have made record investments in every kind of infrastructure, but we still have a lot of good work to do, especially we have an increasing population.

so the council will develop long-term funding solutions for transportation and water infrastructure so we can increase capacity and keep costs low and finally education.

we must improve student outcomes at every level from preschool through post-secondary.

the council will develop policies and sustainable funding recommendations to improve education so that every child realizes their full potential and will propose how to measure our performance against other top states.

the ultimate goal of any policy or plan, however, is its impact on people.

we want to ensure everyone can build their future here in michigan.

in addition to this work, we need personnel embedded within state government focus full time on the mission to grow this state.

and that's why i'm excited to announce that hillary don't will be michigan's first chief growth officer.

so as chief growth officer, hillary will be housed within the m e d c so we're closely with the council to implement recommendations, chase funding and bring stakeholders together solely to first in the nation effort that how michigan story of natural beauty, diversity, economic leadership.

i'm excited for all of you to get to know and to work with hillary and the council.

>> michigan's university research corridor plays a key role in attracting business and talent and creating a vibrant economy.

the collaborations between wayne state university in michigan state university and the university of michigan positions, michigan as a leader in research and innovation.

>> president donald and i are really working together to reversed course.

make sure that that i asked for people who left the state for other reasons and perhaps other opportunities really see this is the place of opportunity for them and their families.

yeah.

and that's an important occasion that both their work in their life passed to be able to order for them to be comfortable in the state of michigan.

were he together with the nbc and with the governor's office really make sure that our universities as well as the ecosystem really is that warm welcoming environment for everyone?

yeah, well, and i want to talk exactly about the work that both of you can do.

so give me an example of what michigan state university is doing right now as we talk about workforce development and thanks for doing is developing a new engineering and digital innovation sector.

and this is to really invert the way we think about colleges.

it's not a college of engineering and the sixteen over six colleges coming together for students who are interested in engineering, but also in digital innovation and in the new economy that's coming that they themselves put both participated and we'll build.

and so this new sector allows us to teach a new and innovative ways to do a new kind of research that ask questions that are not going to the way we thought in the past.

yeah, president, i feel like every day i'm hearing about some of you.

>> initiative from the university of michigan, whether its ease weather at start-up.

tell me what the eu is doing right now in terms of workforce development.

>> well, it's a huge amount of work.

thanks a lot for the shout out about the electric vehicles that we just lost a fifty-five million dollar quantum research institute.

yeah, we're very excited about that.

well, that's the plan moving forward.

as you know, we have been this love state lobo's a suit for a doctor.

yes facility which is really global in nature.

and we're partnering with the others, universities in the u r c yeah.

michigan state university of wayne state university also washed community college is really positioning michigan's to be hopefully a recipient of funding from the >> ships for science act.

yeah, that's been this fascinating conversation.

and president i know will also talk a little later about sort of workforce and talent development.

but the theme seems to be aside from the power of and which we're going to get to, but also the need for institutions to work together.

and so you said that you are see for folks who may be new to the state or are it's the university research corridor.

i'm teresa woodruff talking a little bit about what work is going on right now with the eu are see that you're excited about this is been a take your partnership and that, you know, right now, i think the partnership has never been stronger.

president know just said we're working together.

>> as r-one universities, as well as with community colleges, that to me, that's the power of and that is going to allow us to take students who are interested in coming in from any forward or whether directly to a four year through the two years.

yeah, i think one of the things that we're doing is developing this workforce positioning for evs themselves and that's going to allow all of us to have more opportunities for those students who graduate from this top ranked cluster of universities that really out paces by student numbers and by research dollars, any other cluster in america president.

and.

>> yeah, i mean, we start off with the top ten issue.

as teresa said, we're number one in terms of the town that we produce.

yes.

and the two played seven billion dollars in research use is a staggering.

and i don't know.

that's really a great news story.

but also is going to be the seed corn for a future.

innovation and billy fueling a start-up companies are coming off out of our company is also attracting you industries to michigan.

>> preparing k twelve students for success in higher.

ed is the first step toward producing a skilled workforce for the future.

the detroit public schools community district is focusing on the budget student enrollment and meeting long-term academic goals as it continues to recover from the pandemic.

>> everything was a challenge in the pandemic staffing, the online learning to that end.

and yeah, so you know, the work had that we had to shift to try to meet the needs of our families, our students and staff.

yeah, and we've done that.

so you know what?

what gets me up every day is the opportunity to give our students what they deserve, which is an outstanding public school quality education.

yeah, i didn't feel like we were able to do that because of the challenges of the pandemic and now we're starting to turn the corner.

we had to balance our budget next year without covid funding.

yeah.

good to be in the reality of losing two thousand students.

yeah.

but you know, i think the positive is that dps in the past really had difficulties doing these kind of thing.

yeah.

and now we were able to do this with i mean, we've had some challenges and some tensions in the school district, but our budget is balanced going into next year.

i feel like we have not undermined our commitment to student achievement.

we protected the classroom.

you know, we're not laying off.

teachers were not cutting our music program.

we're refining some things.

we're finding some personnel position, but we're moving into next year.

i think with the intentionality to continue to raise student achievement and build on the kind of academic success we had before the pandemic students need the most right now in detroit in the district.

i you know, one thing they need is stability and consistency.

and i think as superintendent and as a school board, i think we've done that.

and when you have consistency and superintendent and school board leadership, you have consistency with central office staff that consistency with your principles and that trickle down your teacher.

i was going, you know, we've been nearly fully staffed now for the last two to three years.

yeah.

and that means consistency for children in the class.

yeah.

and so that's when i talk about a district being normal.

yeah.

that's what that means.

that you can go to school every year and anticipate defeated.

same feature the same principle.

there will always be changes here and there.

but yeah, for the most part, it's good.

fifty feet.

i think i think i need.

yeah, especially after the pandemic.

yeah, you know, we can talk about more mental health support, having nurses in schools and all that important.

but it's the relationship.

yeah, between the student and the personnel that they work every day and that that is certainly been improved over the years and will continue to improve.

>> and so how is teacher retention?

you know, i know you're you're getting ready to end this year.

start a new one.

are you going to have enough teachers in the classrooms to do the work that the students need?

absolutely, and i feel.

>> that is been a definitive sign of progress and improvement.

you know, when when we started six years ago, we had four hundred teacher vacancies and no plan to recruit and retain teachers.

yeah.

and so now the past she really two years we've had fully staffed with teachers.

we've put money in the budget to increase salaries again next year, the average teacher salaries improve by fifty thousand dollars.

we're going to make another investment next year.

and so i'm not concerned that we're going to be fully staffed come fall and there might be a couple schools that have one or two vacancies.

but knowing that we hire three thousand teachers and a hundred schools, that's definitive progress.

and i think that's competitive with any suburban school district in michigan.

>> the mackinac policy conference is known for bringing in some really notable speakers.

former us representative liz cheney was a special guest this year and cnn host and washington post columnist for reads.

that area was a keynote speaker.

ford motor company.

executive chairman bill ford talked about the automotive industry and mark cuban and entrepreneur and owner of the dallas mavericks sat down for a conversation on the main states.

>> the greatest lessons that i learned was from working for the people who are the least successful because i learned what not to do.

michael hugh mackay was more concerned about a number of my my worse to work.

but the suit i bought were two for ninety-nine dollars all yesterday with you can wipe them that, you know, you this buildup on their own and literally the first shirt i had the first shirt i wore with us about use first five firsthand about use.

first times i had about use the for shoes i had about use and he was always talking about the best place to buy.

nice classes are nice suits and he would never go out and set.

and it really, really hammered home that for any business anywhere.

anyhow, there's never been a business to succeed without sales and as an entrepreneur or the number one thing that you can do so because if you don't love your product enough to go out there and tell every single person on the planet what you do, what you sell and how you can help them, then why are you in the business?

are you doing what you do?

and i also learned very quickly that selling isn't convincing.

it's not like all that we can get this person now selling is helping putting yourself in the shoes of the person that you're selling to and figuring out how you can make their lives better.

how you can reduce the stress across any business on the planet, if you can figure out how to reduce people stress and they understand it and they're willing to pay you for that.

you're going make money.

you're going too well.

>> you know, our theme this week, you heard matt sandy a little bit talking about the power of and the coming together.

you seen as we mentioned, a ton of businesses.

i'm sure some good culture summit bad when you think about the power of and how important is that when you're trying to operate, you're trying to scale.

>> incredibly important.

so i think what a lot of people are going right now through a lot of discussion about both businesses and not woke businesses dei.

what's right?

what's wrong?

i can tell you what i think everybody gets their own opinion.

you get to the think what you want.

i think your business needs to match the demographics of your prospects in your customers that whoever you're selling to, you will connect better if the people that work for you like the people that can buy from.

and when you have those people who look like the people you're trying to sell to, they tend to understand them more right?

they tend to have a better connection and that allows them to south.

when you talk about the power of an you have to look at the people you're selling to and ask, who else can i at what's the and who else can i work with?

what organizations what you know, people because everybody in this country, the demographics change and they're continuing to change.

but that's where the money is.

you know, that's where the opportunity is and going into communities that don't have investment, don't have people that typically focus there.

that's where the biggest opportunities are because no one's looking there.

why do you want to be the ten thousand one person doing the same thing when you can go some place where nobody else was looking and that's where the greatest opportunities are.

and so to me, call me well, but i want i want you to call the guy.

you can call it whatever you want.

i call it good business, right?

when you're looking like how your prospects look, because that's the only way you're going to understand.

and to me he's seen, you know, the percent everywhere the and that's what it means.

it means taking the people that you're selling to and making sure your workforce looks like them and making sure you reflect their values that and being able to connect to them.

that's what works for me and always have.

>> let's talk about moving into evs.

and there are people that are driving them now.

love them very much.

but to move to that point where we're going to be fully electric and and taking a look at the price.

>> infrastructure and people are not quite sure.

>> yeah, and they're not in.

the great thing about us is we've positioned our company that we can go whichever way it breaks.

so we have an amazing collection of internal combustion products.

i'm very proud of, you know what?

there's prank or rockets.

porter f one, fifty or explore.

i mean, you know, you go down the list, you know, mustang.

those are great.

internal combustion vehicles are going to be around a long time.

if adoption happens, more quickly work going fast down that road, too.

so, you know, i i believe that optionality for us is the way to go because one size doesn't fit all some people, you know, really do want evs.

other people are saying over my dead body will never drive one of those things.

that's fine.

nobody is forcing anybody into anything.

and yet we are placing our bets that the ev future.

>> we'll cop.

let's go ahead and take a look at michigan and finding the talent that's here and the deliberate placemaking and deliberate decision about when you grow and when you're picking a plant and where you want to be, what are some of the considerations that i think, you know, michigan needed to take into consideration to be able to have more forward here.

>> before missions, always going to have for his longtime wife.

so, you know, i love the state.

i i mean, this right.

can't imagine not investing in michigan, but you don't want to.

and one of the haha invested billions over the last few years in michigan and will continue to do so.

and one of the great things we have here, our universe is our universities in michigan are fantastic.

and there's a lot of talent coming out of those universities.

but the problem was in the past, a lot of those graduates would move to chicago or they, you know, they we lost.

but we now can offer those kinds of jobs, software and hardware, but particularly working out future problems.

the young people find really compelling.

so we're doing a lot of hiring in michigan.

and as i say, our pipeline here is really good.

>> so let's bring back nolan finley and zoey clark to talk about where things go from here after everyone leaves the island were some next steps that make sense.

>> well, now this is a policy conference as a business confidence policy in michigan over the last five, six months has not been going in businesses direction.

they've been pushing a very pro union agenda and nineteen pro union pieces of legislation introduced and the house just a couple of weeks ago.

not good for business are not good for businesses perspective and they're going to have to leave here and start figuring out how they react to that.

how they pushed back because if you they are adopting the policies of states that are growing, you look at what's happening nationally states with with a a pro union legislatures and governors are not the ones that are growing in michigan is going to grow.

they've got to find a balance.

>> so we're now has the power of an you are saying the war now we're going to find a balance or go into your career.

i know, you know, there's not much bipartisan legislative going on and business doesn't have much of a voice.

so so this idea of union legislation, yeah, pro-worker legislation and a lot of the would call it for the growth that comes from that goes into people's pockets.

is that right?

my wrong here?

>> that is one side of the argument.

the other thing i might say is it's it's an interesting dynamic where, you know, know what you're talking absolutely about right to work and changes to prevailing wage.

again, this was the legislation i was talking about here.

what's interesting, though, is the governor is trying to sort of thread this needle it.

let's remember, too, in her first state of the state of her second term.

so just this past january start the headline that really came away with bigotry is bad for business.

so, you know, again, we're talking so much about the culture wars and things like that.

but she seems to be digging into this idea of, ok, you know, we may be doing these more progressive things when it comes to the economy.

but she sort of making an argument that the cultural changes that she's pushing along with the legislature, she believes is going to help grow the economy because it's going to get people to go.

michigan seems to be a more inclusive state that x y and z. it's an interesting, you know, again, way to thread the needle.

bigotry is bad for business.

>> i mean, amending elliott larsen to include lgbtq folks the year.

no, those aren't the kind of things business of talking about.

yeah, up here, they're talking about these pieces of of legislation that sort of roll back accountability for schools without replacing them.

they're talking about legislation, for example, a piece of legislation in just a couple weeks ago that would force companies to reveal their payrolls if the union requested.

those are not pro business measures.

and you know, it's it a bad message.

you can like it or not.

i think the reality is business six, a friendly environment and we're not moving toward this is for you friendly environment.

how worried you thing joe tate is the speaker of the house or when he breaks, who is the senate majority leader are about the things that they're doing in the message that it sends a business.

and howard is the goat?

>> well, i mean, it would be silly to say it's not a political issue.

i mean, let's remember when the democrats, you know, was that would after election in november, when we realized for the first time in forty years, what was the first think all of us were ask each other?

when do they do right tour?

right?

and there was a lot of theories.

they do it early on, right?

and just kind of pull the band-aid off or they going to wait a little bit, try to get some bipartisan compromise first.

so, i mean, this is this is the negotiation in lansing that they're trying to figure out.

and it's going to be again, as i said earlier, it's going to be interesting to see now the for six months or over once they get the budget done, where are they turning to back?

so we have, you know, new economic figures out from the crack, which is where the senate fiscal agency of the house fiscal agency come out and say, here's how much money you've got to spend.

it's what we're all going to be watching.

yeah.

>> ultimately, this is about voters, though, and what they think is going right or wrong, not just in the legislature or the governor's mansion, but in their pocketbooks.

and why isn't?

>> siding with workers going help down?

well, in business to we've seen what happens in this state when business leaves.

i mean, we've been through that.

we had these policies in place before and they lead to the last decade.

it's not good for anybody's a pocketbook if business doesn't grow and jobs are created.

and you know, i'm afraid that's exactly where we're pushing to art and mission because they moved at six p without considering the consequences of the list.

legislation be on whether they're union supporters are happy.

>> are there things that you think they should be doing instead of not doing the things they're doing other proactive things, you think they need to be doing over businesses?

well, i absolutely i think we still duggan are doing in terms of tax reform.

i think there's still a lot to be done in the regulate regulatory.

>> round to send this message that this is a good place to invest.

you'll get a return the and when the state's not going population, it doesn't send that signal.

>> how how how accurate is that?

how much of what is going to care about that rather than the money that they're going to have from?

>> is this is the question.

one of the things that i would be really interested is, you know, this is the first time i know i keep saying it, but this is the first time where democrats have been in charge ever in all the chambers and the executive with a mackinac policy conference that serves.

so let's see what happened to my going to say one conference, what you know, three days is going to dynamically change, lansing.

absolutely not.

but after some of the sit-down, some conversations, could we see a different dynamic?

this is, you know, this is what we're going to have to watch.

yeah.

>> well, this is always the test for the chamber to yes.

how much does this conference matter?

how much does what happens up here?

translate into things that that actually like the gordie howe bridge, like the grand bargain.

i mean, there's some instances stuff that's always gotten done.

so, you know, lynn, hey, thank you.

great conference with the two of you again.

thanks for being here.

i want you to.

>> so that's going to do it for us here at the twenty twenty-three mackinac policy conference.

you can see the sessions and the interviews on them and that one detroit, ubs staff or want to thank our partners at the detroit regional chamber for again, hosting this important gathering of decision makers and detroit.

public television is proud to bring this conference to residents all throughout michigan state with one to try for in-depth coverage of the issues that matter to you for all of us at detroit public television.

um, stephen henderson, take care and we'll see you next time.

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