Each community has its own story of what it means to thrive. For some, it’s about maintaining strong schools and safe neighborhoods. For others, it’s about supporting local businesses, creating cultural spaces, or ensuring infrastructure while protecting the natural environment. Over the last year and a half, the Michigan Municipal League has been working to capture those experiences—and the challenges that come with them—through our thriving communities framework. 

The framework was designed with two goals: to better understand how Michigan collectively is fostering thriving places, and to equip local leaders with tools to move their own communities forward. In pursuit of that first goal, the Thriving Michigan Briefs benchmark the state’s performance across indicators like health, infrastructure, and economic well-being, which in turn influence the League’s advocacy efforts. For the second goal, the League’s thriving communities tools give municipal leaders strategies to plan, set goals, and engage residents. 

The tools are grounded in two key concepts. The first is that thriving is not one-size-fits-all. Each community has its own starting point and its own set of tradeoffs to balance. Tradeoffs in this setting mean that advancing one goal, like expanding public safety, may require delaying or scaling back another, such as arts or recreation. Local leaders often face tough choices about where to invest limited resources.

The tools, structured around seven focus areas, help communities navigate those choices by grounding the conversation in values, identifying opportunities for collaboration, and laying out clear steps toward action.

The second concept is that local governments can’t go it alone. These tools help leaders with the planning and goal setting needed to carry out their priorities. By assisting with organization and resource assessment, communities are better prepared for collaborative partnerships. The tools provide a structured approach for managing these processes. Municipalities can benefit from the support of various partners within their communities. 

Before rolling them out to scale, we tested the tools with several groups: an urban planning class at Michigan State, staff from the University of Michigan’s Michigan Daily, and participants in the League’s Elected Officials Academy. These early pilots refined the process and prepared us for the first full-scale facilitations with the cities of Berkley and Ferndale this past summer. 

Ferndale had recently passed a Headlee Override in the spring, and leaders were preparing to implement new resources. Councilmembers and city leaders from public safety, recreation, business development, and city services joined the facilitation. Ahead of the session, Ferndale created its own version of the Community Partnership Mapping exercise (one of our tools). During our session, we established the city’s baseline with the Equalizer, then applied the Tradeoff Analysis tool to explore how resources from the Override could advance community goals. 

The conversation was candid. Leaders wrestled with staffing, resident trust, service expectations, and funding capacity. But instead of being stuck in silos, the tools opened space to recognize tradeoffs, weigh options, and explore partnerships that could ease the burden. 

What emerged was not just a clearer view of Ferndale’s challenges but also a renewed sense of opportunity.

Leaders saw how reprioritizing initiatives, emphasizing trust, and maintaining consistent communication could help reduce negative tradeoffs. The discussion shifted from “We can’t do this,” to “How we can make this work together?”

This is what the thriving communities tools are all about. They aren’t a checklist or a quick fix. These resources create a process that helps communities see the bigger picture, organize around values, and find realistic paths toward thriving. In Ferndale, it sparked a conversation that moved beyond dollars and cents to focus on trust, alignment, and the kind of place the community wants to be.

As more communities engage in this work, we continue to learn what thriving looks like across Michigan. Each facilitation adds new insights and momentum, showing how collaboration between local governments, residents, and partners can turn shared goals into real progress.

Wondering where you can take advantage of these tools? The League’s Online Learning features our Thriving Communities 101 course, where you can learn the basics of the framework and try out tools, like the Equalizer for yourself. If you want to bring these resources to your community, email me at [email protected], and I’d be happy to connect and set something up!

Author

Herasanna Richards

Herasanna Richards is a powerhouse coalition-builder and a magnetic communicator who infuses energy into her work as a legislative associate for the League. With over a decade of experience leading winning coalitions and shaping impactful issue advocacy campaigns, she’s a force to be reckoned with. Since joining the League in 2019, Herasanna has been a bold advocate for municipalities in the areas of energy, environment, public safety, and technology. Before the League, she was the founding executive director for the Detroit Restaurant & Lodging Association and played a key role in President Biden’s Michigan campaign as deputy coalitions director. A proud Michigan State University alumna, Herasanna holds dual degrees in political science and communication and is a 2017 Michigan Political Leadership Program graduate. Beyond her professional life, she’s #DeltaLoyal and loves nothing more than exploring the world with her husband by her side.