It is hard to believe that the winter holidays are already upon us. Time has flown. What were only ideas on paper at this time last year have been transformed, in recent months, into a checklist of accomplishments.

I thought it would serve you well if I shared information with you periodically about such accomplishments and the challenges and issues that would seem most important to you as both citizens and as members of the great organization we call the State of Michigan. As always, I appreciate hearing back from you about these or other critical issues.

We have been faced with tough challenges this year, not the least of which was a massive budget deficit. However, I truly believe, as I said in the State of the State address last January, that only through challenge are we given opportunities for greatness. We have been challenged by the deficit we inherited; but even in the face of that challenge we have achieved great milestones.

These past few weeks were filled with more than just talk about the budget. They were also brimming with action and energy and excitement about Michigan's future. Perhaps you've felt it or heard about some of the great things many of our co-workers have been involved in. For many folks in state government, this fall has been the 'season of the summit.'

We have held three very important - and very large - interactive conferences designed to involve citizens, business leaders, labor leaders, local governments, and the arts and cultural communities in identifying opportunities for economic growth and strategies for making Michigan the "coolest" state to live, work, start a business, and raise a family.

The work done and ideas exchanged at these summits - the Michigan Transportation Summit, Michigan Manufacturing Matters Summit, and Creating Cool: Linking Culture, Community, and the Economy - will help reinvigorate our state's economy and bring our values to life. Let me tell you a little about what these meetings were all about:

On December 3, I participated in the first-ever Michigan Transportation Summit. The event was sponsored by our MDOT colleagues who included partners from industry, local and federal government, not-for-profit organizations, local providers, and other state agencies. The purpose of the Transportation Summit was to identify key issues that need to be addressed in order to create a vision of our transportation system that will help make Michigan a magnet for jobs, growth, people, and economic activity. I am thrilled that Gloria Jeff and her Team MDOT (with breakthrough technological help from DIT) engineered a great conference to make transportation work. If you would like to read more about what was accomplished at the Transportation Summit, please visit the Michigan Department of Transportation's website at www.michigan.gov/mdot.

The Michigan Manufacturing Matters Summit was held on December 8 in Plymouth. Through this meeting, David Hollister and the Department of Labor and Economic Growth (DLEG) and I brought together representatives from several large and small manufacturers and labor organizations to discuss issues related to the state of manufacturing in Michigan.

When this important sector of our economy is growing, we are able to invest more in education, health care, and the environment - key quality of life issues that make Michigan a great place to raise a family and grow a business. We reached a major consensus on nine strategies to make manufacturing flourish, and we will continue to engage business, labor, and education leaders to make manufacturing work in Michigan. We will also join with other manufacturing states to take our shared national concerns to Washington, D.C. Click on this link to read the conference summary: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Consensus_80172_7.pdf

On December 11, a capacity crowd packed the Lansing Center to attend a conference called, "Creating Cool - Linking Culture, Community, and the Economy." The Departments of History Arts and Libraries (HAL) and Consumer & Industry Services (CIS) collaborated on the project.

The notion of cool cities has captured the imagination of communities all over the state, so much so that instead of the 600 people we expected, we had over 1,300 participants, many from 'cool cities' collaboratives they had already formed. The working conference assisted them as they design environments that will attract and keep new businesses and people - especially young people. We explored links between culture and economic development and discussed how arts and culture can bring new creativity to revitalization efforts. Cool cities help create a cool state - and a cool state can attract hot jobs and hot economic development opportunities.

Click on this link if you'd like more information about the cool cities initiative in Michigan: http://www.mlive.com/coolcities/. I'd love for you to be involved in making your city cool.

These gatherings, and the tangible results that will spring forth from them, are incredibly important to all of us who wrestle with shrinking resources and try to continually provide high quality services to the citizens of Michigan. They provide us with the opportunity to see our four core values in action - we used excellence, integrity, inclusion, and teamwork as guides for each of our conferences.

We all want economic prosperity for our state and our fellow residents. The cuts we have had to make to state spending in order to balance Michigan's budget make me even prouder of all that we have achieved together. You have done more with less, and you've achieved great things for the people of Michigan. Now we must focus on the future. I look forward to the new year and the opportunity to work with all of you to move Michigan forward in exciting new directions.

Sincerely,

Jennifer M. Granholm
Governor

P.S. One other kind of "summit" - perhaps the most important of all - took place all year as you came together to discuss our shared Vision and Values. I want to thank you for bringing the values of teamwork, integrity, excellence and inclusion to our work every day of the year. I am so proud to be a public servant alongside all of you.