LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today highlighted progress in three critical areas of her plan to grow Michigan’s economy.

The Governor announced that the State – through public and private funds – will make more than $1 million in grants available to create 12 Regional Skills Alliances across the state. Granholm said that on Friday, more than 30 businesses gathered to provide input on the state’s new streamlined permitting system. She also announced that 148 individual projects in 110 cities across Michigan have applied to take advantage of state resources available to help create vibrant neighborhoods that will attract jobs and people.

In her State of the State Address earlier this year, Granholm outlined a seven-point plan to grow Michigan’s economy. The plan offers strategies for simultaneously making the state more supportive of existing businesses and industry while focusing on making the state more attractive to growing and expanding sectors of the economy.

"To be an economic powerhouse for the 21st century," said Granholm, "we have to offer the highest-quality product for the most-competitive price. This Administration is focused on the strategies that will make us a magnet for jobs and people. We have to have the nimblest, most responsive government structures; we have to have the smartest workforce; and we have to have cities that attract and keep new jobs and a new workforce."

In her economic plan, Granholm lays out a number of tactics for supporting existing businesses and industries, including the development of a streamlined business permitting process and development and support of policies that support Michigan and American business. To attract new business, Granholm outlined tactics to develop a highly-educated, highly-skilled workforce, create vibrant cities, invest in low-cost health care, and improve education to maintain Michigan’s quality of life.

Granholm today focused on key initiatives to streamline business permitting, retrain the state’s workforce, and create vibrant cities.

Streamlining Business Permitting

Granholm announced that the state’s new streamlined permitting system will launch as scheduled next month. The program, Michigan Timely Application and Permit Service (MiTAPS), creates a one-stop, web-based, 24-hour outlet for businesses seeking permits from state departments. MiTAPS will issue its first permits by the end of the summer.

In its first phase, MiTAPS will automate more than 32 different permits and licenses associated with a manufacturing facility, the totaling a combined processing volume of more than 220,000 permits per year. The first 14 of those permits will go on-line in June.

Retraining the State’s Workforce – Creating Skills Alliances

Granholm announced that through the support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the DLEG will provide one-year start-up grants totaling $1,050,000 for the initial development of up to 12 Michigan Regional Skills Alliances (MiRSA) across the state. MiRSAs are locally managed partnerships formed to address strategic workforce issues affecting groups of firms operating in the same industry in a specific region.

The MiRSAs will be coordinated by a local economic development organization and will include representatives of local economic development organizations, local business, K-12 education, community colleges and universities, and existing workforce agencies. Prospective bidders for the 12 grants are invited to attend one of six pre-bid workshops to be held May 19-27.

Attracting New Businesses by Creating Attractive Cities

Granholm also announced that the State has received project proposals from 110 cities around the state that are actively developing vibrant neighborhoods designed to attract jobs and people.

The projects are part of a pilot program that combines more than 110 of the State’s community improvement grants, loan programs, and assistance programs into a single "resource toolbox" that can be used by cities and communities for revitalization projects. The pilot also creates a new "catalyst grant" that will serve as a flexible tool for those organizations engaged in neighborhood revitalization projects. The grants were created by combining existing grant resources from the Departments of Labor and Economic Growth, History Arts and Libraries, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.