Community Growth Academy

The Community & Worker Economic Transition Office will select up to 10 communities to participate in the Community Growth Academy. Participants will receive technical assistance, opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, individualized technical assistance from a team of consultants and ongoing support from State of Michigan staff to identify, test and adopt strategies for economic growth and resilience. The program is designed to support communities that want to collaborate on locally designed projects, such as creating an economic diversification action plan, establishing a workforce retraining program, repurposing a vacant site, supporting entrepreneurship or other projects designed to help their community thrive. The academy will run from October 2025 to March 2027.

Join us for a Webinar on Wednesday, Aug. 20 at 9:30 a.m. for more information about the Community Growth Academy.

Join the Informational Webinar

Apply to the Community Growth Academy

Program History

The Community & Worker Economic Transition Office was created in 2023 to help Michigan’s workers, businesses and communities prepare for and succeed in a changing economy. The Transition Office focuses on supporting those most at risk from economic disruptions, helping them access new opportunities and build a stronger, more resilient state.

To launch its work, the Transition Office held listening sessions, roundtables, and regional meetings to hear directly from communities and identify gaps in support. It also formed an ongoing Advisory Council made up of leaders from labor, business, education, local government and community organizations to guide its work.

Through this local engagement, the Transition Office has heard from many communities that have a vision for their future, but need better data, tools, and coordination to bring that vision to life. Instead of offering one-size-fits-all solutions, the Transition Office works alongside communities to help them build their own strategies.

One of the Transition Office’s key tools is the Community Transition Playbook, designed to help communities respond to plant closures or business losses and build long-term plans for economic growth. The playbook includes flexible tools for using data, mapping local assets, responding to closures, long-term planning and identifying sustainable financing strategies.

To put the playbook into action, the Transition Office is creating the Community Growth Academy, which gives selected communities hands-on support to create and carry out their own local growth plans. The feedback from these communities will help improve the playbook before it’s shared more broadly across the state.

Communities that join the program will receive:

• Access to a strong network of peers, including other cities, nonprofits and economic development groups facing similar challenges.
• Dedicated support from a team of consultants with expertise in supporting economic growth.
• Help from state staff to connect with funding, programs and other resources.
• A full-time fellow placed in each community to provide extra support throughout the program.
• Priority access to a competitive grant fund to help carry out local projects.
• A deeper understanding of their region’s economic and social strengths and challenges
• A clear framework to guide and track their growth strategy.
• Tools to help diversify their local economy.
•  New, tailored strategies for economic growth, community resilience and workforce development.

Communities designated as Transition Impacted by LEO:

How are we measuring Transition-Impacted communities?

Our model measures:

• The economic health of each county in Michigan.
• The risk of plant closure (assessed by measuring job growth or loss in transportation equipment manufacturing & utilities sectors).
• The impact of plant closure (assessed by measuring the concentration of employees in the transportation equipment manufacturing and utilities sectors and comparing to nationwide concentration).

Other considerations for program eligibility

• Municipalities with more than one ZIP code considered as distressed.
• Communities designated as a federal Coal Closure Community.

What if a community is not designated as a Transition-Impacted Community but still would like to apply?

• Communities not designated as Transition-Impacted Communities must answer additional application questions providing compelling context and justification for why they should be considered for this opportunity. Applicants will not be penalized for providing this justification.