A year ago, at the Mackinac Policy Conference, I announced MI New Economy, my vision to expand economic opportunity and prosperity for all Michiganders. This plan would focus on the fundamentals, setting ambitious, achievable goals to grow the middle class, support businesses of all sizes and invest in our communities.

The reasoning behind the plan was just as important as what is in it. It called on us to reject the false choice between a great quality of life and a good cost of living. We know that it is the opposite. If you ignore investments in the basics—education, infrastructure, water, child care—it is harder to attract and retain families and businesses long-term.

In just one year, we’ve made substantial progress on the goals of MI New Economy. I put out the call-to-action and our state’s leaders and stakeholders sprang into action, implementing programs and policies that make critical investments in the kitchen table issues that matter most to Michiganders.

By working together, we have expanded access to free or low-cost child care to 150,000 more Michigan kids, increased internet access for homes, built and renovated over 16,000 new, affordable housing units, and lifted thousands of families out of poverty. We established new economic development tools, empowering us to compete for transformational, job-creating projects and bring home supply chains of batteries, electric vehicles, and semiconductor chips. I also signed my 3rd and 4th bipartisan state budgets making record investments in education, workforce development, public safety and more.

There is so much to be proud of, while also recognizing that we still have a long way to go. The goals we set forth may not be accomplished in a term or a decade, but they are essential to the goal of anyone who works in public service: making Michigan home.

As we keep driving towards our shared goals, let’s keep centering people so that we may build a Michigan that we will be proud to pass on to our kids and the generations to come.