The 2011 Michigan Summit in Lansing will celebrate and champion progressive change that is thriving and driving Michigan’s cities and challenge us to make sure that all of Michigan moves forward together as we struggle through a decade of economic recession. Join us:

Michigan Summit Kick-Off Reception
Fri, May 20 at 5:30pm
Join us to kick off the 2011 Michigan Summit at Spiral (1247 Center Street in Lansing).

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This year’s Michigan Summit keynote address is being given by SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry. This morning, Mary Kay Henry appeared on Tony Trupiano’s radio show, listen to the audio below. Online registration for the Michigan Summit closes May 18, 2011 so register today!

The Michigan native is set to headline the 2011 Michigan Summit: Moving ALL OF Michigan Forward, held on the campus of her alma mater, Michigan State University. Mary Kay Henry is the first female president of the fastest-growing union, and she’ll share a powerful message about her lifelong efforts to empower Americans through organizing. You won’t want to miss this year’s Michigan Summit, and you won’t want to miss SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry. Register now by clicking the button below:

As famed organizer Marshall Ganz explains, organizers identify, recruit and develop leadership; build community around leadership; and build power out of community. Michigan is blessed with extraordinary organizing talent and at the Michigan Summit on May 21 in East Lansing we will recognize their contributions by honoring the 2011 Michigan Organizer of the Year. The winner will designate a $1,000 gift to a Michigan 501 c 3 non-profit civic engagement organization of their choice.

Who’s the 2011 Michigan Organizer of the Year? Someone with a demonstrated record of building grassroots leadership and community power. Additionally, he or she is:

• an empowering advocate who lifts up and moves forward Michiganders who are often left behind
• a champion who fights for social justice and protects our air, land, water, health and safety.
• a bridge-builder who forms connections and coalitions between diverse people and makes unlikely allies
• a selfless, grassroots organizer who works hard while sharing the limelight
• a risk-taker who generates new, exciting ideas and innovative solutions to old problems
• a standard-bearer involved in building the capacity, and the power, of Michigan’s progressive movement

All nominations must be non-partisan.

Check back May 21, 2011 for our live stream of Mary Kay Henry’s keynote address!

Change isn’t coming fast enough for Michigan. We face the most challenging economic environment in the nation, with high unemployment, declining school budgets, and massive cuts to local and state services.

But we will not let the enormity of the challenges we face overwhelm us, we will seize 2011 as the opportunity we know it will be.

Instead of railing against what won’t work, together we will forge a plan based on what will. On Saturday, May 21^st, the Fifth Annual Michigan Summit 2011 will focus on the policies, strategies and campaigns for progressive reforms around worker’s rights, schools, communities, health care, liberty, civil rights, energy and our government.

This daylong event will be informative and interactive, complete with dynamic speakers, panelists, and experts that will provide comprehensive campaign workshop trainings.  We have a lot of work to do to fix Michigan, and we need your help to bring together the people who will be instrumental in Michigan’s comeback.

That’s why we need you to become a sponsor.

Over the past four years, the Michigan Policy Summit focused on crucial issues such as the state’s economy, the changing population, and clean energy.  It has drawn in as many as 800 attendees from across the state and has attracted many influential national speakers and panelists.

2011 promises to be a challenging and decisive year in Michigan.

Please help us build grassroots power for progressive priorities in Michigan.  Your pledge will help make The Michigan Summit engaging, instructive, and inspiring.

Please click here to become a sponsor. Or click here to download the form and send it , along with a check payable to Progress Michigan Education, at:

Progress Michigan Education

The Michigan Summit 2011

Attn:  Karen DeMott

115 W Allegan, Floor 7

Lansing, MI 48933

The 2011 Michigan Summit will celebrate and champion progressive change that is thriving and driving Michigan’s cities and challenge us to make sure that all of Michigan moves forward together as we struggle through a decade of economic recession.

If states are America’s laboratories for democracy and innovation, cities are the nation’s scientists—testing, experimenting and arriving at solutions. From Traverse City to Detroit, and almost every city in between, activists, thought leaders and officials are pioneering change.

Whether the need is to expand freedom to include all of society’s families, erect the technology and manufacturing tools of a new, green economy or help working families compete in a political system that too often seems rigged against them, Michigan cities are most often where we find the best, progressive innovations.

Our 2011 Michigan Summit will challenge the rest of the state to live up to the promise of Michigan’s cities, and confront head on the barriers that need to be lifted so all of Michigan can make progress together.

Will you be there?

The Elliot-Larson Civil Rights Act II
State Rep. Woodrow Stanley

State Representative Woodrow Stanley is serving his first term in the Michigan House of Representatives, representing the 34th House District, which includes the City of Flint.

Representative Stanley is a graduate of Mott Community College and the University of Michigan-Flint. He also has an honorary doctorate from Detroit College of Business, now Davenport University.

Stanley has spent decades working for the people of Flint and Genesee County. He was first appointed 2nd Ward Councilman in 1983, and won four consecutive terms until his election as Mayor of Flint in 1991. His eleven years as mayor were highlighted by the establishment of economic development zones in the city; the expansion of the University of Michigan-Flint, and a series of charitable youth initiatives.

Since 2004, Stanley has served on the Genesee County Board of Commissioners and was elected Chair in 2008. Stanley has served as president of the Michigan Municipal League, Michigan Mayors Association and chair of the National League of Cities Advisory Council.

Stanley and his wife, Reta, live in Flint and are active members of Vernon Chapel A.M.E. Church. They have two children, Heather and Jasmine and four grandchildren; Carmia, John, III, Sasha and Karson.

Michigan is not Arizona: Welcoming Immigrants
Susan Reed, Michigan Immigrant Rights Center

Susan E. Reed is Immigration Law Attorney at the Michigan Poverty Law program and in that capacity leads the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC).  MIRC focuses on the following objectives: technical and co-counsel assistance and training to Michigan legal aid and pro bono attorneys handling immigration and immigrant rights matters; systemic advocacy on behalf of Michigan’s low-income immigrants and their families; legislative and legal development tracking and analysis; and coalition-building among immigration assistance providers and immigrant advocates statewide.  Susan is a graduate of Marquette University and the University of Minnesota Law School.  She previously served as a staff attorney at Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan and at Justice for Our Neighbors West Michigan, the immigration legal services program of the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

Whoever Tells The Story, Writes the History
Catherine Orenstein, Founder, the OpEd Project