Eastern Leaders

 2011 ELG Spring Summit was a Success!

Thanks to everyone who joined us on April 11th at the EMU Student Center. We were delighted to have such a great turnout, and to see so many supportive community members in the room. Thanks to EMU for providing some great photos.

Did you participate in the"Seeing Our Future" visioning exercise? What was your headline for Eastern Washtenaw County in 2021?

Check out your headline here!

What did you think of our new Eastern Leaders Group Video? Watch it again, and feel good about Eastern Washtenaw County!

 Click here for the ELG video!

Message from the Co-Chairs

The Eastern Leaders Group is a partnership between public education, non-profit and business leaders who are collaborating to meet the immediate and long-term economic and quality of life needs of Eastern Washtenaw County. To meet these needs, we have focused on three key goals: creating jobs; assisting the School Districts in improving educational attainment; and improving the quality of place.

Creating Jobs

In our first two years of collaboration, we have made significant strides in meeting our goals. The SPARK East Incubator, CEED and SPARK microloans and the Commercial Building Renovation and Re-Use Grant Programs have:

• Created 305 new jobs.
• Retained 154 jobs.
• Leveraged $1.6 million in federal, state, university, private and foundation funding.

Improving Educational Attainment

The Early College Alliance, Washtenaw Technical Middle College, and Gear Up programs have all increased enrollment and three new secondary school options have been developed including New Tech High, Widening Advancement of Youth and Washtenaw International High. These secondary school options have:

• Over 1,000 Eastern County students are enrolled in these secondary schools options.
• Leveraged $840,000 in foundation and state funding.

Improving the Quality of Place

To enhance our quality of place, the City of Ypsilanti has secured $700,000 in federal funding for West Cross Street streetscape and Eastern Michigan University has committed $200,000 for wayfinding projects.

• Funded the renovation of 3 commercial buildings.
• Leveraged $700,000 of state funding

In 2011, we hope to build on the success of these efforts and have an aggressive set of priorities to implement. To create additional jobs, we plan on developing a retail incubator, prepare a business plan for a student run graphic design incubator and work with Wayne County to improve facilities and incentives as a way to create jobs at Willow Run Airport. We want to market and promote secondary school options to increase student enrollment and attract new companies to the area. To enhance our quality of place, we want to continue to redevelop dilapidated commercial buildings and look forward to the redevelopment of the Parkview Apartments, West Cross Streetscape and EMU wayfinding projects.

 We have accomplished a great deal with the help of our regional partners and we look forward to your continued leadership and engagement throughout the coming year.