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LANSING Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced a plan to encourage collaboration and resource sharing among local governments. The Centers for Regional Excellence (CRE) program (www.michigan.gov/cre) will help communities work together to share services, agencies, equipment, and employees in order to streamline government and save taxpayer money. Granholm announced that the state is seeking proposals from community partnerships interested in obtaining a ? Center of Excellence ? designation and a grant to support their collaboration efforts.
Granholm pointed to examples of neighboring communities sharing public safety dispatch, transportation authorities, and payroll systems as examples of ways that local governments are spending taxpayer dollars more effectively through collaboration.
?We have to get the most out of every taxpayer dollar at every level of government,? said Granholm. ?We must look beyond traditional local turf politics to find creative ways to work together to make government better and less expensive. I applaud the efforts of local leadership to improve efficiency and services through cooperation.?
The CRE program will provide grants of up to $25,000 over two years to encourage the coordination and combining of services. Grants will be awarded to five pilot communities that demonstrate a commitment and a plan to improve services through collaboration. The grants will be funded through existing community development dollars at the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA). As CRE pilots, selected communities will also receive access to information from other communities that have already saved dollars through collaborative programs and to university-level facilitators and researchers to assist in developing service-sharing programs.
Many Michigan communities have already formed regional coalitions to provide more cost-effective services as well as to plan for land use and other shared concerns. CRE will promote new and creative ways to collaborate and help communities get the most out of their resources. A committee of representatives from the Department of Labor and Economic Growth, MSHDA, and several Michigan universities will review submitted proposals and make recommendations for the five pilot CREs. Proposals are due December 14, 2005. Applicants must include a statement of support for collaborative projects from participating governmental units and community partners along with a statement of proposed collaborative activities/projects. Proposals must also include information regarding how pilot funds will be supported by local, in-kind matching investments and a description of how progress will be measured. Priority will be given to projects with a greater variety and number of governmental organizations involved in collaboration, likelihood of success and support of community stakeholders.
For more information, contact Heidi Hansen at .
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