The Growth Office builds on the Growing Michigan Together Council's recommendations to retain and attract talent in Michigan

LANSING, Mich. – Friday, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) announced the creation of Michigan’s Growth Office. The Office is tasked with implementing the Growing Michigan Together Council’s blueprint for growth, passed 19-1 in December 2023. With Gov. Whitmer signing an executive order deeming the Council’s work complete, Michigan’s Growth Office will lead the state’s population growth work to retain current and attract future Michiganders. The Office, led by Chief Growth Officer Hilary Doe, will build on the Council’s recommendations by engaging Michiganders in the effort, launching pilots and programs to spark growth as well as leading storytelling, research and policy initiatives, all functioning together to grow the state’s population.

Late last month, the Michigan Legislature passed a balanced and bipartisan budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 that includes investments to advance the strategies outlined by the Council.

Approximately $45.5 million will support talent and growth efforts at the MEDC and the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. This funding will support Michigan’s population growth efforts as well as current and future workforce needs, including strategic talent retention and customized solutions to fill identified talent gaps.

“Michigan is focused on growing our state’s population and economy by retaining current residents and attracting new Michiganders,” said Governor Whitmer (left). “The Michigan Growth Office established within MEDC will implement the bipartisan recommendations of the Growing Michigan Together Council’s blueprint for growth and continue to tell our story far and wide. I am grateful to Chief Growth Officer Hilary Doe for her leadership, and I am so excited about our future. With Detroit’s population growing for the first time in 67 years and the momentum on our side, let’s keep working together to build more affordable housing, lower the cost of education from pre-K through college, and create good-paying, high-skill jobs in cutting-edge industries. Let’s set Michigan up for decades of growth and make it the best place to call home.”

Chief Growth Officer Doe oversees the state’s growth strategy, as well as growth and marketing at the MEDC. She also served as executive director of the Growing Michigan Together Council. Doe is leading the Growth Office housed within MEDC, which is operationalizing Council recommendations and amplifying Michigan’s value proposition as a great place to live, work and build a future.

"It will take all of us linking arms and leaning in with sharp elbows to reverse Michigan's population trends. Investments made by Governor Whitmer and the Legislature to continue the Growth Office’s work is reflective of the ongoing commitment I’ve seen from Michiganders across our state to build an even brighter future here in Michigan,” said Michigan’s Chief Growth Officer Hilary Doe (left). “We know that in order to retain current residents and attract young talent, we need great places, great opportunities and welcoming communities. Michigan has all three. Strategic investments in the priorities from Michigan’s blueprint for growth ensure we continue to build momentum statewide and across the country. Let's grow, Michigan.”

The three pillars of the blueprint for growth and examples of corresponding budget items that represent progress towards those goals, include:

1. Establishing Michigan as the Innovation Hub of the Midwest and America’s Scale-Up State while tackling barriers to labor force participation.

• $60 million to establish an Innovation Fund to invest in scalable startups and help launch hundreds of new Michigan-based companies, creating thousands of jobs.
• $24 million to support new technology and mobility projects, including drone infrastructure projects, e-bike incentives and an inductive charging pilot project.

2. Building a lifelong learning system focused on future-ready skills and competencies to ensure all Michiganders have access to 21st-century opportunities.

• $30 million investment to increase funding for the Michigan Achievement Scholarship, the state’s flagship scholarship program, providing a pathway to community college, tuition guaranteed.
  • Scholarships ensure every Michigan high school graduate can receive an associate degree or skilled certificate tuition-free at a community college, saving more than 18,000 students up to $4,820 on tuition each year.
• $181 million to help students reach their full academic potential, including continuation of payments for literacy grants and literacy coaches.

3. Creating thriving communities that are magnets for young talent, including places that are climate-resilient, transit-rich and housing-accessible.

• $100 million to construct more affordable housing, building on the historic $1.4 billion investment to build or rehabilitate almost 10,000 homes and the unprecedented $50 million set aside for housing.
• $75 million of additional funding to support transit, including local transit operating expenses, federal transit capital grants, marine passenger services, rail operations and transit capital matching funds.

“I am grateful to Governor Whitmer, the State Budget Office team and the Michigan Legislature for their collaboration and hard work to pass a budget that reflects and honors our commitment to the ‘Make It in Michigan’ economic development strategy’s focus on People, Places and Projects,” said MEDC CEO Quentin L. Messer, Jr. (left) “With the creation of Michigan’s Growth Office under Hilary’s leadership, we will continue to work together as Team Michigan to ensure the economic and population growth of our state so that everyone can truly ‘Make It in Michigan.”

Actions Taken to Grow Michigan’s Population

• In the past year, over 11,000 Michiganders provided feedback regarding challenges in their communities but also what they love most about calling Michigan home. This feedback was shared with the Growing Michigan Together Council. 
• In December 2023, the Growing Michigan Together Council voted 19-1 in support of recommendations to grow the state’s population.
• Items from Gov. Whitmer’s 2025 executive budget correlates to many of the Council’s blueprint for growth recommendations, examples include the Michigan Innovation Fund, Community College Guarantee as well as investments that support transit and affordable housing.
• Legislative action on the blueprint for growth, including legislative hearings with the Senate’s Economic and Community Development Committee on the Council’s findings and report has continued momentum around the population growth work.
• Since January 2024, engaged in over 80 public education sessions and briefings across the state on the blueprint for growth, engaging local communities and stakeholders in implementation.
• Hosted public events such as the MI HOMEcoming Tailgate for visitors and residents in town for the NFL draft to experience what makes Michigan a great place to call home.
• Earned national media coverage on Michigan’s innovative population growth effort (Governing, Monocle), including “why to move to Michigan” and the nation’s most ambitious talent retention and attraction effort (Cheddar TV), among others.
• The You Can in Michigan campaign, sister campaign to the growth team’s focus on talent attraction and retention, recently won 11 Telly awards for excellence in marketing.
• Released new national poll findings that surveyed over 6K people from 15 cities across the country that are popular destinations for young talent. Findings reveal their top considerations when choosing to relocate. 
• Launched climate action survey to learn specific details regarding the role climate plays in choosing where to live and work.
• A summer 2024 roadshow to highlight and amplify Michigan communities that have implemented innovative projects that align with the Council’s blueprint for growth. To date, we’ve made stops at Intern Connect in Grand Rapids, entrepreneurship hubs working on ‘blue tech’ in Traverse City and visited innovative workforce in the classroom programs in Marquette, among others.

MBN recently held a conversation with the Chief Growth Officer Hilary Doe: