Accomplishments

Charting The Course

Building One
Community

SpeedLink

Joint Public Services

Regional Alliance for Firefighter Training

Since 1958, Metropolitan Affairs Coalition has had an important role in stimulating regional cooperation to address issues as well as take advantage of project opportunities within Greater Detroit.  MAC’s early work included providing the research and development support needed to help form organizations now performing important regional functions – including the region’s area-wide planning organization, SEMCOG, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, and the area’s first transit authority, now called the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transit (SMART).

MAC's more recent projects and achivements include:

• Collaborating with the Detroit Free Press to plan and host the annual Shining Light Regional Cooperation Awards to honor individuals making important contributions to regional cooperation, progress, and understanding in Southeast Michigan.
  
  
• MAC partnered with SEMCOG to create a cohesive, action-oriented comprehensive economic development strategy – Increasing Jobs and Prosperity in Michigan (hot link to report) – to help shape southeast Michigan’s economic future. Funded in part by an Economic Development Administration grant, this initiative was guided by a task force composed of MAC and SEMCOG members, as well as other key economic development stakeholders. Through this coordinated approach we have created a framework for economic development that maximizes our assets; builds on existing programs and opportunities; provides a foundation for future growth; and lays the groundwork for funding and future projects. It includes 11 broad-based strategies and associated action steps that encompass the region’s human resources, business climate, and community assets – three important factors for attracting, retaining, expanding, and creating businesses and jobs.
  
  
• Developing the award-winning Detroit Heritage River Water Trail, the first planned water trail for Southeast Michigan, allowing kayakers and canoeists to paddle on and enjoy the unique natural resources and history of the Detroit, Huron, Raisin, and Rouge Rivers.

• Creating RAFT, the Regional Alliance For Firefighter Training, to coordinate, enhance, and more cost-effectively prepare firefighters in saving lives and property in Southeast Michigan through regional cooperation between community colleges and municipalities.

• Working with communities, under MAC’s Greater Detroit American Heritage River Initiative, to plan and execute projects improving the Detroit River and its environs – helping to leverage more than $40 million for such purposes.

• Designing and establishing EZ Ride, which coordinates the transportation services of community-based organizations to more effectively transport low-income and disabled individuals to jobs and needed services in city and suburban locations.

• Producing the award-winning Charting the Course: An Assessment of Assets & Opportunities on the Lower Detroit River that details and maps 73 facilities and natural/historic assets along the river and is widely used by the private and public sectors to identify project opportunities.

• Designing SpeedLink, an innovative regional rapid transit service, which was incorporated into SEMCOG’s adopted regional transit vision.

• Forming the Partnership for Economic Independence with the Warren/Conner Development Coalition, a job-training and career-coaching program that prepares and helps connect inner-city residents with employers in the regional labor market.

• Helping to restore 180 feet of Detroit River shoreline at DTE Energy Rouge Power Plant near the only public park in the City of River Rouge to enhance fish habitat and create better recreational fishing opportunities for residents and visitors.

• Convening a regional forum, The Public Deficit Crisis – Solutions for the Detroit Region, bringing together municipal leaders and finance experts to raise awareness of the critical fiscal problems facing local government as well as surface potential solution options.

• Developing Joint Public Services – intergovernmental arrangements permitting communities to join together to improve public service delivery and save tax dollars in such areas as joint purchasing, health care insurance, and fire protection.