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Michigan Summit: Blueprint for Change
The "Michigan Summit: Blueprint for Change" conference was held on Saturday, June 12, 2010 at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing, Michigan. The theme of the conference was "People Power from the Ground Up" and the impressive array of speakers, panelists, sessions, and exhibits amplified this message. Approximately 500 people attended the 4th annual conference and heard from, and spoke with, key thought leaders from throughout the state and across the nation.
From the printed materials: "All around us, things are being re-imagined, re-engineered, re-invented. Auto manufacturing plants are churning out wind turbine parts. Unemployed workers are remaking themselves as experts in home weatherization. An economy that lived and died by the auto industry is becoming more diverse by the day as we add clean energy jobs, life science jobs, and more."
"Together, we're going to overcome challenges to continue and improve something we love. Together, we're going to start by setting some priorities, and then making sure we are trained to win big on those priority issues. Together, from community to community and from issue to issue, we're going to bring Michigan the change it needs."
The event was organized into a series of speakers, panel discussions, breakout sessions, and workshops. Over 40 leaders from business, government, and nonprofit sectors came together to share their perspectives on how to move Michigan forward and to make real a meaningful blueprint for change. The summit was designed to be interactive as well as informative, and attendees asked insightful questions on the points being made and helped shape and advance the thinking even further.
The keynote speaker was Van Jones, a globally recognized, award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean-energy economy. He is the co-founder of three successful non-profit organizations, a best-selling author, served as the green jobs advisor in the Obama White House in 2009, and is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a senior policy advisor at Green For All.
Andy Levin introduced Mr. Jones and shared three principles for moving forward: first, honestly acknowledge our problems; second, have a vision to solve those problems with the humility to listen and learn from others; and third, unite people together to bring about the change we need. Andy spoke with passion and conviction about the state of the state and the country, and fired up the large crowd for Van's keynote address.
Mr. Jones spoke with energy and with grace, and with cutting humor and with solemn gravity. He shared stories, like how a six-year-old asked a simple question, "Why are some people poor?" and the insights that such innocent wisdom revealed. He spoke of moving from rhetoric to reality, and from inspiration to implementation, as we move Michigan from part of the rust belt to part of the green belt.
He reminded us that the slogan in 2008 was "Yes we can," not "Yes he can" - we must continue to actively participate and make the necessary and difficult shift from hope to change. Mr. Jones reminded us that with the President, the House, and the Senate in Democratic hands we now have the "top-down" covered. We need to play our part and ensure that the "bottom-up" and the "inside-out" are strong and active.
Throughout the day, many speakers provided attendees with handouts and materials to help seed the progress we need. Attendees received updates on the science, legislative, and economic benefits of stem cell research, learned five key tactics that win campaigns, discussed the principles of collaboration and how they are being successfully applied by the Doing Development Differently in Detroit (D4) coalition, and reviewed ten things that everyone should know about health, including the fact that health is more than health care.
To close a thoroughly invigorating and thought-provoking day with a bang, attendees were treated to a video spotlighting a shared vision of values, policy principles, and a blueprint for "Think 2040 - A Blueprint for the Millennial America." Presented by Hillary Doe, this segment inspired the audience with its impactful message of caring about education as a fundamental right, striving for equal justice for everyone, and increasing economic opportunities with a social safety net - or better yet, a social safety trampoline.
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