Building Community Wealth Across Michigan
We define community wealth building as strategies that build community and individual assets, creating resilient and adaptable systems to address social and economic needs.
The Michigan Municipal League Foundation supports innovative work through partnerships, grants and programming that creatively and intentionally bring people together and build equitable community wealth. We also provide fiscal sponsorship and project support in Michigan Municipal League member communities.
The Pillars of Community Wealth Building
Lifelong Learning
the journey of education and training is recognized as spanning from young childhood through K-12 education and post-secondary pathways to ongoing opportunities for adult learners
Public Health
quality of life disparities are recognized and addressed while services are focused on increasing health impacts and fostering the human experience in public life
Arts & Culture
cultural identities, traditions and creative outputs are respected, celebrated and recognized as critical assets that build social fabric in a community
Financial Security
municipalities, community institutions, families and individuals are fiscally healthy; economic systems ensure a community can be economically resilient and allow for the continued proliferation of prosperity
Sustainability
natural resources are managed to ensure long-term sustainability of and harmony between the built and natural environment and leverage their worth as public assets
Infrastructure
the fundamental facilities and systems serving a county, city, or other area, including the services and facilities necessary for its economy to function
Trust & Belonging at the Center of Community Wealth Building
In addition to these components, we see trust and belonging as a social and emotional fabric that ties the community members and these components together in an interdependent framework:
- Trust in neighbors, community leaders, local governments and the other partners and services in place to help our communities thrive is essential to achieving community wealth.
- Belonging to the community is what strengthens the tie between community members and the place. Without people, a place is just a physical object. Connecting people who support each other and themselves in a localized way brings a place to life and increases access to community resources and social networks.