Program Background

CEDAM’s Community Development Fellowship came to fruition in 2018 to help address common challenges Michigan’s diverse communities face: a lack of sufficient capacity to achieve their economic development potential. In partnership and with funding from MEDC, the first fellowship cohort launched in 2018 with fellows placed with communities participating in the State’s Project Rising Tide program.

The Fellowship places 10 fellows in 10 different host communities engaged with, or certified in, the RRC Program to expand their organizational capacity. The RRC Program is a voluntary technical assistance initiative offered through MEDC to empower communities by building a strong foundation of planning, zoning, and economic development best practices. Fellows work on a variety of projects within their host community to increase local collaboration and remove barriers to development within their community. This can include updating master plans and local zoning ordinances, increasing public participation in community events, managing volunteers, and acting as project manager when working with the municipality and developers.

At the end of the 2023-24 Fellowship, fellows had the opportunity to execute an implementation project in their host community. These projects took the shape of rain gardens, park clean-up and revitalization, public art/mural installations, new playscape installations, the creation of a farmer’s market, and overall placemaking efforts.

The Fellowship also puts an emphasis on the professional development and growth of fellows. Over the course of their 15 months in the Fellowship, fellows attend multiple webinars, trainings, and conferences across the state to learn and network. The broader goal of the Fellowship is to develop and retain community development leaders for the field in Michigan. Out of the 40 fellows who have completed the program, 36 are still in Michigan.