Michigan Youth Political Alliance

Just two weeks ago, I attended the Emerging Leaders Forum, sponsored by the Center For Michigan. The Forum brought together leaders of ages 16-34 to find common ground on state issues and to discuss progressive solutions that could bring about change and prosperity in Michigan. The Center marked this moment in our history as “Michigan’s Defining Moment.” We all know the challenges (auto industry decline, unemployment, political partisanship, and so forth), and we all know how tough they are to address. The Center was determined to examine various facets of the problem to find the best solutions and to increase awareness about the problems.

I was the youngest in the group at age 17, and it was a really brightening experience to hear positive ideas from so many young (well, they were ten years older than I was) leaders. I gained significant insight into entrepreneurship, K-12 education and political corruption across the state. In the future, I will probably be working with several people in the Forum and the Center For Michigan to bring more people into our community conversations.

For more information about the Center’s work, check out Michigan’s Defining Moment.
Please join a community conversation to get involved in your state.

A couple of weeks ago, I introduced MiVote, a student political YouTube for the state of Michigan. MiVote and the Center for Michigan are collaborating together (along with Detroit Public Television to bring you Michigan House Representative debates in a series called “The Great Debates. These are high-quality debates that unfairly go unrecognized with all the public attention going to the presidential elections.

According to the press release, “the debates were moderated by Nolan Finley and Jeff Hadden of The Detroit News, and Ron Dzwonkowski and Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press.” According to the Center For Michigan, “They [the candidates] dive deep into the issues, economic development, business taxes, property taxes, term limits, improving graduation rates, cutting prison spending, reforming health care benefits, right to work, regional collaboration, and, yes, a few barbs.” Check these out:

Michigan House Debate – District 20 – Meet the candidates who want to represent Northville and Plymouth… Democratic Rep. Marc Corriveau and Republican Jerry Vorva

Michigan House Debate – District 25 – Meet the candidates who want to represent Warren and Sterling Heights… Republican Michael Wiecek and Democrat Jon Switalski

For more debates, visit the Great Debates at MiVote.