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On Sept. 29, 2023, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development issued a release announcing MDARD and the Office of Rural Development awarded 21 grants totaling more than $1 million through its Rural Readiness Grant Program to support predevelopment activities to expedite housing production and infrastructure improvements, and to bolster rural economies.
Confusion arose among many community leaders on Jan. 8, however, when the Michigan Labor and Economic Opportunity Office of Rural Prosperity announced Rural Readiness Grant Program awards totaling $852,000 to support 19 different rural community projects across Michigan's 10 Prosperity Regions through the Rural Readiness Grant Program. Four U.P. communities received a combined total of $200,000 in Rural Readiness grants through the Office of Rural Prosperity:
• Upper Peninsula Health Care Solutions, Inc. -- $50,000. Alger, Baraga, Chippewa, Delta, Dickinson, Gogebic, Houghton, Iron, Keweenaw, Luce, Mackinac, Marquette, Menominee, Ontonagon, Schoolcraft counties. Establish a network of behavioral health care providers, hospitals, clinics, health departments, tribal health care organizations, and third-party payers to evaluate and develop a region-wide solution to behavioral and mental health care access issues for U.P. residents.
•Great Lakes Recovery Centers -- $50,000. Fifteen U.P. counties and northern Lower Michigan. Develop property site in Sault Ste. Marie for new Women's New Hope House (WNHH), a residential treatment center.(9)
• City of Hancock -- $50,000. Feasibility study and environmental assessment related to five specific sites that were owned by the former Finlandia University that the city of Hancock would like to redevelop.
• Keweenaw County/Keweenaw County Sheriff's Department -- $50,000. Develop plans for a brick-and-mortar Keweenaw County Emergency Response Center.
• Superior Watershed Partnership: Alger, Baraga Marquette -- $50,000. Provide education for promoting sustainable nature tourism; identify, prioritize and restore degraded natural areas; increase disaster response training for several partners/stakeholder groups.
Confusion arose when the above grants were applied for, they were requested through MDARD's Office of Rural Development. However, when they were announced earlier this month, the release came through the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity's Office of Rural Prosperity.
Some time after Governor Gretchen Whitmer created the Office of Rural Development, within MDARD, she renamed it the Office of Rural Prosperity and transferred the office to the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Whitmer was following other states that had already established similar offices.
For example, In his January 2020 State of the State Address, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers called on the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation to establish an Office of Rural Prosperity.
The Office of Rural Prosperity in Kansas is under that state's Department of Commerce.
On March 10, 2022, U.S. Representative Angie Craig (D-MN) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA) introduced the Rural Prosperity Act, a bipartisan bill that, Craig's website says, would streamline federal services for rural America and cut bureaucratic red tape by establishing the Office of Rural Prosperity - a permanent office in the White House tasked with coordinating federal efforts to support and connect America's rural communities to federal programs and resources. The bill stems from Craig's continued focus on improving outcomes for rural families and economies in Minnesota's Second Congressional District and across rural America.
[This is part two of a four-part series examining Rural Readiness grants, their sources and purpose. The next installment will look at the Federal Office of Rural Prosperity.]