• CenterRing: The Suburbs Alliance Debuts e-Newsletter
• Energized: A Culture of Change

Positive transformation. That’s what the Michigan Suburbs Alliance is working for in the Detroit region, and that’s also what our re-launched e-newsletter manifests. In the twice-monthly CenterRing, you can expect dynamic news about southeast Michigan’s cities and leaders in a vibrant format.


Energized/A Culture of Change

Call this crisis an opportunity. The pressing issue of energy is bringing together strange bedfellows--large corporations are at the same table with environmentalists, while civic leaders partner with neighboring communities. As energy collaborations dissolve borders, the Suburbs Alliance believes this is an unprecedented chance for the practical regionalism of southeast Michigan’s future.

“Our projects are grounded in a vision of sustainability for our cities that coheres around energy,” said Conan Smith, executive director of the Suburbs Alliance.

Through the Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office, the Millennial Mayors Congress, Redevelopment Ready Communities and advocacy of transit-oriented development, the Suburbs Alliance is poised at the crux of both sustainability and regionalism. It is perhaps inevitable; after all, it’s hard to imagine how one can succeed without the other.


Luke Forrest, formerly the Suburbs Alliance’s public policy director, is now the Regional Energy Office program director. The Regional Energy Office is now fourteen cities strong (and growing!). It launched a new website over the summer. Primarily for her work in building the Regional Energy Office, the Suburbs Alliance’s Brittany Galisdorfer was honored with the Dave Bing Future Leader award last month, as part of the Shining Light Awards for Regional Cooperation.

Meanwhile, the Millennial Mayors Congress is bringing together city officials and emerging leaders from nearly two dozen cities who committed to spend their first year focusing on sustainability. Through collective and local action, MMC is creating both a culture of environmental responsibility and a culture of regionalism. Mayor Suzanne Pixley of Eastpointe chairs MMC’s executive committee. Two young leaders from Southfield, Brendan Mullane and Natasha Lampkins, are the most recently appointed Millennial representatives.

Redevelopment Ready Communities, for its part, recognizes that a culture of sustainable energy result is in an increased interest in redeveloping buildings, rather than tearing them down to make space for all-new developments. RRC was pleased to certify Ferndale as a Redevelopment Ready Community over the summer, and it has just kicked off an RRC evaluation in Hamtramck. Itself evolving to meet the needs of cities, RRC recently elected its first board of directors and is restructuring the process for RRC certification renewal. With southeast Michigan’s suburbs committing to redevelopment, the region is energizing a culture of change.

While RRC supports transit-oriented development practices, the Suburbs Alliance is developing a more robust focus on TOD, supported by a major grant from the Ford Foundation. In recognition of transit’s importance in combating global climate change, as well as catalyzing regionalism, this new program area will hone in on both the planning aspects of neighborhood design as well as the mechanisms to robustly fund transit in the region..

As well, the Suburbs Alliance is matching its philosophy with its practice. While maintaining its home office in Ferndale, the organization’s mobile office reflects the alternative work environments of the 21^st century—the kind of environmentally-sound practices that appeal to the next generation of talent.

Given the importance of an evolution of energy practices, as well as the fact that it will requires collaborations to make it happen, perhaps it is no surprise that the Suburbs Alliance’s projects are provoking interest and support. Thanks to grant support of its work, the Suburbs Alliance is building its team—including Monique Tucker as its new executive secretary and three further hires that will be made soon.

Connect/Other Ways to Interact


Millennial Mayors Congress and Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office on Twitter.
Millennial Mayors Congress on Facebook.


Photography by Christina Drane. Images are of the city of Southgate and an orientation for Cool Cities fellows. If you are interested in purchasing a print of these images, email Christina@suburbsalliance.org.