Ten foundations, including Ford and Kresge, have banded together to create a $100 million pot of funds intended to help transform Michigan's economy.
Excerpt:
"One hundred million is a lot of money on one hand," said Steve Hamp, former president of The Henry Ford and chairman of the initiative's new governing council. "But for the scale of what we're talking about, it's not a lot of money, considering the need."
That more than 60 percent of the funding is coming from outside Michigan underscores a stark consensus that the state's economic troubles are so bad they're worthy of major league philanthropy -- or, put another way, we're so bad that it's good.
"We are not done building the ship we are about to launch," said Hamp, adding that much of the fund will be aimed at efforts to create "high-wage, high-knowledge" jobs in the service sector. "We know Michigan needs to catch up in this area and that we are lagging."
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