Current Projects

Statewide Vision SummaryJackson High Speed Rail

Jackson is vying to be part of Michigan’s high speed rail system, targeted to connect major cities such as Detroit, Ann Arbor, Lansing and Chicago. Jackson Citizen’s for Economic Growth’s High Speed Rail Committee is working to ensure that our community doesn’t get left by the wayside as the system gets put into action.

In 2004, when Michigan began studying the feasibility of a high speed rail system, Jackson was initially under consideration for a Jackson-to-Lansing run on the existing tracks. When the study indicated that ridership on that run would be low, Jackson was dropped from the project. The study was not comprehensive, according to Tom Grace, chairman of JCEG’s High Speed Rail Committee and past President/CEO of the Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation.

“We’ve found data showing much higher ridership than the state study,” said Grace, who recently retired from General Motors as an engineering manager. “We’re trying to get Jackson back into the study.”

Jackson’s state legislators, Mark Schauer, Senator Randy Richardville and Representatives Martin Griffin and Mike Simpson, are already on board with the project. The next step is to convince Governor Granholm to add Jackson back into the mix.

High speed rail service between Kalamazoo and Chicago, which will travel at 95 miles per hour, is already a solid part of the state’s plan. Trips between Detroit and Ann Arbor are nearing the end of the study stage.

In addition to higher ridership, Jackson has another important asset: a rail yard at the east end of town that could be used for train repair and service. “We have plenty of room and track at Page and Elm,” said Grace. “Ann Arbor would have to build a rail yard at a cost of about $7 million.”

The Michigan Department of Transportation is setting the specifications for the rail cars to be used and is currently spending $500,000 to develop a prototype rail car. The cars, which will be built by Great Lakes Central Railroad of Owosso, must meet AMTRAK specifications. High speed trains will likely consist of five 85-foot-long double-decker cars with “head end” diesel engines contained within the car.

If you’d like to get involved in bringing high-speed rail to Jackson, please contact us at info@growjackson.com.

View statwide vision summary click here 


Enterprise Faciliation

Jackson Citizens for Economic Growth (JCEG) wants to more formally pursue the Enterprise Facilitation concept. Part of this next level of investigation will be a meeting(s) with various community agencies, organizations and institutions regarding the concept and how it interfaces with existing services and programs.

People in the greater Jackson community have been exposed to the concept of Enterprise Facilitation (as presented by the Sirolli Institute - http://www.sirolli.com/) on several occasions in the last year. About 350 people heard Ernesto Sirolli speak at the Armory Arts Village in January, 2008. Another 35 attended a more detailed one-day session on the concept in July 2008. Many people, including a good number of citizens (i.e. those who are not economic development practitioners) are continuing to express an interest in the concept.

Enterprise Facilitation is a very grassroots means of allowing an individual with a dream to more fully explore the potential of creating a livelihood from their own skills and passions. It has two important elements. It is centered on a large community-based board to generate community interest in an entrepreneurial culture. Secondly, it offers the very personal one-on-one relationship of an Enterprise Facilitator who offers a citizen pursuing an entrepreneurial dream the free, confidential and competent coaching needed to allow their idea to be freely and fully pursued. The essence of the Enterprise Facilitation approach is to allow our local citizens the opportunity to realize their entrepreneurial dreams. Ernesto Sirolli said:

“The greatest assets we have in our communities, regardless of size, are the dreams of our citizens to use their respective talents and passions to improve themselves. If you talk with someone for a period of time and earn their confidence, you’ll often learn they have a dream to apply their talents and passions to a new endeavor, one with the potential to earn a living, and with some degree of success, the chance to create jobs for others. These diamonds in the rough are the potential entrepreneurs who often will never advance their idea because they lack true support. Imagine if we could be successful in helping these people transform their dreams into meaningful work that provides a rewarding livelihood and the opportunity to employ others, we would profoundly change the economic fortunes for the entire community.”

JCEG sees three distinguishing characteristics of the Enterprise Facilitation approach:

  1. The large Management Board of citizens and professionals that guide the program, but, more importantly, create a network to reach out to those people with skills and a passion for creating a new venture, and introducing them to the Enterprise Facilitator.
  2. The Enterprise Facilitator who coaches potential entrepreneurs at the most elemental level.
  3. The Trinity of Management philosophy that encourages entrepreneurs to find, from the beginning, others that can complement the strengths of the entrepreneur in (1) creating the product/service, (2) marketing and (3) financial management.

Pursuing Enterprise Facilitation - JCEG believes they can secure the funding to train the Enterprise Facilitator and the community-wide Management Board. The next steps will include a thorough review of reports and independent evaluations of the concept and a visit to one or more communities that have implemented and are operating an Enterprise Facilitation initiative.


Centralized Community Center

A Youth Task Force was created over a year ago with the following in mind:

  • Involve young adults that are currently involved in leadership roles
  • Look at what has been done currently in these leadership roles
  • Coach and mentor young leaders to be stronger leaders
  • Involve the young adults in current JCEG economic development projects
  • Brainstorm on future development

JCEG is currently working with the Youth Task Force on developing a Centralized Community Activity Center that will challenge young people to think outside of Jackson but rather - how can we attract people internationally?

The goal of developing a centralized community center is to provide a center for everyone to use that will offer many opportunities for collaboration in one place. We want to make it a magnet that will attract people not only on a local scale but international scale.

The facility will provide a great opportunity for research mining as we’ll be able to capture information on demographics, local businesses, etc. The center will have a mentoring focus and along with educational opportunities. Education will be a key focus as we want to inject the value of education into our young people.

 

Hayes Hotel Project

JCEG is currently assisting in the development process of the former Hayes Hotel in downtown Jackson. This is an essential part of revitalizing our downtown and creating a community that will attract other small businesses. Details at this time are still confidential and we will keep you posted on the results of our continued efforts.

http://www.hayescommons.com/

http://blog.mlive.com/citpat/2008/05/prospective_tenant_eyes_hayes.html

http://blog.mlive.com/citpat/2008/09/developer_names_tenant_for_hay.html

http://www.cityofjackson.org/departments/communitydevelopment/pdfs/Hayes%20Hotel.pdf

http://www.enterprisegroup.org/available-property-results/280