On-Demand Coaching helps Michigan municipalities and their small businesses build a winning team

Ypsilanti will be the first municipality to take part in a new Michigan Municipal League program: On-Demand Coaching. The technical assistance program helps municipalities implement best practices for supporting the small, local businesses that foster their overall economic success.

Andy LaBarre, A2Y Regional Chamber executive vice president and director of government relations, shares his excitement about the program.

“If you go down Michigan Avenue or to Depot Town, there are those unique, independent businesses that people know, love, and associate with. To be able to build the next generation of them would be invaluable for the local nature of Ypsilanti,” he says. “It’s important for municipalities to have a proactive approach to their business community, to try and make it as easy as possible to develop there, grow there, and stay there.”

LaBarre hopes that On-Demand Coaching results in Ypsilanti gaining more small, innovative employers — because they are “what makes Ypsilanti a great little place.” He believes that the city’s participation in the program lets its small businesses and entrepreneurs know that they’ve got a partner in their municipality.

“That will give them the confidence to open and then eventually to expand,” LaBarre says. “As some of these businesses grow, they will need new and different space. They will be more inclined to stay within the city because they know the city has their back, wants them here, and has articulated a reason for them to be here.”

Wyandotte weighs in

Another municipality that will benefit from On-Demand Coaching, Wyandotte has long participated in The League’s other programs.

“We’re a great community. We have a lot of wonderful resources and wonderful assets,” says Joe Gruber, director of both the City of Wyandotte Community and Economic Development and Downtown Development Authority. “This program will fine-tune the strategy, focus on our greatest needs, improve upon weaknesses, and address some of the threats facing the community.”

He also notes that smaller municipalities have fewer resources to work with. 

“We have to do more with less. Small communities might not have as many paid staff members or contractors working for them,” he says. “Wyandotte is looking for assistance with planning, technical assistance, and strategic support with … destination-based marketing, tourism, business development, business procurement, and economic development strategies that revolve around more employment and quality of life.”

Local Economies front and center

On-Demand Coaching grew from The League’s Local Economies initiative, which helps communities across southeast Michigan better support small businesses. The League’s 2022 report, Place needs small business — And small business needs help, identified how municipal governments can help small businesses and entrepreneurs access existing capital and technical assistance. 

Melissa Milton-Pung, program manager, Michigan Municipal League Policy Research Labs leads the On-Demand Coaching program.

“It’s those smaller businesses that are trying to get out of someone’s kitchen table into an incubator or from an incubator into their first storefront, or that small food-based business trying to turn itself into a taco truck, or has a stall at the farmers market and wants their first storefront,” she says.

Local Economies has also produced The League’s Microbusiness Essentials Guide, which shares important process, policy, and partnership steps as well as the Comprehensive Playbook, which provides additional ideas beyond the core steps. In addition, The League hosts on-site conversations with local community stakeholders to develop “opportunity reports” detailing recommendations tailored to their community. 

“We have found that talking with peers to share ideas or be a sounding board can help local leaders feel confident and able to proceed with advancing conversations in their community,” Milton-Pung says.

On-Demand Coaching is available to municipalities in Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, St Clair, Oakland, Wayne, and Washtenaw counties. The League is concentrating on communities with populations of 25,000 or less but invites those interested to apply. 

“Those local leaders are doing, oftentimes, the work of two or three full-time jobs to help support a variety of different endeavors in their community,” Milton-Pung says. ”In many instances, it isn’t that our municipal leaders need a lot of education, it’s more coaching. Letting them know, ‘”You got this.'”

To apply for On-Demand Coaching, municipalities can email Milton-Pung, mmiltonpung@mml.org, to schedule an initial conversation with The League’s On-Demand Coaching team. From there, qualifying municipalities can complete an intake form and application. 

“We want to get a good sense of if we can be the right people. Oftentimes, we can refer them to other individuals or agencies that are a better fit to support a specific question,” Milton-Pung says. “We’re really trying to support communities that need an additional boost of capacity to help them have the confidence and the best practices to improve municipality support of local businesses.”

On-Demand Coaching will help municipalities think about next steps for creating a strong business community, a healthier local economy, and increased tax revenue. Citing the book “Local Dollars, Local Sense,” Milton-Pung explains that dollars spent with local businesses circulate in the local economy more deeply and repeatedly than those spent on Amazon or big-box chains. 

“It also helps municipalities feel that their staff and elected officials are representing the interests of community members, that they are responsive to what’s happening in their business community –– proactively trying to engage support,” she says. 

Milton-Pung notes that business ownership can be isolating. On-Demand Coaching will foster a community of businesses, helping them to work collaboratively and align with community programming that can increase their walk-in traffic.  

“We want to have strong Michigan communities, advance the quality of life in Michigan communities, and improve the quality of life for Michigan residents,” Milton-Pung concludes. “I’m hoping that people will feel more connected to their community, that they will want to go to the downtown commercial core to find out what’s going on and check out a new shop.”

Photos by Doug Coombe.
Melissa Milton-Pung photo courtesy Michigan Municipal League.

This story is made possible with funding from the Michigan Municipal League Foundation, a nonprofit association dedicated to making Michigan’s communities better by thoughtfully innovating programs, energetically connecting ideas and people, actively serving members with resources and services, and passionately inspiring positive change for Michigan’s greatest centers of potential: its communities.