Did you miss any of our coverage of the 2011 Mackinac Policy Conference? Watch all three episodes of our nightly wrap-up show here!

Rick Pluta from Michigan Public Radio presents the third and final segment in a series of podcasts from the 2011 Mackinac Policy Conference.

Finally, somebody called out Michiganders for the collective chip on their shoulders.
“It’s about solving the problem,” Governor Rick Snyder told attendees at the Mackinac Policy Conference. He added that we’re too much involved in negativity, in looking back, in finger-pointing.
I’ve lived here all of my life, and I’d like to know: How did we get that way?
Yes, the place is a mess on many levels. The unemployment rate is too high; too many youngsters drop out of high school; we’ve got problems in the area of race race relations.
The same can be said for many other places across the country. But seem to wear it on our sleeves.
We have so much we can point to with pride.
Finally, somebody is suggesting we quit beating ourselves up and build a better life for ourselves.
It won’t be easy…but it sure beats the alternative.

Welcome to our third and final day of coverage of the 2011 Mackinac Policy Conference. There’s still a lot of excitement on the Island this morning as some of the most anticipated events are yet to come. We’ll be bringing it all to you streaming live right here on Mivote.org, and on your local PBS station.

Some highlights for today (all schedules/details subject to change):

8:30am – SESSION: Re-building, Re-inventing and Re-energizing Michigan with Governor Rick Snyder

9:30am – SESSION: Urban Cities: The Core of Michigan’s Renaissance

10:00am – SESSION: One State, One Voice: Accomplishing a Unified Michigan Agenda

11:00am – SESSION: The Fab Five: Strengthening Southeast Michigan through Collaboration

Did you miss anything yesterday in our gavel to gavel coverage of the Mackinac Policy Conference? We’ve got you covered. Hover your mouse over ‘Mackinac’ on our homepage and you’ll see eight channels of content to choose from.

Some highlights from Thursday:

Am I Right? Nolan Finley and Debbie Dingell welcome Senator Debbie Stabenow and Senator Carl Levin

Excellent Schools Detroit

Re-Building Michigan’s Strategic Advantage with Harvard Business School Professor Dr. Michael Porter

Health Care’s Role in Michigan’s Economic Recovery

Rick Pluta from Michigan Public Radio presents the second of a three-part series of podcasts from the 2011 Mackinac Policy Conference.

U.S. Senator Carl Levin had this to say about the successful federal bailout of General Motors and Chrysler at the Mackinac Conference: Just maybe, he told interviewers Nolan Finley and Debbie Dingell, people might consider the fact that public and private cooperation is “no longer a dirty word.”

The “dirty word” campaign has been going on for quite some time, with the simplistic assumption that government’s only job is to get out of the way of business.

But that flies in the face of what made this country great. Government investment can be great for business.
Example One: The Erie Canal, built in the 19th Century with government money. It connected the East Coast (New York) with the country’s interior via Lake Erie. Suddenly the rest of the country was able to transport goods over great distances. Business boomed. The country changed. Cash registers rang.

Example Two: Fast forward to the 20th Century, when Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed an interstate highway system. Once again, it was a government investment that proved a boon to business, which was able to send goods over longer distances, and at less cost. Again, the cash registers rang. It was another game-changer.

So it seems with the automotive industry. The federal government investment was deemed to be socialism. It was President Obama trying to take over private industry. It was the end of freedom and liberty as we know it.

Maybe not. Maybe the government investment was good for business.

Senators Levin and Debbie Stabenow both pointed that out at the Mackinac Conference.
Most (but not all) of the Michigan congressional delegation gets that. Perhaps they’ll spread the word.

Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone took center stage at the Mackinac Policy Conference today and gave a rousing speech about the state of education in America. Canada is widely known for his role in the documentary “Waiting for Superman.”

The education system in America is broken, Canada asserts. He identified three key issues holding us back:

1. We are investing in the wrong things. While cost per pupil spending is based on what is “scalable,” the cost for incarcerating a child is never examined in the same way. Incarceration rates in the United States are through the roof – highest in the world by far. “This is what we’re doing with our money. This is the investment we make,” Canada said.
2. We have allowed an epidemic of obesity that will cost this country millions in health care costs. A recent study Canada referenced stated that 70 percent of kids aren’t able to get into the military.The education is so bad that thirty percent  can’t pass the exam to get into the army, obesity keeps the other 40 percent out. Keeping kids healthy and educated is the most important investment we can make, and we’re simply not doing it.
3. We have a misplaced notion that “college isn’t for everyone.” Canada rejects this idea. His goal in Harlem was to get every single student into college — to have the same expectations for each child, regardless of background or circumstance. “When in doubt,” Canada said, “do what rich people do. It seems to be working just fine for them.”

His goals for Harlem were investment, healthy kids and expectations of higher education. “To achieve these goals you have to have schools that educate kids at that level – and we don’t,” Canada asserts. He says the blame is not on the students or the circumstances of poverty or crime. The responsibility rests squarely on our shoulders and on the shoulders of educators.

“If you get paid to educate a child and you can’t do it, you should go into a different business. Who could run a business with failure as an expected standard?”

Kids aren’t learning because we aren’t doing our jobs.

When Canada took over the Harlem schools, he pledged to fire himself after five years if his schools didn’t improve. He also told his staff he’d be the last one out the door. “If the kids aren’t succeeding, guess who’s working Saturday? Guess who’s staying after school?”

Canada oversees two K-12 charter schools with extended hours and no union contract. He offers a number of social programs to his students, beginning with Baby College, a nine-week parenting program that teaches parents alternatives to corporal punishment and to read and talk more with their children.

According to his website, at Promise Academy I middle school, where the students entered at sixth grade and were two and three years behind grade level, there has been some great progress. The eighth-graders scored 87 percent on or above grade level on the latest statewide math test, whereas they had entered the school with only 40 percent at grade level.

He concluded by saying the change will only come from the community level. It’s clear to Canada that our elected leaders don’t have the answers. If we don’t do it, it’s not going to happen.

Geoffrey Canada is President and CEO for Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), which The New York Times Magazine called “one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time.” In 2005, he was named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by US News and World Report. The work of Geoffrey and HCZ has become a national model and has been the subject of many profiles in the media. Their work has been featured on several national news programs. Most recently, Geoffrey can be seen prominently featured in the Davis Guggenheim documentary Waiting for Superman.

Good morning. We’re already off the the races here on Mackinac Island. You can watch our Live Stream all day, or tune into your local PBS station to catch all the action. (Times and details all subject to change)

A few highlights to look out for:

9:00am - Christy McDonald welcomes Sen. Randy Richardville (R) and Sen. Bert Johnson (D) to talk Michigan politics.

9:30am – Nolan Finley (Detroit News) talks education with Margaret Trimer-Hartley (U-Prep), John Austin (State Board of Ed) and Mary Kay Sheils (CMU).

9:45am – One on one interview with Shirley Stancato (New Detroit)

10:00am - SESSION: Improving Michigan’s Future with Doug Rothwell (Business Leaders for Michigan), Stephen Clark (WXYZ), Richard Dauch (AAM), Michael Duggan (Detroit Medical Center) and Chip McClure (Meritor, Inc.)

11:00am – Talking all things Grand Rapids with Rishi Jaitley (Knight Foundation), David Egner (Hudson Webber) and Andrew Johnson (Grand Rapids Chamber)

12:15pm – SESSION: Excellent Schools in Detroit with Patrick Fehring (Fifth Third Bank), Carol Goss (Skillman Foundation), Lou Glazer, Ralph Bland (Detroit Edison Public School Academy) and C. David Campbell (McGregor Fund)

1:30pm – SESSION: Re-Building Michigan’s Strategic Advantage with Devin Scillian (WDIV) and Michael Porter (Harvard Business School)

3:45pn – SHOW: Am I Right?

6:30pm – MiVote Mackinac Tonight wrap-up show with host Christy McDonald