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All this year, Michigan Radio’s Morning Edition host Christina Shockley has been speaking with people across the state about what three things they think we can all do to improve Michigan. Today we hear from Sarah Szurpicki, Director of the Great Lakes Urban Exchange (GLUE).

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Sarah’s first suggestion is to fight the Michigan immigration bill – a bill that gives Michigan police the right to make an arrest when the suspect is not carrying documentation of citizenship.

“We need to think about how to make Michigan a more welcoming state. That’s part of our cultural legacy – we’ve always been a place of opportunity for people moving here from other places, and right now I think of this in terms of being welcoming to immigrants. Even if you don’t sort of buy into the idea that a diverse and culture rich in immigrant cultures is a more exciting place to live and you just look at the economics, immigrants are almost twice as likely as native born Americans to start businesses, especially hi-tech start-ups, which, according to a recent report by Global Detroit in Michigan are six times more likely to be started by a foreign born Michigander than a native Michigander, and obviously many of them have college degrees.”

Her second idea is for people to read the Detroit Declaration. Sarah describes The Detroit Declaration as “an organizing document for people who love Detroit and who feel like we need to set forth a new vision for what Detroit should become.”

Sarah describes one of these principles as “Promoting sustainability…all of our cities could be more sustainable. And we mean that both in sort of a let’s be more energy efficient, but let’s also think about sustainable economics were we’re building more equitable communities in all of Michigan.”

When asked how the document might improve the state as a whole she says, “…our different communities don’t talk to each other, and don’t value each other…we need to be really quickly reinventing ourselves. We need the assets of every single community.” She hopes that this document will replicate itself in similar iterations throughout the state.

Finally, Sarah thinks Michiganders should get involved in the primaries and vote.

“Our state House of Representatives has 110 seats and this year due to term limits, and people choosing to run for different offices, we expect that around sixty percent of those seats are up for election.”

She believes that the average person, even someone who cannot write a big check, can have an impact this election.

“Most of these races are going to be decided by a few thousand voters, which means that if you volunteer between now and the August primary, for a candidate that you like and you support, you can help that candidate cross that line with the most votes. It’s not time to sit back and let someone else decide what Michigan looks like going forward.”