Elevating community engagement for community development in Macomb County.
Register Today!Advancing Macomb Event
Advancing Macomb’s 2025 Community Engagement Summit
Thursday, September 18, 2025
8:30 AM – Noon
John Lewis Community Center
Macomb County Community College
14500 12 Mile Rd, Warren, MI 48088
Join us for the 2025 Community Engagement Summit – a morning of networking, collaboration and learning aimed at inspiring action and building partnerships while exploring best practices for community engagement.
Event highlights include:
Whether you work in local government, lead a nonprofit, own a business or care about strengthening your community, this summit offers valuable insights, new connections and fresh inspiration to help you make a greater impact.
Tickets are $50 and include a light breakfast. Space is limited – reserve your spot today!
For questions or sponsorship opportunities, please contact us at info@advancingmacomb.com or 586-651-0055.
Advancing Macomb Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. A portion of your ticket purchase may be tax deductible – please consult your tax professional for details.
Register Today!Advancing Macomb hosted its second annual Community Engagement Summit on September 27, 2024 at the Welsh Activity Center at Lake St. Clair Metropark. The event brought together business, community and civic leaders from across Macomb County and metro Detroit for an afternoon of networking, collaboration and learning centered on best practices for community engagement.
Jeanette Pierce, founder and president of the City Institute in Detroit, kicked off the event with an inspiring keynote address. She emphasized the significance of community storytelling and urged the audience to uncover their own narrative by identifying individuals, locations or initiatives in their community that contribute to their city’s uniqueness. She also encouraged the audience to recognize and challenge people’s assumptions about their city.
Following the keynote, attendees heard a panel discussion featuring experts in community engagement. The panelists included Nicole Brown, director of strategic partnerships at Detroit Future City, Stephanie Harbin, president of San Juan Street Block Club and Jeanette Pierce, founder and president of the City Institute. Jeremiah Staes, co-founder and host of Daily Detroit, moderated the discussion, focusing on successful community engagement strategies and lessons learned.
Event sponsors included City Institute, First State Bank, Consumers Energy, Macomb Community College and BridgeBuilding Strategies.
Read More: Advancing Macomb Inspires Leaders at Second Annual Community Engagement Summit
Civic, nonprofit and business leaders throughout Macomb County gathered for the inaugural Advancing Macomb Community Engagement Summit on April 28 at Macomb Community College. The event’s goal was to inspire investment in emotionally engaging citizen-led projects that enhance the quality of life and economic vitality in the county and region.
A key takeaway from the summit is that people are more likely to care about their city and love it when there is emotional engagement. Keynote speaker Peter Kageyama, author of Love Where You Live and For the Love of Cities, inspired the audience with the idea that even small things can have an outsized impact. He encouraged the audience to think beyond basic needs like safety and function and aspire to be an interesting and fun city. Create “Love Notes” from your city, Kageyama offered, through things like parks and green space, city rituals and interactive public art. Kageyama also encouraged the group to act in their communities by seizing and celebrating attainable ideas and solutions that get you further down the road to the desired result.
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