Quick Hit News
Orange Countyʼs Santa Margarita Water District is using GIS to manage 9,000 hydrants and three recycled-water reservoirs (3B gallons) to speed aerial firefighting. In Pennsylvania and Washington, agencies like Hampton Shaler
and Bellevue Utilities are replacing paper workflows with GIS dashboards and AMI-powered customer portals, which have already issued 2,200+ leak alerts. Read →
Iowa is exploring how AI can help farmers manage the overwhelming flow of data from sensors, drones, and precision equipment, which turns information into actionable insights for crop management and sustainability. Researchers and state partners are testing AI models to predict yields, detect pests, and optimize soil health, aiming to make advanced analytics more accessible to small and mid-sized farms. Read →
Oklahomaʼs Department of Transportation is adopting emerging technologies like AI-powered sensors and drones to monitor bridge conditions in real time, helping engineers detect structural issues before they become safety risks. The initiative aims to modernize inspections, reduce maintenance costs, and extend the lifespan of critical infrastructure across the stateʼs 6,800 bridges. Read →
Community Spotlight
Hilary Doe, Michigan Economic Development Corporation: A Statewide Playbook for Talent Attraction & Retention
Michiganʼs first-in-the-nation Chief Growth Officer is treating population growth like product development by aligning policy, programs, and marketing to make the state a more attractive place to live and work. Since launching in 2023, Doeʼs team reports 66% of Michigan counties grew last year. Detroit has notched two consecutive years of population growth (a 50-year first), and 40,000+ prospects have moved “down the funnelˮ to express interest in relocating to Michigan.
Her three-pillar strategy starts with policy that improves the product, which includes universal pre-K for four-year-olds, community college access, and transit/housing investments. Next, programs and pilots connect residents to in- demand fields and help communities run tailored retention/attraction efforts.
Finally, storytelling at scale. The You Can in Michigan campaign and MichiganLife.org pair a community-fit quiz and cost-of-living tools with a career portal listing 100,000+ open jobs.
Michigan is also pioneering incentives that match real-life moments. The Make MI Home program offers down-payment support and student-loan relief for people choosing Michigan. Doeʼs polling shows down-payment help is the #1 motivator for 18–34-year-olds (child-care/Pre-K for parents). Her Talent Action Team builds employer-aligned training in fast-growth sectors (e.g., clean energy, semiconductors) and the Michigander Scholarship pays graduates who take in- state jobs, tightening the loop from campus to career.
On outreach, Doe blends national branding with data-driven, human-tone targeting (e.g., LinkedIn alumni messages with 70%+ open rates) and experiential road shows. A Houston pop-up with Black Tech Saturdays drew 2,000+ RSVPs and prompted 80+ founders to self-fund trips to Detroit, evidence that community and identity matter. Persona-based moves are reshaping the map. Remote workers gravitate to West/Northern Michiganʼs freshwater coast (3,000 miles of shoreline), while city-seekers choose Detroitʼs growing tech scene, supported by new blue-tech hubs and employer demand.
Doeʼs advice to peers is to lean into who you are, focus on high-mobility life moments (graduation, second child/home-buying, retirement), and donʼt overlook veterans and remote workers as mobile, high-skill cohorts. Pair that with centralized state support like shared tech, marketing, and application systems, so local partners can scale without heavy admin burdens.
Resources & Events
📅 Georgia Emerging Technology Summit: Data & AI 2025 (Atlanta, GA - November 20, 2025)
A one-day forum where public sector executives, IT leaders, and industry innovators converge to explore data architectures, AI ethics, cloud strategies, and use case deployment in state and local government. Details →
📅 Michigan Cyber Summit 2025 (Novi, MI - October 23, 2025)
The summit will spotlight responsible AI adoption in public service, where attendees will explore AI trends, data governance, ethical frameworks, collaborative procurement, and applications in transit, safety, and civic operations. Details →
📊 Report Spotlight: The State of Public Sector Social Media (CivicPlus, 2025)
This white paper analyzes results from nearly 800 government and education professionals to show how public sector agencies use social media, which platforms are rising or fading, and what policy or skill gaps exist in managing communication and engagement. Read →
Insight of the Week
The 2025 Consumers and Communities LIFE Survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reveals that households are facing ongoing financial stress despite easing inflation. Many respondents report struggling with housing costs, rising debt, and limited emergency savings, with nearly half saying they could not cover three months of expenses. The report also highlights widening gaps in financial confidence and stability among younger and lower-income groups, underscoring continued vulnerability across U.S. households.
For the Commute
Inside Pueblo: City Budget Deep Dive (The Mayorʼs Mixtape Podcast)
In this episode of The Mayorʼs Mixtape, Mayor Heather Graham joins Haley Sue Robinson, Director of Public Affairs for the City of Pueblo, to unpack how the city builds its annual budget, from nonprofit funding and 15% departmental cuts to capital projects and the 2026 fiscal outlook. Mayor Graham explains how the budget process works under the city charter and what the councilʼs role is.
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