The Vital Center: A Federal-State Compact to Renew the Great Lakes Region

Despite its long leadership in manufacturing and business, assets like major universities, and abundant natural amenities, the Great Lakes region's industrial legacy has left it struggling to develop the human capital, entrepreneurial culture, and dynamic metropolitan regions needed to compete in the global economy. This report examines the region's challenges, and calls for a new federal-state compact around a series of educational, economic, social, and infrastructure initiatives that can help the region reassert its global economic leadership.

read the Executive Summary