Success Story
Dean Martin and the CEDAM Community Development Fellowship
Created in 2018 in partnership with and funded by the MEDC, CEDAM’s Community Development Fellowship helps Michigan’s communities address common challenges. Dean Martin, now serving as the village manager of Mackinaw City, built his skills through a 15-month fellowship in Charlevoix.
As one of the pillars of the ‘Make It in Michigan’ economic development strategy focused on People, Places and Projects, supporting the growth of vibrant, diverse and resilient communities across the state is a top priority for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). The MEDC works with partners throughout Michigan to help empower communities, including the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM), a nonprofit trade association that supports vibrant neighborhoods, economic opportunity, equitable development and housing security.
With support from the MEDC, CEDAM manages the Community Development Fellowship, which places Fellows in communities actively participating in the Redevelopment Ready Communities (RRC) program for fifteen months. RRC is a voluntary technical assistance initiative offered through the MEDC that shapes communities’ futures by building a strong foundation of planning, zoning and economic development best practices.
Fellows placed in host communities work on a variety of projects – from public art installations to the creation of a farmer’s market – to expand organizational capacity, increase local collaboration and remove barriers to development. This opportunity supports Michigan communities with moving their vision forward in a way that is endorsed by the community, fits the local culture and ensures residents have a path for a prosperous future.
In addition to building local capacity, the Community Development Fellowship was envisioned as building a talent pipeline for community and economic development professionals in Michigan by putting an emphasis on the professional development and growth of fellows. Over the course of their 15 months in the Fellowship, fellows attend multiple webinars, training courses and conferences across the state to learn and network.
Since the program’s launch in 2018, 36 of the 40 Fellows have continued to work in Michigan in public or nonprofit roles that further support communities throughout the state.
Meet Dean Martin, a CEDAM Community Development Fellowship Success Story
One of those former Fellows is Dean Martin, a Clarkston native and Michigan State University graduate. Dean participated in the first cohort of the Community Development Fellowship and assisted with planning efforts in Charlevoix, where he played a key role in developing community and planning documents that helped shape the city’s future such as its Master Plan.
“The CEDAM Community Development Fellowship position was perfect for me for a multitude of reasons,” he says. “It was an entry level position that cared deeply about the professional development of its fellows, taking those that had passion and skills and giving them the experience they needed to harden them into seasoned, employable public servants. It also gave me access to extremely important work.”
In Charlevoix, Dean assisted the city in its Master Plan rewrite, the crowdfunding and development of a dog park, launching various DDA programs and helping them reach their RRC designation. Dean says the city manager, Mark Heydlauff, was a “fantastic mentor” who plugged him into different projects to give him as much experience as the 15 months would allow.
After his fellowship, Dean says he had many people who advocated for him and networked on his behalf to find positions where he’d be a strong fit. With the help of Steve Schnell, former Charlevoix County Housing Ready coordinator, Dean accepted a position as the zoning administrator with the Village of Mackinaw City, opening the door to his curren
t role as village manager.
Through support from the fellowship and the RRC program, Dean gained the tools and experience to lead. Today, he’s helping expand housing options, engaging the public and supporting sustainability efforts through MI Green Communities.
“My day-to-day includes things that seem little but are incredibly important to residents, such as listening to competing interests among community groups over use of the recreation center or interpreting an application for an activity that is not quite clearly defined by codes and processes on hand,” he says. “There are endless large-scale tasks as well, such as trying to manage a budget that can provide the public services necessary for 10,000 (often our summer occupancy), on the property tax revenues of a community with 846 people year-round.”
Dean says the lessons he’s learned about placemaking through his career continue to be applied in his current role.
“Placemaking is paradoxically one the easiest and hardest things to define. As silly as it sounds, it’s about injecting life into the community. It’s providing areas and items that people congregate to and spend time with. Placemaking could be the beautiful street cafes that provide vibrancy to our downtown. It could be the tennis and pickleball courts that we recently refurbished, drawing people from many towns over. Public art, street furniture, building facades, holiday decorations... there’s really no end to what can be classified as placemaking. So long as it brings people together, creates lasting memories and fosters a positive perception of town, the Village of Mackinaw City will continue the practice.”
The CEDAM Community Development Fellowship prepared me for a career in municipal service better than any program I had been in prior. What I loved about the fellowship was that it was an opportunity to gain experience by making real change. It was real, earnest employment that was crafted around developing and maximizing my talents so I could best serve the community I was placed in. I am extremely fond of my time in Charlevoix and the work we were able to achieve. I would recommend any municipality that has a plethora of vital tasks to get done and limited staff power to do it to seriously consider applying for a Fellow. But in those considerations, reflect if you have the capacity to coach the fellow to be a better public servant. I received the best coaching I could have, and I would not be half the worker I am today without the trust and feedback I had received.
Since the launch of the CEDAM Community Development Fellowship program, participating communities have created 11 new positions to maintain capacity in their departments, and Fellows have secured over $21 million in grant funds across all host communities, leveraging local, state, federal, philanthropic and private dollars to match.