The Grand Vision Growth and Investment Guiding Principle is to foster public and private investments to strengthen cities, villages and planned growth areas.
The Traverse City Business News Ticker has this story on a proposed hotel for the Warehouse district in Traverse City:
Another hurdle has been cleared to allow demolition to begin as soon as November [...]

From the Traverse City Chamber of Commerce website:

The Northwest Michigan Council of Governments and the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce awarded the Village of Empire a $20,000 Community Growth Grant on Tuesday, August 24 to the Empire Village Council. The grant was awarded to the village for the purpose of implementing [...]

Entrepreneurs seeking funding will be able to present a pitch to angel investors at an event on August 11th.
Boost Northwest Michigan a path to funding your business will give entrepreneurs the opportunity to present a two-minute pitch (no slides) to an audience of experienced investors from the Blue Water Angel Network of Midland, Michigan.
The event [...]

Tune in to 7&4 News at 6:25am tomorrow morning (7/28) to watch Mark VanderKlipp talk about the Regional Wayfinding Forum that he will be leading tomorrow afternoon.
"I'm excited to show the audience that the Grand Vision concept has been implemented in many other regions throughout the U.S.," said VanderKlipp, President of Corbin Design. "I hope [...]

The Record-Eagle has this story on the possibility of a strong summer tourist season for local business:
Business owners in the region are optimistic they're in for a strong summer season if they can get Mother Nature to cooperate with nice weather.
Area campgrounds report summer reservations already are running above last year.
"It's awesome this year; we're [...]

9&10 News has this story on how AOL ranked Traverse City as a top ten beach town in the country:
Traverse City is now proudly posted as America's #8 beach town.
The beach itself is a major factor in the ranking. AOL even called Traverse City the "Malibu of Michigan." But they also judged the beach towns [...]

The Record-Eagle has this story on the apparent demise of a possible Sugar Loaf renovation:
Las Vegas entrepreneur Eneliko "Sean" Smith burst onto the Leelanau County scene a few months ago with big plans and bold proclamations for down-in-the-dumps Sugar Loaf Resort.
He'd invest $10 million to buy and millions more to upgrade the once-bustling ski and [...]

Article and Photo Illustrations by Vicente Ramos, Citizen Journalist for the Grand Vision
Poverty in the Grand Traverse region is a difficult issue–both for the poor and the community at-large. Yet, new approaches to the problem suggest novel solutions that may benefit us all.
Over the past eight decades, poverty in America has remained a vexing problem. [...]

Here is an in-depth story from the Record-Eagle on the development of Sugar Loaf and what it could mean to the Leelanau village of Cedar.
Here are highlights from the story:
"This village tucked in a rolling, wooded stretch of southern Leelanau County doesn't feature much hustle and bustle these days.
"But there's little tourism-based vibrancy, not since [...]

Northern Michigan continues to grab headlines for its tourism.
Here is a piece that ran in the Toronto Sun, written by the QMI Agency:
"The most appealing part of Michigan I’ve seen is a stretch of soft sand, hardwood hills and attractive towns and villages between Petoskey and Sleeping Bear National Seashore.
"Its hub, Traverse City, is busiest [...]