9/29/25
Today marks a quietly ambitious milestone in the evolution of the Digital Innovation Collaborative Exchange (“DICE” is the shared Digital Information Departments between Van Buren and St Joseph County). We’ve officially launched a new partnership with Western Michigan University’s School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) and its Center for Excellence and Research in Public Service (CERPS).
Yes, the name is long. But so is the list of challenges we’re trying to tackle together.
Why This Matters
Small and rural governments are facing the same digital upheaval as their urban counterparts: AI, automation, ever-shifting public expectations, but with far fewer resources. While big cities have the luxury of hiring data teams and innovation officers, many counties in Southwest Michigan are still wrestling with how to make online forms both functional and not look like they were designed in 2004.
Enter DICE. And now, enter WMU.
What We’re Doing Together
We’re kicking off a Community Needs Assessment Plan (CNAP), essentially a digital “health check” for the region’s counties. It asks practical, deceptively difficult questions:
- What digital tools do we actually have?
- What skills are missing?
- Where do residents trust us and where do they click away?
- How can we ensure that AI tools serve everyone, not just the digitally fluent or algorithmically inclined?
Rather than guessing, we’re embedding WMU students, graduate and undergraduate, directly into conversations with local leaders, staff, and community partners. No ivory tower. Just boots-on-the-ground learning with real implications.
Why It’s Worth Paying Attention
This partnership does more than generate reports and PowerPoints:
- It builds capacity: Local governments gain access to academic expertise, student energy, and faculty insight.
- It strengthens trust: By focusing on transparency, ethics, and public engagement, we’re working to ensure that AI adoption doesn’t deepen the digital divide.
- It creates a pipeline: Students get practical experience in real-world governance. Local governments get early access to future professionals trained to navigate both bureaucracy and machine learning models.
A Shared Vision
DICE has always been about pooling resources to level the playing field for smaller governments. WMU is extending that principle into research, teaching, and training. Together, we’re building a model for how universities and local governments can co-create digital futures that are inclusive, thoughtful, and maybe even a bit ahead of the curve.
What Happens Next
In the coming months, WMU students will begin interviews and data collection, guided by seven key research questions. They’ll look at readiness, risks, and realities, identifying where we’re primed to move quickly, and where we need to take a deep breath and build the groundwork first.
Because let’s be honest: technology moves fast. Government doesn’t. But with the right partnerships, we can at least be strategic about where we accelerate and where we install guardrails. This isn’t research for the sake of it. It’s the next piece in our effort to build a Digital Public Utility for Southwest Michigan: an infrastructure that makes digital government accessible, ethical, and sustainable for every community, no matter its zip code…or budget
