By Dean Whittaker The August 19, 2020 meeting of the Holland, Michigan city council was very dramatic. I watched the live stream of people speaking their truths with vulnerability and eloquence for nearly five hours. Ten years ago, the city council voted down the...
By Dean Whittaker What an incredible month it’s been. Webinars led, webinars attended, and an unplanned surgery. Meanwhile, stay-at-home orders remain for much of Michigan, though we are opening gradually. A webinar I gave for American Electric Power communities...
By Dean Whittaker For the past two months, I have been part of a collaborative effort of a network of economic development professionals who’ve come together to create, distribute, collect, and analyze a survey to determine how businesses are responding to...
By Dean Whittaker My intention of the Whittaker Report is to share what each member of our team has learned of late. Sometimes it is work related but most of the time it is personal. My learning this month has included going through stages of grief and loss as...
By Dean Whittaker In March of 2009, I met and hired a Nepalese Hope College intern by the name of Vidhan Rana. Vidhan came to me as an intern with a desire to learn about economic development so that when he returned to Nepal, he could help build schools in the rural...
