Michigan’s Private Angels

President Obama wants $50 billion in emergency state aid to avoid “massive layoffs of teachers, police, and firefighters.” But many states have already been forced into an uncomfortable choice: shed jobs (about 45,000 have been lost so far this year) or embrace the private sector like never before.

In parts of Florida, California, and Tennessee, cash-strapped schools have been adopted by churches and invaded by advertisers. But the public-private partnership is most developed in Michigan, where Detroit is the focus of perhaps the largest philanthropic development effort ever focused on a single city. The program, which includes cash from the Kellogg, Ford, and Kresge foundations, has recently brought in tens of millions of dollars for schools, light rail, and a new city plan from Harvard architect Toni Griffin. Critics are fretting about handing over the government to unelected donors. It’s hard to argue, however, that traditional rehabilitation efforts have worked.