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Flint has produced a lot of dreamers with big ideas. The biggest debacle was the AutoWorld park in the early eighties. It was an Epcot style exhibit that featured the history of the automobile industry. They spent $50 million dollars building it and they were supposed to draw a million visitors a year. It was supposed to save Flint and it closed within six months. Within three years it was torn down. They didn't even try to market the nearly brand new building. To my knowledge the ground is still vacant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoWorld_(theme_park)

Then when Jennifer Granholm was Governor a conman succeeded in getting a $9 million dollar state check to build a factory that would hire thousands of unskilled laborers in Flint. When the papers had a picture of the guy holding a large mockup of the check with the smiling governor someone told the state this guy is a convicted embezzler who just got out of a lengthy jail sentence. But he wrote a pretty nifty business plan that passed muster with the State Economic Development Commission who never bothered to vet him even though the story was so hard to believe.

https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2010/03/state_officials_emb...

If the state instead had given seed funding of $25,000 to 2,000 local entrepreneurs they might be building back Flint's economy. I was mocked at the time for even suggesting that idea. It took 30 years but presently Detroit, Lansing and Grand Rapids have versions of that same idea and it is creating jobs.

Sorry to sound cynical but...

If they cannot vet one guy, how will they vet 2000? And are there even 2000 people in Flint with an idea they actually want to pursue, that is viable and the only thing they need is 25000USD?

Government wouldn't be a good choice to vet people. However if they did wouldn't it top setting $50 million on fire?

I think its best if entrepreneurs do it. I've noticed that most of the successful VC's are entrepreneurs with at least one successful exit.

In Michigan it is a mixture of government, non-profits and entrepreneurs who decide who gets funded. That's primarily because it's government money funding it. In Lansing a non-profit provides business classes and applicants complete a business plan.

Like a lot of rust belt cities, Flints biggest employer are the three hospitals, combined. Next up is General Motors which still employs 7,000 people. The majority of those are at the truck plant, which shouldn't be affected by EV's for a while. The small engine plant down the road, however...

40 years ago GM employee 80,000 people in the Flint area.