City leaders from around the country met in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, to discuss solutions for helping communities hit hard by the economic downturn.

The national unemployment rate is hovering at 9.6 percent, which is why the Brookings Institution started the Hamilton Project to "advance America's promise of opportunity, prosperity, and growth."

Wednesday event, which was sponsored by the D.C.-based group, outlined the importance of educating people, retaining workers and creating jobs in distressed communities.

One of the hardest hit cities in the U.S. is Detroit, Mich.

Michigan as a whole is suffering more than any state in the country. Gov. Jennifer Granholm said there is no magic wand that will make things better.

"[There's] an acute case of impatience, understandably so. If they're hurting, they want to see quick results," she said.  "These issues, structural changes to the United States economy, are not issues that will enable a quick fix."

The Hamilton Project was started in 2006 and was named after Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first treasury secretary.