This issue of the Alliance's newsletter highlights the upcoming healthcare conference, the second Quarterly Conversation with its workforce focus, the new agenda drafted by the Transportation Team, an addition to the Alliance staff, the international attention the Alliance is garnering as a best practice and information on the Fourth Summit on Regional Competitiveness. The Alliance remains committed to serving as a neutral platform convening leaders from government, academia and the private sector and championing efforts to grow the economy of the mega-region.

Transportation Team Announces Passenger Rail and Freight Focused Agenda

The Alliance Transportation Team built a consensus with the region’s MPO’s, successfully identifying key passenger rail principles and freight movement objectives. Team manager Steve Schlickman said “ We brought together the people that know the region’s long range plans best and found the synergies.  By sharing information and understanding how certain projects will have cross jurisdictional benefits we were able to draft the working team’s agenda.“

During the June 10th Quarterly Conversation, representatives from the State Departments of Transportation and the private sector focused on both passenger rail and freight and provided important insights that aided in the agenda finalized by the Alliance Team. Relating to passenger rail, a strong mega-region economy requires safe, diverse, multimodal transportation system, including an intercity passenger network. As part of the agenda, the Alliance Transportation Team will work to upgrade frequency of service on the Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawatha route, Chicago-Milwaukee-Twin Cities Empire Builder Route, Chicago-Detroit-Pontiac Wolverine Route (including the South of the Lake Congestion), Chicago-St.Louis Lincoln Service route, New Chicago-Fort Wayne- Columbus route, and the South Shore Railroad Expansion Projects.

The movement of freight is an essential activity to the economy of the mega-region, as well as for the economy of the Midwest and the nation. The Alliance Transportation Team proposes to leverage existing MPO and state actions on coordinating size and weight regulations between states, promote the funding and completion of the 75th Corridor Improvement Project, support the completion of the Elgin O’Hare Western Access Project, and support the completion of the Touhy Avenue Connector to facilitate efficient truck movement for and around O’Hare Airport.  

This agenda, adopted by the Alliance Board of Directors, will guide the Alliance staff in developing and executing action steps to advance its objectives.

To join the Team and be a part of this important work, please contact Steve Schlickman at steveschlickman@gmail.com or Kelly O’Brien at kobrien@alliancerd.org 

The Alliance for Regional Development and the Chicago Central Area Committee, in partnership with Global Relations Travel Club, organized members to participate in a cultural exchange and visited Cuba in early September. 

The trip provided opportunities to explore Old Havana, Vinales Valley, Pinar del Rio city and Havana.  The delegation was addressed by speakers discussing the Cuban healthcare system, the construction and development process, land ownership, private business ownership, the tobacco industry, agriculture and other insightful topics.  The agenda also included a visit to the home of Ernest Hemingway, transport in vintage American cars, cooking lessons and tours of organic farms and factories.

In addition to being part of a once in a lifetime tour, members discovered new opportunities for collaboration back home.

Shanghai Leaders Interested in Alliance as a Best Practice

Leaders from Shanghai recently met in Chicago and wanted to learn about the Alliance and regional collaboration.  Meeting at the law offices of Bryan Cave LLP, the Shanghai delegation included the Deputy Mayor for the Economy, the Vice Director for the Shanghai Science & Technology Development and Exchange Center, the Director of the Finance Bureau, the Director of the Shanghai Municipal Urban Planning and Land Resource Administration Bureau and others focused on innovation and economic development. The Alliance Vice Chairman and Bryan Cave Partner, Greg Hummel, welcomed the group and provided opening remarks.  The OECD Review was discussed and as well as an overview of the initiatives underway by the working teams. 

The delegation members praised the mission of the Alliance and expressed an interest in learning more about collaborative successes as a best practice. 

The Alliance Board of Directors, committed to identifying projects and initiatives that will grow the regional economy, hosted its third Board meeting this year on September 14th.  

Opening the meeting, Alliance President and CEO, Kelly O’Brien introduced the newest member of the Alliance staff, Dylan Waldhuetter.  Dylan will be responsible for leading the efforts focused on the water sector and will be working for the Alliance at the Water Council in Milwaukee. Dylan presented his credentials and provided an overview of his work-plan for identifying large water users in the region.  Support and funding for this position is being provided by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Water Council.

Anne Edmunds, Workforce Team Manager, noted that the Alliance Workforce Team has been very active. Anne provided highlights from the July 13th Quarterly Conversation held at the Chicago office of Manpower. U.S. Department of Labor Administrator Christine Quinn provided a keynote on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and highlighted the advantages the team could leverage by collaborating throughout the Mega-Region. Purdue University’s Ed Morrison used Strategic Doing to engage the participants on how best to successfully collaborate throughout the 21 county Mega-Region. As a follow-up to the July 13th event, the Alliance has created a Basecamp website for the WIOA team to share documents, discussion, MOU's, and more. 

Transportation Team Manager, Steve Schlickman, presented the Team Agenda for adoption by the Board. The agenda was created following two MPO Staff Retreats, the drafting of a synthesis document of the 3 MPO long range plans and from information received from the June 10th Quarterly Conversation.  For more information on the Team Agenda please see the Transportation Team update in this newsletter.  Steve also made a special presentation on the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change Competition and the application being submitted by the Chicago Central Area Committee (CCAC).  The proposal by CCAC to develop the Chicago Transit Redevelopment Trust compliments the goals of the Alliance Transportation Team.   

Board member Mark Rust, Chicago Office Managing Partner, Barnes & Thornburg LLP, reported that he is spearheading the third Quarterly Conversation focusing on healthcare in partnership with Dr. Suzet McKinney, Executive Director of the Illinois Medical District. The Alliance will be hosting a half-day conference on October 5th to examine health, access and cost in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin and how as a mega region we can better understand and tackle healthcare challenges in these changing times. As the Affordable Care Act completes its third year of implementation, we will be examining the current state of healthcare as compared to the previous four full years 2010-2013. The day will include panel discussions, keynote presentations and robust conversations. For more information on this event, please see the 2016 Quarterly Conversation Series in this newsletter.

President & CEO, Kelly O'Brien discussed the agenda for the Fourth Annual Summit on Regional Competitiveness that will be held on November 17th. Board Members Dean Amhaus, The Water Council outlined the Watershed panel; Jim Ford, TRES, LLC discussed the E-Commerce panel; Transportation Team Manager Steve Schlickman highlighted the efforts on its Infrastructure Panel; Anne Edmunds, Workforce Team Manager explained the Workforce panel will focus on best practices within the mega-region; and Kelly O'Brien reminded the board that the Region V Leaders have all confirmed for second year in a row. President & CEO Kelly O’Brien will continue to work with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to finalize the agenda and the stakeholder invitation list.

Kelly O'Brien concluded the meeting with a reminder about the Alliance funding goals and thanked each member for their continued efforts.

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) 233 South Wacker Drive, Suite 800, Chicago, Illinois

For more information or to register click here.  

Working with Alliance Board member, Mark Rust, Managing Partner of Barnes & Thornburg, LLP, and Dr. Suzet McKinney, Executive Director of the Illinois Medical District, the Alliance for Regional Development has identified healthcare as a focus for its third Quarterly Conversation.

The Alliance will be hosting a half-day conference to examine health, access and cost in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin and how as a mega region we can better understand and tackle healthcare challenges in these changing times. As the Affordable Care Act completes its third year of implementation, we will be examining the current state of healthcare as compared to the previous four full years 2010-2013. Please join us in making a significant contribution toward shaping the healthcare debate and developing policy recommendations for the next Presidential Administration.

• Keynote Conversation - Dr. Stephen L. Ondra, M.D., Chief Strategy Officer, Amida Technology Solutions 

Dr. Stephen L. Ondra is a board-certified neurological surgeon and national leader who is widely respected for his expertise and achievements in medicine, medical policy, health information technology and innovation. He is considered one of the country’s leading subject matter experts on health care reform. His keen understanding of health care policy and complex health care delivery systems has made him a frequent source of counsel for many of this country’s most influential CEOs, health care executives, and policymakers across government in the United States and internationally. 

• Keynote Conversation - Jennifer Haberkorn, POLITICO Pro, Journalist often seen on MSNBC

Jennifer Haberkorn is a senior health care reporter for POLITICO Pro. She’s covered the Affordable Care Act since it was being debated in Congress in 2009. Since then, she has written about the law from Capitol Hill, the federal agencies, the courts and outside the Beltway. Before arriving at POLITICO, Haberkorn covered Congress and local business news for The Washington Times. Her work has also appeared in Health Affairs and The New Republic. 

Panelists will focus on health outcomes affected by cost and innovation (or unaffected, as the case may be) during the Affordable Care Act period.

Focusing on the degree to which consumers are now insured, and the effect of co-pays and deductibles on access, panelists will provide their perspectives.

With the good timing in late September/early October of new rates on the state exchanges, a discussion of those exchanges in each of our states will occur.  

 For more information or to register click here.   

"Six Maps That Will Make You Rethink the World"

As a follow-up to the article, "Rethinking the Map: How The Lower 48 Could Be Realigned Into Seven Mega-Regions", A recent column in the Washington Post discussed how Global Strategist Parag Khanna noted the world economy is much more structured according to the gravity of 40 or 50 megacities than the world's 200 sovereign nations. Khanna expressed that "by 2030, more than 70 % of people will live in cities, and these cities matter alot more than the countries they're in."

Khanna is the author of the new book “Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization,” in which he argues that the arc of global history is undeniably bending toward integration. Khanna mentioned, "Instead of the boundaries that separate sovereign nations, the lines that we should put on our maps are the high-speed railways, broadband cables and shipping routes that connect us, he says. And instead of focusing on nation-states, we should focus on the dozens of mega-cities that house most of the world’s people and economic growth."

Please click on the above map to read the full article.