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Monthly Update is the newsletter of the Alliance for Regional Development. For more information or to inquire about submitting content, please contact Kelly O'Brien at 312-602-5148, or kobrien@alliancerd.org.
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A NOTE FROM PRESIDENT & CEO KELLY O'BRIEN
The Alliance for Regional Development was formed in the summer of 2012 for a very finite purpose: to convene stakeholders from the region around the OECD Territorial Review of Chicago’s Tri-State Region and, if possible, implement its recommendations. The founders of the Alliance did not want the OECD Review to be another study that no one read and that collected dust on a shelf. Now, just two years later, not only does it continue to be a useful and familiar document, but our efforts are being recognized on the world stage.
In August, I joined an OECD delegation in Bangkok, Thailand, for the launch of the Green Growth in Dynamic Asia Programme. (Please see the column in this newsletter for more information on this effort.) While there, I had the privilege of meeting leaders from government and academia in Bangkok as well as leaders from other countries in the region including China, Singapore, Vietnam, and Japan. The common denominator expressed over and over was the challenge of getting people from different jurisdictions to work together. The story of how the Alliance was formed and how it manages to be successful was met with great interest.
Having the private sector lead the way was universally accepted as our winning ingredient. The Alliance is very fortunate to have the continued support of our Chairmen: Paul Jones; Mike Mullen; and Jim Stanley. Their leadership and the commitment of so many across the region are making a difference here and soon will be replicated nationally--and beyond--in places no one would have ever imagined. That’s a testament to the fact that when you do the right thing, good things happen.
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| THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS!
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SAVE THE DATE: WORKING TEAMS AUTUMN MEETING, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10
The next Alliance Working Teams quarterly meeting is scheduled for Friday, October 10 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread, 33 East Four Mile Road, Racine, WI (map). A calendar invite was sent to working team members in June. Additional information will be provided as the date approaches.
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A SUMMER OF PROGRESS FOR THE ALLIANCE WORKING TEAMS
The hardworking volunteers of the Alliance for Regional Development's Working Teams have been making great forward strides this summer in their efforts to strategize plans to implement the recommendation of the OECD Territorial Review of Chicago's Tri-State area and collaborate across jurisdictional lines. The initiatives championed by the Working Teams will be showcased at the Alliance's Second Annual Summit on Regional Competitiveness on December 19 (see item further below.)
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GREEN GROWTH:
The Green Growth team is focusing on the water sector and ways to regionalize the growing water cluster. The team is finalizing regional criteria for identifying water technology companies, and will use the new criteria to select key stakeholders to invite to two autumn receptions which will be held in both Illinois and Indiana gauging local interest in organizing and possibly growing the Water Council’s footprint. Faculty and students from the University of Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences will provide research assistance leading up to the receptions. The team is also strategizing a potential water-technology recognition award in 2015 as a way to further promote the regional water sector.
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HUMAN CAPITAL:
The Human Capital team is aiming its efforts at reaching existing employers, as well as site selectors for companies considering relocation to the region. Efforts to adopt and scale Illinois’ existing successful “Hiring Event” model to other parts of the region are proceeding, with hiring events having taken place during the summer and more scheduled to take place in the fall in all three states. These events differ from job fairs in that attendees are pre-screened and scheduled in advance to have interviews with exhibiting employers, with the aim of attendees interviewing during the event and leaving with an offer of employment. Employer feedback will be collected and video interviews will be conducted with participants at all events, with the goal of showcasing the innovative, replicable, and scalable nature of this workforce development program unique to our region via an informative, best-practice branding video. The video will be featured at the December 19 Summit on Regional Competitiveness. Northern Illinois University has taken the lead and will provide videography and editing assistance, working with other institutional partners.
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INNOVATION:
The Innovation Team is focused on mapping the regions innovation ecosystem as suggested as one of the Key Findings in the Chicago Metropolitan Tri-State OECD Review. Resources of use to local innovators in the region will be organized in a user friendly way. The team will finish collecting data to identify regional innovation assets in September. A web portal will then be created on the model of Detroit BizGrid with the potential to pull in pertinent data from existing regional innovation websites maintained by the Illinois Innovation Network, Indiana's Innovation in America's Regions, and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. Branding this region as a vibrant innovation hub is another team priority.
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TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS:
The Transportation & Logistics team is creating a GIS-based map of the transportation assets in the region. Over the summer, staff from the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) collected and collated asset data and GIS shapefiles from regional partners including Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. In August, NIRPC working in tandem with the Purdue Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS) provided the data to the Purdue Center for Regional Development, where the data is will be imported into the Purdue Regional Decision Maker Transportation GIS and mapped. The desired outcomes include identifying the existing interconnected transportation infrastructure as well as underutilized assets in order to build a model for the future that local mayors and other elected officials can use in terms of policy making and funding requests. In a separate effort, the team is also reaching out to the private sector to enhance support for developing a regional brand.
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| As always, the Alliance is grateful to the hardworking volunteer members of the Working Teams. We look forward to continuing to work together!
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| ALLIANCE FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PRESIDENT & CEO KELLY O’BRIEN PARTICIPATES IN AUGUST 2014 OECD URBAN CLIMATE CHANGE STUDY DELEGATION TO BANGKOK, THAILAND
Alliance for Regional Development President and CEO Kelly O’Brien was invited to represent the Chicago Metropolitan Tri-State region as part of an international delegation organized by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and traveled to Bangkok, Thailand on August 4 for five days. Building on the Green Growth chapter in the 2012 OECD territorial review of Chicago’s tri-state region including northeast Illinois, southeast Wisconsin, and northwest Indiana, the OECD has launched a Green Cities Programme study mission on urban climate change resilience. The OECD Green Cities Programme examines ways to improve the economic health of major metropolitan regions around the world. Bangkok is the first of four Asian cities to be studied in the next year. Other cities will include Hai Phong (Viet Nam), Johor Bahru (Malaysia), and a city from Indonesia to be determined.
Ms. O’Brien has led the Alliance for Regional Development since it was founded in response to the 2012 OECD territorial review which recommended coordinated improvements in key areas including green growth, innovation, transportation, and workforce development to improve regional competitiveness. She shared lessons learned from the Alliance’s ongoing, first-of-its-kind effort to organize working teams of high-level leaders in government, business, and academia drawn from all three states to collaborate across jurisdictional lines to strategize and implement plans to improve regional competitiveness.
The OECD is currently seeking stakeholders from the Tri-State region to assist with the Green Growth initiative. For more information, please contact Kelly O'Brien at 312-602-5148 or kobrien@alliancerd.org.
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PLANNING CONTINUES FOR ALLIANCE'S SECOND ANNUAL SUMMIT ON REGIONAL COMPETITIVENESS ON DECEMBER 19 The Alliance in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago will host the second annual Summit on Regional Competitiveness on December 19, 2014. The Summit will serve as an opportunity to brief stakeholders about the progress of the Alliance Working Teams and will have high level key note speakers discussing regional economic development. In addition to the presentations by the working teams, the agenda will include remarks by the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce for Economic Development, the CEO of Snap-on, the Alliance Chairmen, and others. There will also be a “Strategic Doing” networking workshop led by Purdue University’s Ed Morrison. Accommodations have been reserved and guests may stay at the J.W. Marriott Chicago at 151 West Adams Street in the heart of the Chicago Loop at a specially negotiated rate. This high-level event will serve as a showcase for the power of cross-jurisdictional cooperation to move regional strategies forward. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Invitations will be sent electronically by the Federal Reserve in the coming weeks.
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| UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE SCHOOL OF FRESHWATER SCIENCES CELEBRATES GRAND OPENING WITH RECEPTION AND COMMUNITY EVENTS SEPTEMBER 12 AND 13
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) will celebrate the grand opening of its new School of Freshwater Sciences with a program and reception on Friday evening, September 12, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 600 East Greenfield Avenue in Milwaukee. The ticketed event will include hors d’oeuvres, bar service, entertainment, and complimentary parking with shuttle service to the school located along Milwaukee's inner harbor, two miles south of downtown. Tickets are $50, and you may register online: www4.uwm.edu/go/freshwaterodyssey/
A free community event follows on Saturday, September 13, including free tours, educational activities, and science demonstrations. Find more information on the event website.
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ILLINOIS MEDICAL DISTRICT COMMISSION TO HOST THIRD-ANNUAL "IMD&U DAY" ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 IN CHICAGO The Illinois Medical District Commission (IMDC) is hosting the third-annual "IMD&U Day" on Tuesday, September 23, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2100 West Harrison Street in Chicago. The event includes three panel discussions, a complimentary lunch and informational fair, and free shuttle service from nearby areas. Panel topics include: Community Health & Technology; Investment in the Life Sciences; and Clinical Data & Translational Research. For more information visit the IMDC website, or you may register online.
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