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 The John W. Gardner Academy for Regional Stewardship provides technical assistance to regions that want to connect regional leaders to national best practices. While Academies are designed to address specific regional issues, they follow an Academy process focused on diagnosing challenges and opportunities, identifying appropriate best practices, and developing a collaborative regional strategy by working with a regional stewardship team.
The upcoming National Forum on Regional Stewardship in Austin will feature a roundtable discussion to share lessons learned from the initial Gardner Academies in St. Louis, Long Island, Fresno, and Northeast Ohio. Long Island is now planning its second annual indicators report (the Long Island Index, first released in February 2004) with a special analysis of what can be done to address the issue of the brain drain. A new Academy in Oklahoma City is focused on developing a comprehensive strategy for attracting and retaining talent. Lessons learned to date from Oklahoma City will also be reported at the Austin Forum as part of panel on talent and the creative class.
Discussions are currently underway with the Florida Chamber Foundation, Leadership Florida, and other groups in several Florida regions, including Orlando, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, and South Florida about the possibility of a statewide series of regional Academies. Initial Academy presentations have been made at regional leadership meetings in Orlando, Lakeland and Broward County. A planning meeting was held in March to discuss the idea of a statewide academy, and a statewide meeting will be held in Tampa on June 9 to further develop the concept of a Florida Academy. Consult future issues of this newsletter for more about this exciting possibility. California already provides a statewide example where several regional groups are now cooperating through the California Center for Regional Leadership to share best practices at an annual summit and work on common issues that affect state policy. Several regional leaders have now taken positions with the State of California, which is holding regional discussions about the potential for developing regionally based policies for the state. For more information, go to www.calregions.org.
For more information on the Gardner Academy for Regional Stewardship, or if you are interested in initiating a project, contact either Doug Henton, Academy Coordinator, at or John Parr, President and CEO of the Alliance for Regional Stewardship, at (please include a reference to the Gardner Academy for Regional Stewardship in the subject line).
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