February 2005
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| ARS LETTER TO YOU |
 Dear ARS Network:
2005 is off to a great start for the Alliance for Regional Stewardship. This is a very exciting time to be involved in ARS and regional initiatives. There is abundant evidence in news articles and energetic regional initiatives that people throughout America, and in fact around the world, are increasingly awareness of just how important regional approaches are to solving common problems.
[FULL ARTICLE]
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| THE REGIONAL FILES |
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The Federal Geographic Data Committee
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 How do geospatial data and the federal government ?fit? with regional stewardship? Kathy Covert, Associate Strategist for the Federal Geographic Data Committee and an ARS member, thinks it?s a no-brainer. Covert and her colleagues believe that regional stewards need accurate, consistent and updated geographic information to enhance decision-making and they are here to help. Following the first law of geography, in which everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things, the FGDC has developed the National Digital Geospatial Framework to provide regionally relevant, nationally consistent, community owned and operated geographic data. A critical aspect of the Framework is the institutional relationships and practices that support the environment of interaction among the users, manager and creators of geographic data.
[FULL ARTICLE]
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| GETTING TO KNOW ARS |
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 Each month in 2005, ARS will be introducing its Board members and Associates. This month, we introduce James Gibson, Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Social Policy, and Robert Grow, Founding Chair Emeritus of Envision Utah.
[FULL ARTICLE]
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| ARS ACTIVITIES |
ARS National Forum on Regional Stewardship Register Now!!
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Forum will be held May 4-6, 2005, in Washington, D.C.; ?The Next Generation in CollaborationLinking Economic and Social Issues? as central theme
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Registration is now open for the upcoming National Forum on Regional Stewardship, May 4-6, 2005, at the Wyndham Hotel in Washington, D.C. This Spring Forum?s central theme will be ?The Next Generation in CollaborationLinking Economic and Social Issues.?
[FULL ARTICLE]
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ARS Introduces the Regional Stewardship Boot Camp
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Boot Camp aimed at showing participants how to launch a successful regional stewardship initiative in their region.
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ARS is pleased to announce a new program designed specifically for practitionersthe Regional Stewardship Boot Camp. The Boot Camp is an intensive, one-day session and 6 months of follow-up coaching aimed at showing participants how to launch a successful regional stewardship initiative in their region. Participants will learn how other regions got started, then design a ?Regional Stewardship Start-Up Plan? for implementation in their own region.
The Boot Camp is designed for individuals who are generally familiar with the concepts and practice of regional stewardship, and who want to initiate a regional stewardship initiative of some kind in their region based on best practices.
The first Boot Camp will kick off on Wednesday, May 4, 2005, in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the Spring National Forum on Regional Stewardship. Facilitators include Douglas Henton & John Melville, Founders of Collaborative Economics, and John Parr, President & CEO of ARS. The Boot Camp Fee includes 6 months of follow-up coaching and the opportunity for peer review of your start-up plan at the next ARS Forum in November 2005. Each participant will receive a Regional Stewardship Start-Up Workbook and electronic template for designing their own start-up plan.
For more information on the Regional Stewardship Boot Camp, please visit the ARS website at regionalstewardship.org/bootcamp.html, or contact Amy Carrier, Alliance Manager, at or by calling .
[FULL ARTICLE]
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Building Strategies To Map Out Growth
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?Reality Check? Growth Summit held in Washington, D.C.
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 On February 2, 2005, 300 government, business, and civic leaders from the Greater Washington, D.C. region gathered to address the increasingly critical issue of growth in the region.
Using maps and colored Legos® representing jobs and housing, 300 decision-makers from 21 jurisdictions in the Washington, D.C. region recently played ?Reality Check,? a one-day exercise sponsored by the ULI Washington, the Washington area district council of the Urban Land Institute. The unique program, first offered by ULI Los Angeles, is designed to foster collective visioning about community growth.
[FULL ARTICLE]
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| ANNOUNCEMENTS |
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Improving Our Communities: Indicators and Community Practice Working Together
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Joint meeting of the National Association of Planning Councils and the Community Indicators Consortium to be held in Washington, D.C., May 12-15, 2005
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 This year, the National Association of Planning Councils (NAPC) and the Community Indicators Consortium (CIC) have agreed to meet together to build off each other?s strengths. Tracking successful projects through the use of indicators will build a stronger national picture of the potential for community solutions, and the indicators that track those improvements will help focus discussions within each community. Together, local solutions and indicators are a path that all communities can follow productively.
[FULL ARTICLE]
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ARS E-Newsletter Administrative Information
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Contact Information
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Alliance for Regional Stewardship
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: Fax:
E-mail:
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