RegionWatch Index

JANUARY 2004
ARS ACTIVITIES


Next ARS Regional Stewardship Forum Set for Austin, Texas, May 19-21

Save the Dates!
Whether or not you attended the very successful Regional Stewardship Forum held last November in Boston, we hope you will save the dates for the next ARS National Forum on Regional Stewardship, to be held May 19-21, 2004, in Austin, Texas. The substantive focus and agenda currently are under development, so watch for details in future issues of this newsletter.

The Austin Forum will be unique in that it will be the occasion for announcement of the first-ever Regional Stewardship Awards, intended to recognize and promulgate the efforts of regional communities that demonstrate the qualities of social inclusion, economic innovation, responsive governance, and high standards of livability. Development and rollout of the Regional Stewardship Award program have been made possible by the generous support of the Morgan Family Foundation.

Located in the heart of downtown Austin, the historic Driskill Hotel will be the venue of the next Regional Stewardship Forum. Built in an eclectic Romanesque style and first opened in 1886, the Driskill figures centrally in the history of the Texas capitol city of Austin, having hosted numerous state inaugural celebrations and electoral events. Painstakingly renovated and updated during the late 1990s, the facility preserves its historic charm while offering modern amenities and comforts. The structure is located five blocks from the Texas Capitol and literally across the street from Austins famed musical entertainment district (Austin boasts over 100 live music venues).

For more information on the upcoming Forum in Austin, or the Regional Stewardship Award program, contact Amy Carrier, ARS Manager, via e-mail at or by telephone at .

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ARS Regional Indicators Affinity Group Update

Moving Toward the Identification of Common Purposes for Projects

Since its first face-to-face meeting at the Boston National Stewardship Forum last November, the ARS Regional Indicators Affinity Group has met twice by voice/web teleconference, in December and early January. A central question for the Affinity Group meeting in Boston was the desirability of identifying a common set of indicators that could be applied across regions, perhaps to compare performance on key parameters. Participants differed on the utility of such an exercise, but generally agreed that identification of a common set of purposes for launching indicators projects for example, building regional identity or mobilizing action on specific regional challenges might be more useful. To this end, ARS is designing a survey that will be sent to ARS members to obtain information on the nature and scale of past projects (if any), the intentions in undertaking them, how the indicators used were selected, and whether public opinion survey data were used. Other questions focus on how project results were disseminated (e.g., via printed report, Internet, broadcast or print media, etc.), and perceptions of the impacts of the project. Upon availability, results of the survey will be reported in this newsletter and posted on the ARS website. Participants in the Regional Indicators Affinity Group must be paid members of the ARS network. For more information on the Regional Indicators Affinity Group and how to get involved, contact Amy Carrier, ARS Manager, via e-mail at or by telephone at .

Gardner Academy Update

Focusing on the Intersection of Four Interdependent Worlds
The John W. Gardner Academy for Regional Stewardship engages in a collaborative process that involves an Academy Team working with a Regional Team to identify opportunities for strategic action located at the intersection of four interdependent worlds. These worlds represented by the overlapping spheres in the ARS Venn diagram logo are summarized as innovative economy, livable community, social inclusion, and collaborative governance. Each sphere itself represents complex challenges, and their point of intersection constitutes a creative space where regional stewards can meet to solve problems in more effective ways.

[FULL ARTICLE]
NEWS YOU CAN USE


National League of Cities

Cities as Centers of Opportunity, Leadership and Governance
This month, ARS begins to profile other national organizations with whom we have partnered to reach a broader audience capable of initiating action across sectors and jurisdictions. Founded in 1924, the National League of Cities is the oldest and largest national organization representing municipal governments in the United States. Its mission is to strengthen and promote cities as centers of opportunity, leadership, and governance. Initially an organization of state municipal leagues, membership has gradually expanded to embrace cities of all sizes, giving local elected leaders a more direct opportunity to shape the priorities, policies, and advocacy positions of the organization.

[FULL ARTICLE]

REGIONAL PROFILE


Center for Urban Research and Learning

Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois
In profile this month is the Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL) at Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois. CURL seeks to promote equality and improve peoples lives in communities throughout the Chicago metropolitan region, a mission it pursues by building and supporting collaborative research and education efforts. These partnerships connect Loyola faculty and students with community and nonprofit organizations, civic groups and government agencies. Such collaborative initiatives leverage the assets and knowledge present in communities and neighborhoods with the specialized skills and resources of university staff, faculty and students. Working together, community needs are addressed and the academic experience is enriched. Philip Nyden, Ph.D., a professor and former chair of Loyola Universitys Department of Sociology and Anthropology, directs CURL. For more information on the Center for Urban Research and Learning, visit their website at www.luc.edu/curl.
[FULL ARTICLE]
PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA


Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook: A Guide for Citizens and Civic Leaders, by David Chrislip (San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass, 2002), 304 pages, $37.00 (paperback).

Reviewed by Amy Carrier
In the Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook: A Guide for Citizens and Civic Leaders, David Chrislip expands upon Collaborative Leadership (1994) by offering practitioners tools that can be easily applied to their own efforts. The Fieldbook is organized in four parts: The Importance of Collaboration, Premises and Principles of Successful Collaboration, Practices of Successful Collaboration, Stories and Examples of Successful Collaboration and Civic Leadership Development. With its combination of academic theory, history and practical case studies, the Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook constitutes a useful resource for any individual, organization or region involved in collaboration, regardless of what stage they are at. Chrislip provides useful insights into collaborative processes, and does so in a clear and straightforward manner.

[FULL ARTICLE]
OPINION

Americas Towns and Cities versus Red Ink in Washington

By Neal Peirce
Last November, John DeStefano, five-term mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, and immediate-past president of the National League of Cities, gave a hopelessly sentimental speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. DeStefano argued that Americas towns and cities, the places where we grew up and went to school, attended church, married and raised children, and buried our parents, are really the heart of the country. He observed, however, that this vast heartland and generator of national wealth is being neglected by federal fiscal policy. Washington is cutting aid to cities and towns even while it plunges the nation into deep seas of red inkprospective deficits of a half trillion dollars a year or so for the rest of this decade.
[FULL ARTICLE]

Copyright © 2004 Alliance for Regional Stewardship. All rights reserved.

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