The next ARS National Forum on Regional Stewardship will be held in Chicago , Illinois , May 4-5, 2006, at the Hotel Allegro. The theme of this spring's Forum is "Creating Competitive Regions."

Session Descriptions

• Strategies to Make Regions Competitive:  What are the new strategies to make regions competitive, who participates in their development and implementation, and what are these efforts actually accomplishing?  Leaders of new regional competitiveness effortssuch as Bob Drewel with Seattle ?s Prosperity Partnership, and Ashley Swearengin of Fresno ?s San Joaquin Valley Partnershipwill share case studies from their regions and the talk about the promise offered by these approaches.
• Building Successful Regions:  The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is funding new research to analyze and illuminate how regions can be resilient in the face of economic and demographic change.  Members of MacArthur?s inter-disciplinary research team will describe their approach to understanding the components of regional success, who governs at the regional scale, and why it matters.  A discussion panel moderated by Erika Poethig of the MacArthur Foundation will feature research team members Margaret Weir of the University of California-Berkeley, Manuel Pastor of the University of California-Santa Cruz, Kathryn Foster at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and others.
• Global Gateways:  Cities in the United States once competed against one another for economic prosperity, but today metropolitan regions throughout the United States are developing strategies and using new techniques to compete in the global economy.  At a time when globalization is creating increasing numbers of economic winners and losers, this session will discuss which regional approaches to global competitiveness are working and why.
• Growing, Retaining and Attracting Talent:  There is a growing understanding that regions that are successfully competing in the economic realm are those that can create, retain and attract a talented workforce.  Moderator Carol Coletta of CEOs for Cities will lead a discussion of the challenges posed by this need and the new strategies being implemented to achieve it, featuring Mary Jo Waits from Phoenix and Paul Tonna of Long Island?s Molloy College.
• Neighborhood Development and Regional Competitiveness:  Linking neighborhood development efforts with regional economic development initiatives is a key to regional competitiveness.  But these efforts are often uncoordinated because different groups and individuals tend to be involved at the different these scales.  Daniella Levine of Miami?s Prosperity Campaign, Manuel Pastor of the University of California-Santa Cruz, and others will discuss the importance of connecting neighborhood-based and regional economic initiatives and what strategies offer the most chance for success at these different scales.
• Making Place Matter:  The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) has been serving as a catalyst for regional community, business and academic initiatives.  ARS, AASCU and the National Center for Higher Educations Management Systems have collaboratively undertaken a Kellogg Foundation funded two-year initiative dedicated to advancing state colleges and universities as regional stewards called Making Place Matter.  The initiative has published a monograph and workbook, Tools and Insights for Universities Called to Regional Stewardship, which thoughtfully articulates the external forces driving emerging stewardship imperatives for state colleges and universities, and identifies the expectations that lie ahead.  For more information, see the related Innovative Ideas piece in this month?s enewsletter. This session will discuss the role of public colleges and universities in regional stewardship. 
  

Registration and Accommodations

To register for the Forum and view the complete agenda, visit the ARS website at regionalstewardship.org/register4forum.html.  The Hotel Allegro is located at 171 West Randolph Street.  To make your reservations, please call .  Be sure to mention the ARS Forum to receive the group rate of $189/night excluding taxes by April 10, 2006. 

For more information on the ARS National Forum, please contact Michele Baker at or call .