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 On May 4th, regional practitioners gathered in Washington, D.C. for the 11th ARS National Forum on Regional Stewardship Spring meeting. Entitled ?The Next Generation in CollaborationLinking Economic and Social Issues,? the forum examined the critical aspects of collaboration among sectors, across jurisdictions and across issues. The Forum had its highest attendance, with over 140 practitioners representing 38 regions from coast to coast.
The practitioners began the Forum with the opportunity to tour development projects along the Anacostia River aboard the Sequoia Riverboat, a former presidential yacht. Robert Nixon, of the Earth Conservation Corps and Uwe Brandes, of the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation, provided commentary on the development opportunities for the area.
The next morning, the group got down to business as George Vradenburg, Chair of the ARS Board of Directors, welcomed them to Washington and moderated the first panel: ?Setting the StageThe Greater Washington Region.? Alice Rivlin, of the Brookings Institution, provided an overview of the region and its challenges. She noted that while Washington, D.C. is a growing region in terms of jobs and population, not all people benefit from the growth. The region has a serious east-west divide in which the more affluent and predominantly white population resides in the western portion of the region; while the eastern portion is home to a more racially diverse and less affluent population. Moreover, despite the region?s overall economic stability, the concentration of poverty is growing. Its racial and economic challenges are exacerbated by a fragmented civic and governmental modeltwo states, a city, and the federal government; housing affordability, especially for those with modest incomes; an increasingly diverse immigrant population; and increasing transportation challengesincluding congestion, pollution and sustained funding for the region?s mass transit system, METRO. Rivlin noted that the region?s key challenges are to take advantage of current economic growth to create mixed-income neighborhoods that bridge the east-west divide, and to build a stronger sense of the region that overcomes geographic boundaries.
In response, the panel of local leaders pointed out the individual challenges of being a regionalist in Washington, D.C. Jay Fisette, Chair of the Arlington County (Virginia) Board of Supervisors, characterized as ?bi-polar? his role as a local elected official and a regional leader who constantly shifted between local and regional perspectives and issues. Paris Glendening, former governor of Maryland, noted that regional leaders tend to respond best to issues in crisis, which forces cooperation among jurisdictions. In such cases, leaders rely on the trust and personal relationship developed in the formal governmental structures in which they interact. James Kimsey, the founding CEO and Chairman Emeritus of AOL, discussed the role of business leaders and described them as ?free radicals, not attached to any particular agenda? and their ability to act as neutral brokers among the various political officials. Moreover, their ?outcome driven approach? keeps the leaders? focus on the critical issues, and not get sidetracked by politics.
Wednesday morning?s breakout sessions explored the challenges associated with multi-state regional collaboration and multi-sector perspectives on regional collaborative problem solving. Joan Riehm, Deputy Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, led panelists from Washington, D.C., Kansas City, and New York multi-state collaborative challenges. David Soule, of Northeastern University, led the panel on multi-sector perspectives, which included local government, private sector and nonprofit representatives from Fairfax County, Virginia, Central Florida and Washington, D.C.
The afternoon plenary addressed the socialeconomic collaborations in the Greater Washington, D.C. region. Terri Freeman, of the Community Foundation for the National Capitol Region, led panelists in a discussion of the criteria and components of effective partnerships, identifying the opportunities for change and the challenges associated with linking organizational capacities for enhanced effectiveness. Panelists Caroline Cunningham, George Foresman, Jim Gibson and Bob Templin discussed these issues in the context of homeland security, regional equity and workforce readiness. They discussed the challenges operating from an enterprise perspective and the need to cross organizational boundaries as well as jurisdictional and sector boundaries; to emerge from ?silo mentalities? and establish connectivity among organizations. Afternoon breakouts examined the issues raised in plenary in more detail; focusing on workforce readiness, health care, homeland security and regional equity collaborative problem solving.
Thursday morning?s plenary focused on Federal Policy Towards Regions. Moderator Randall Kempner, of the Council on Competitiveness, began by noting that the US is predicated on a federal perspective, not on a regionalism focus. Panelists from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Transportation re-enforced that view, but did speak to their agencies efforts to approach their respective issues from regional perspectives; notably in the areas of air and water quality planning and mitigation, economic development and transportation planning.
Morning breakouts examined the transportation planning challenges more closely; and ?stealth? federal practices that encouraged collaboration among regions. Scott Fosler, of the University of Maryland, moderated the ?stealth? panel in which representatives of the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Endowment for the Arts outlined programs, that despite the absence of a comprehensive federal approach to regions, encouraged communities to collaborate regionally. Much of this ?stealth? approach involved listening to end users who tended to be local and regional officials, hosting educational workshops geared to local decision-makers and providing seed grants that enabled them to participate in federal programs.
ARS will be releasing a CD that will include all materials from the Forum, including participant packet materials, PowerPoint presentations, and notes taken during each session. If you would like to receive a copy of the CD, please contact Amy Carrier, Alliance Manager, at .
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