Three weeks ago, Rochester’s Democrat and Chronicle launched a special project, Fighting for Rochester’s Future.  Rochester is starting to look at ways they can work together to create jobs, revivie their downtown, burnish their image, retain the young, and get community input. Although many residents offered thoughtful solutions to the region’s woes, beyond the newspaper, there is no organized, dedicated effort to follow up on the myriad ideas that are being discussed in this community dialogue.

An article published Saturday, April 12, in the Democrat and Chronicle mentioned myregion.org as a successful example of a region working together. Click here to view the entire story.

“Many cities are beginning to look at regionalism and it is an honor to be thought of as an example of success. I wish Rochester the best with their project and hope they can gather the same amount of knowledge that is coming out of myregion.org,” said Joel Hass, Chairman, myregion.org. An article written by Mr. Hass was published Friday, April 18, and is reprinted in its entirety below.


In Rochester, as in Florida, Cooperation Can Open Doors
Joel Hass, Guest Essayist

Michael Gallis, myregion.org Lead Consultant once said, “History shows that in times of great change, governments and other organizations flourish when they see change coming and prepare to capitalize on the opportunities it brings. Those that did not recognize and prepare for change often missed significant opportunity.”

Rochester has obviously noticed a problem and is beginning to act on it by Fighting for Rochester’s Future.

Central Florida also wanted to be prepared for times of great change and decided to form a partnership, myregion.org, involving seven Central Florida counties - Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole and Volusia - along with businesses and institutions intended to galvanize the idea of regionalism.

myregion.org is a partnership that will serve as a catalyst for our region's individuals, organizations, businesses, institutions and governments to act together in making our region globally competitive. The program is helping us to understand our region, to evaluate the challenges and opportunities ahead, and to prepare the leadership within the Central Florida region to act upon them by building a new "regional mentality," strengthening and creating regional coalitions, and maximizing opportunities to address challenges.

In July, myregion.org will unveil a SourceBook to the Central Florida community outlining a new regional agenda based on data, maps, graphs and charts that have been collected and analyzed during the project. The SourceBook will serve as a road map for our region's future.

Local leaders will use it in making decisions about transportation, infrastructure, development, education, the environment and many other issues. Much of the outcomes from this partnership will not be as tangible as a book or data chart.

One goal of myregion.org is to train local leaders and residents to change the way they think about this community and to build long-term relationships in a "safe environment" for discussion and debate. Instead of thinking about seven counties and hundreds of cities, we are learning how to think in regional terms. This kind of thinking will make the SourceBook even more effective.

The SourceBook will present a set of opportunities and next steps that the leadership of the project, with citizen input, is committed to carrying forward.

As the individual communities begin to better understand the broader context of the issues affecting the region, we are proud to say new programs, events and partnerships have already taken place as the project evolves.

At the 2002 Regional Leadership Conference in November, several members of myregion.org's Executive Committee, Leadership Council and CEO Roundtable addressed over 400 community leaders, elected officials, association professionals, organization volunteers and academia from the Central Florida seven-county region who gathered for three days to analyze and address regional issues.

Our seven-county commission chairs shared "A View from Our Counties" and participants were able to vote electronically on a proposed plan of action from the seven public school superintendents.

In September, unprecedented roundtable meetings took place with leaders from the three water management districts, transportation officials, health care executives, and regional developers to discuss their concerns about the future of Central Florida and the issues facing these key regional systems.

Community college presidents are currently meeting monthly to discuss ways of collaborating regionally.

It is extremely important that myregion.org is viewed as an ongoing process rather than a one-time activity. While we know that specific actionable ideas have always come out of these kinds of projects, we have just reached the "opportunities evaluation" stage. Over the next few months, the specific strategies will be clarified. Once the regional framework is finalized, the community will collectively decide how best to use it.

myregion.org in Central Florida has maximized the process based on similar Gallis efforts in Memphis, West Michigan, Cincinnati, and Charlotte. The hope is that Rochester can benefit from what Orlando has added to the mix.

Hass is Chairman, myregion.org; and Chief Executive Officer, American Red Cross of Central Florida.