St. Louis welcomed nearly 100 representatives from communities across the nation for the National Stewardship Forum, May 15-16, 2003. Sponsored by Bank of America Foundation, the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, FOCUS St. Louis, and the St. Louis Chamber and Growth Association, the Forum focused on regionalism and efforts similar to myregion.org in Birmingham, Salt Lake, Louisville, Washington, D. C., and Kansas City to name a few.
Joining myregion.org Project Director, Shelley Lauten, and Vice President of Administration, Ruth Z. Mustian, were a number of community and family foundations that support regionalism in their communities. Additionally, representatives from chambers of commerce, community-based organizations, and government planning agencies all working to elevate their regions in the global marketplace participated.
The conference opened with a case study on The Metropolitan Forum, a partnership of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association, the East-West Coordinating Council and FOCUS St. Louis which manages three community-based leadership development programs. The Metropolitan Forum was formed to address the social and economic problems that the partners could not solve individually. St. Louis is a 12-county region across two states that has faced a number of challenges including a significantly declining population, nearly 800 local government entities, and the on-going challenge of social and economic disparity of its population. The Metropolitan Forum has taken steps to organize, engage community leadership across the civic, public and private sectors and formulate a community agenda for change.
A panel of authors who study regionalism and help to advance regional stewardship in their writings articulated their messages of cross-sector collaboration to solve problems that affect multiple jurisdictions within metropolitan areas. Included were Scott Fosler, Working Better Together, Terry Jones, Metropolitan Chase, and Todd Swanstrom, Place Matters: Metropolitics for the 21st Century.
Several workshops were presented to participants during the Forum addressing: Building Regional and Community Development Partnerships, Measuring Regional Progress: Indicators and Identity, The Role of Foundations – Regional Grantmaking, and Regional Partnerships with the Federal Government.
Certainly a highlight of the Forum was a video-conference with Joan Riehm, Deputy Mayor of Louisville Metro, who provided an insightful summary of her region’s efforts toward a consolidated government for Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky. After a half-century of trying, this highly acclaimed merger took effect on January 6, 2003.
This 23-county, two-state region, is now the 16th largest city in the United States. Ms. Riehm’s engaging presentation explained how communities must change focus from conflict to cooperation in order to confront the challenges of thinking and acting regionally. “Communities must be consistent over time. With the right mix of leaders, idealogy and action, consolidation can be achieved,” said Riehm. “Sometimes we had lofty goals, but not enough courageous leaders. Another time the right leadership team was in place, but the mechanics of the merger could not be agreed upon.”
Early success might be measured by community involvement. As an example, for the 26 seats on the new Louisville Metro Council, over 200 candidates came forward, many of whom had never served in public office before. Additionally, the states of Kentucky and Indiana had been debating over the placement of a new bridge across the Ohio River. They recently decided to ask the federal government for two bridges, and they expect final approval for both of them in the very near future. It’s not perfect, but it’s an exciting time to be in Louisville!
For more information on the Alliance for Regional Stewardship, visit www.regionalstewardship.org.
