More than 70 elected officials, civic and business leaders from across the seven-county Central Florida Region began a five-day emersion into the issues of growth in Central Florida with a two-day orientation session January 20-21, 2006, at Disney’s BoardWalk Resort.

The first-ever Central Florida Regional Leadership Academy, sponsored by myregion.org, the Florida Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce, UCF Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies, Florida High Tech Corridor Council and Walt Disney World, is one of several venues during 2006 that myregion.org will focus discussion on the issue of growth in Central Florida.  With Central Florida’s population projected to grow from 3.5 million to 7.2 million by 2050, the answer to the question of “How Shall We Grow?” is critical to our future.

Through the use of cutting-edge research commissioned by myregion.org and its partner organizations, including the Central Florida Values Study that indicates growth is the leading issue in the region and the most likely to affect future quality of life, participants in the Academy will create strategies for ensuring that our citizens, community leaders and elected officials are thoughtfully engaged in conversations about our collective future.

During the orientation session, high-level leaders from across the region who are participants in the Academy learned about national and international “best practices” from George Vradenburg, Chair of the Alliance for Regional Stewardship, and Robert Grow, Founder of Envision Utah.  A three-day strategy session will follow March 29-31, 2006, will team participants working “side-by-side” with local technical leaders from across the region and national experts who will offer their perspectives on how other regions are dealing with the issue of growth.

More information about myregion.org and the Regional Leadership Academy can be found on the web at www.myregion.org.