Imagine a future where the Central Florida region is recognized as a world-class place to live, learn, work and play. Where people with diverse backgrounds and talents come together to enhance a global economy that rivals the greatest cities in the world while also ensuring that the natural beauty and other amenities that are unique to our region are maintained and enhanced.

Over the last 18 months, nearly 20,000 Central Florida residents have been involved in creating a shared vision for how our region can grow between now and 2050. Concurrently, public, private and civic leaders have developed principles and policies that will be necessary to move the vision to reality.

This Shared Growth Vision for Central Florida will be unveiled on Friday, August 10, 2007 during the “How Shall We Grow?” Regional Summit to be held from 8:00-11:45 a.m. at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate.

The program will include a mixture of participation by citizens, local elected officials and state leaders as Central Florida looks at what is possible for the future of the region and discusses how to move toward achieving a preferred future.

A group of 16 elected officials representing the seven Central Florida Counties has been meeting over the last year to develop a regional compact and policy framework that takes the shared vision and starts identifying specific policies that can be implemented to ensure we move toward achieving the vision.

As part of the Summit, they will outline the key principles and themes articulated in the vision. They will also relay their pledge, made on behalf of elected officials from throughout the region, to continue working together to address the key regional issues facing Central Florida.

But elected officials are not the only people who will need to be engaged if Central Florida is to enjoy a positive future. Everyone attending the summit will be asked to identify one action they can take to help move the region away from the current path and towards the future vision.

The residents will then have an opportunity to interact in a conversation with key volunteer leaders and elected officials from Central Florida in a panel discussion.

While much of the success of implementing a shared vision will be up to the citizens and leaders of Central Florida, there is still an important role for state government to play in ensuring the vision is achieved. After seeing the vision and hearing from citizens and elected officials from the region, Tom Pelham, the Secretary of the Florida Department of Community Affairs and Stephanie Kopelousos, the Secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation, will respond and react to the vision and provide a perspective on the states role in future implementation.