News
Developers Don't Retreat From Regional Approach
Friday, October 31, 2008 10:27 PM CDT
Developers don't retreat from regional approach
By HERB MEEKER, Staff Writer
hmeeker@jg-tc.com
Coles Together President Angela Griffin admits she sometimes retreats from attending a retreat.
“You don’t always have exceptional ideas coming out of retreats,” said Griffin.
Well, she is backing off that stance after attending a retreat Oct. 22-23 at Allerton Park with community leaders from Coles, Cumberland, Douglas, Shelby, Moultrie, Clark, Edgar, Effingham and Christian counties.
Sponsored by the East-Central Illinois Development Corporation,
the gathering concentrated on developing new networks for meeting challenges in economic and work force development.
"This retreat was really outstanding,” said Griffin. “Everyone there said they learned a lot and it will be easy to take back what was learned and apply it to our goals.”
The retreat concentrated on Open Source Economic Development and how to employ this model in East Central Illinois.
This approach focuses on meeting the challenges faced by every economic and workforce developer: designing and executing complex projects quickly in an open environment in which no one can tell anyone else what to do, as explained by Ed Morrison, a consultant hired by ECIDC for the retreat event.
This approach is being developed at the Purdue Center for Regional Development and the Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open).The approach balances focused civic conversations with leadership guidance to launch important initiatives and works to translate ideas into action quickly.
Jason Wrone, vice president of Open Prairie in Effingham, was excited about the discussions on electronic forums to gain more input, not just from community leaders, but the general public as well.
“We already have networks we use. With this we could get more people together online. This was described as the transition from your grandfather’s economy to your grandchildren’s economy,” Wrone said.
The electronic forums will supplement traditional ones that bring people to a specific place, he said. And they could help move the discussions along at a more efficient pace, he said.
“When you have the first meeting on a subject now you might have only a few people show up. Then more people show up for the second one, but the newcomers have to catch up.,” Wrone said.
Morrison told retreat participants the group must take the time to build the relationships of trust and expand the core group before deciding what East-Central Illinois will be known for, whether that is alternative energy, entrepreneurial initiatives or some other chosen outcome that is only achievable through connecting the region’s assets.
“The biggest challenge in regionalism is tearing down the invisible fences that separate each of your communities, counties and organizations,” Morrison stated. “These fences were put up by our predecessors as a means of protection but are now only a barrier between us and the global economy.”
Diane Rieck of Express Employment Professionals of Mattoon agreed the approach should be gaining a consensus for cooperation, not competition.
“It’s a new way to look at a regional perspective. How do we get a critical mass of people thinking what is good for all of us and best for the region,” Rieck said.
She said Lake Land College could concentrate on providing education and research on alternative energy sources that could help the entire region on economic development.
Pana school Superintendent David Lett said a vital benefit for educators from this new approach is communication on the region’s potential.
“It’s really important for education to have more of a dialogue with business and industry. We’re hearing some skills are not getting emphasized in schools that employers need in this region,” Lett said.
ECIDC has offered to provide support to the network and promote its development.
The next meeting of the group is Dec. 4, at the Workforce Development Center in Mattoon. To join in the discussion call Trisha Mason at 238-8233 or e-mail tmason16617@lakeland.cc.il.us.