Raleigh, NC -

The Alliance for Regional Stewardship (ARS) is pleased to announce that the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber is the winner of the 2009 Organizational Champion Award for their leadership on the Agenda 360 regional visioning effort. Cincinnati’s Agenda 360 was named winner from among five award finalists at the ARS Regional Strategies Forum, held today in Raleigh, NC.

The Organizational Champion Award recognizes regions, regional alliances and regional leaders for excellence and demonstrated progress in at least one of the four principles of regional stewardship: innovative economy, livable communities, social inclusion, and a collaborative style of governance. All the award finalists exemplify regional cooperation efforts that have increased regional capacity, achieved tangible results and shown the potential for sustainability.

Agenda 360 is a regional action plan focused on transforming the Cincinnati USA region, which includes four counties in Southwest Ohio, into a leading metropolitan region. It is the result of a collaborative regional visioning effort in which 7,000 citizens contributed their voices. The visioning effort has developed into an actionable regional agenda with over 40 civic, business, government, educational and non-profit entities committed to create an aligned framework for tackling tough issues facing the region and position Cincinnati USA for sustained progress and success.

“Their application said ’Talent, Jobs, and Economic Opportunity for all who call our region home’ has been the rallying cry of Agenda 360. That’s the commitment it takes to drive regional success, and that is what Agenda 360 has accomplished in designing, developing and implementing their regional action plan,” said F. Michael Langley, Immediate Past Chair of the ARS Advisory Board and member of the 2009 ARS Award Committee. “It was clear in reviewing their submission and researching their progress that the Cincinnati region ‘totally gets it’ and through their current leadership and intergenerational focus on diversity and talent, will be a globally competitive region for the foreseeable future.”

The ARS Organizational Champion Awards were established in 2004 to recognize multi-city and multi-county communities that have abandoned rivalries, pooled resources and worked together to ensure their shared prosperity. The Organizational Champion Award is the highest honor bestowed by ARS. Finalists for the 2009 Organizational Champion Award were selected from a nationwide pool of candidates by a panel of five judges.

The Alliance for Regional Stewardship (ARS) is a national, peer-to-peer network of regional leaders working across boundaries to solve tough community problems. Supported by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, ARS members come from business, government, education, and the civic sectors and share a common commitment to collaborative action and achieving results. ARS is committed to the idea that strong and vibrant regional communities are built on four principles of regional stewardship: an innovative economy, livable communities, social inclusion, and a collaborative style of governance.

Source: ACCE

Publication Date: July 29, 2009

Friday, July 17, 2009

Business Courier of Cincinnati

The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s Agenda 360 effort has appointed a new team of leaders.

The group, called Council 360, will be charged with helping to move forward on the Agenda 360 regional strategic plan drafted by local business leaders. The leaders and their “priority areas” are:

Quality Place: Margy Waller, the Fine Arts Fund; Liz Blume, Community Building Institute-Xavier University; Dan Oerther, UC Center for Urban Environment.

Business Growth: Kimm Coyner, economic development for Warren County; Doug Moormann, Cincinnati USA Regional Partnership; Sean Rugless, the African American Chamber of Commerce; Rich Kiley, retired, Procter & Gamble Co.; Robin Dreisigacker, UC Academic Health Center.

Qualified Work Force: Robin White, CEO of Great Oaks Community College; Stephanie Byrd, Success by Six; Jeff Edmondson, STRIVE; Ross Meyer, Greater Cincinnati Workforce Network.

Transportation: Marilyn Shazor, president of Metro; Bobby Maly, Model Management; Kim Satzger, Regional Port Authority.

Inclusion: Alfonso Cornejo, president of the Hispanic Chamber; Karen Bankston, Drake/Health Care; Chip Harrod, Bridges for a Just Community, Peg Fox, Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati (MARCC).

Government Collaboration: Greg Jolivette, Butler County Commissioner; Matt van Sant, Clermont Chamber of Commerce; Louise Hughes, Procter & Gamble; Milton Dohoney, city of Cincinnati.

Regional Communications: Dacia Snider, Soapbox Media; Ryan Rybolt, Infintech; A.J. Schaeffer, Vision 2015.

The effort will be led by co-chairs Kevin Ghassomian, an attorney with Greenbaum Doll & McDonald, and Mary Stagaman, associate vice president at the University of Cincinnati.

Connecting the Dots Discussion Series
Connecting the Dots events are just one of the ways Agenda 360 will communicate the progress of the regional initiative to the community and encourage community interaction with the plan.

Each month, Agenda 360 will host two Connecting the Dots sessions; one at the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber offices and the other at a community venue. Both will address a particular aspect of the plan and how it affects the community.




Tuesday, August 4, 2009

8:30 – 10:00AM
TQL - Total Quality Logistics4289
Ivy Pointe BoulevardCincinnati, OH 45245

Topic: Talent Attraction

To Register: 513-579-3111 or online

Panelists: Matt Van Sant, President, Clermont Chamber of Commerce; Eric Grothaus, Vice President of Human Resources, Total Quality Logistics; Ryan Rybolt, President, Infintech. The event will be moderated by Myrita Craig, Executive Director, Agenda 360.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
8:00 – 9:30AM
Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber
441 Vine Street, 300 Carew Tower
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Topic: Ohio River's Impact on Business Growth
To Register: 513-579-3111 or online
Panelists: Kim Satzger, President, Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority, and Doug Moormann, Vice President of Economic Development, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber

Long-Term Goals Focus on Talent, Jobs, Economic Opportunity

CINCINNATI-February 13, 2009- At a news conference this morning at the Cincinnati Museum Center, Agenda 360, the regional action plan, announced its goals, priorities and strategies for the Cincinnati USA region. The event drew approximately 200 volunteers, government officials, and business and civic leaders.

At the heart of Agenda 360 is the rallying cry: to transform the region, by the year 2020, into a leading metropolitan region for talent, jobs and economic opportunity for all who call the region home.

At the core of this plan are three transformational, long-range goals. By the year 2020, the goal of Agenda 360 is to:

• Add 150,000 additional 20 to 34 year-olds in the region's workforce, an increase of 50 percent.
• Add 200,000 net new jobs in the region, representing an estimated 50 percent increase in the historical job growth rate in the region.
• Create economic self-sufficiency for all, incorporating the United Way goal of income at a minimum of 250 percent above the federal poverty level for all households.

Agenda 360 is positioned as a new way to identify an aligned set of regional priorities so the community is collectively on the same page. The focus of Agenda 360 is not creating new content-in fact; much of the content of the Agenda 360 is not new. But by creating the roadmap to transform our region, Agenda 360 will, in turn, enable Cincinnati USA to better compete in the increasingly global economy.

The short list of priorities within the Agenda 360 report is the culmination of the work of a team of nearly 1,000 volunteers who have endeavored to understand the strengths and challenges of Southwest Ohio. Additionally, more than 7,000 people throughout the region have contributed their voices to the planning process, including the community survey. Through this comprehensive process, a desire for change and consensus for action emerged. Six priorities were identified to achieve the stated long-term goals:

• Creating a quality place to live
• Growing businesses
• Developing a qualified workforce
• Expanding our transportation options
• Being inclusive and welcoming
• And encouraging our local governments to work together.

Going forward, accountability will be critical. This is evidenced by the community survey, where 95 percent of respondents said tracking progress and be accountable for the results is the single most important concern to our community.

The Office of Agenda 360, to be housed within the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, will be charged with driving the goals, priorities and strategies within the report. The Office of Agenda 360 will be led by Myrita Craig, the newly named executive director. Council 360, the leadership team advising the Office of Agenda 360, will be led by co-chairs Kevin Ghassomian and Mary Stagaman. Additionally, two co-chairs, one from the business and one from the civic arena, will be named to each priority focus, adding an additional layer of accountability.

Agenda 360 was first announced in December of 2006 at the United Way's State of the Community Address. For more information or to access the complete report, visit www.cincinnati360.com.

Goals, Priorities and Strategies to be Unveiled

Friday, February 13, 10 a.m.

What:

Agenda 360, the regional action plan, will announce its goals, priorities and strategies for the Cincinnati USA region. At the heart of Agenda 360 is the rallying cry of increasing talent, jobs and economic opportunity by 2020. At the event, a new set of aligned, transformational priorities and strategies will be announced focusing on the following areas:

• Creating a quality place to live


• Growing businesses


• Developing a qualified workforce


• Expanding our transportation options


• Being inclusive and welcoming


• Encouraging government collaboration

The Agenda 360 implementation strategy and leadership team also will be announced. Agenda 360 launched more than two years ago.



Where:
The Museum Center at Union Terminal
Losantiville Room (tables and wi-fi available for bloggers)

When:
Friday, February 13
10 a.m.

Who:

• Agenda 360 co-chairs, leadership team and volunteers


• Community and non-profit leaders


• Elected leaders

 Presentation from the Art Museum on 4/21/2008

Dear Concerned Citizen

Please join the University of Cincinnati President Nancy Zimpher, Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher, the Agenda 360 Leadership Team and representatives from the Brookings Institution the afternoon of April 21st for an important discussion on the status of Agenda 360, emerging economic development policies in Ohio and national economic revitalization activities.

This will be the first meeting in a series of educational opportunities to promote community understanding and dialogue regarding regional priorities that are emerging from the Agenda 360 process and the linkage with regional, state and national initiatives.

The goal of this meeting will be to update our community, engaged citizens, regional elected officials and civic and business leaders about state and national economic revitalization initiatives and the relationship with Agenda 360 activities and priorities.

We ask that you join us in the Auditorium at the Cincinnati Art Museum for this review and discussion beginning at 2 pm. We expect to conclude by 5 pm. Your participation is integral to this process. Please join us on April 21 and encourage colleagues and friends to do the same.

There is no charge for this event but seating is limited so please RSVP at 579-3111 if you plan to attend.

Sincerely,

Ellen G. van der Horst
President and CEO - Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber

Dr. Myrtis Powell
Co-Chair - Agenda 360

Kevin Ghassomian
Co-Chair - Agenda 360