03/28/2005 in Announcements

Voices and Choices:

NE Ohio Citizens to Create Agenda for Our Region’s Future

The Fund for Our Economic Future, a collaboration of more than 60 philanthropic organizations working to improve the Northeast Ohio economy, is launching an ambitious project to involve thousands of area residents in shaping the region’s future.

The 18-month Voices & Choices will include high-tech town meetings, leadership workshops and an internet dialogue involving participants from all sectors of the community.

“This is a significant effort to engage the community in crafting a vision and a plan for the future of this region,” according to David Abbott, executive director of the George Gund Foundation and project co-chair.

Voices & Choices has three major components. The first is public education, which will highlight regional issues and opportunities. The second is public deliberation for generating ideas and fostering dialogue in an effort to establish regional priorities. And the third is engaging leaders to carry forward the mantel of thoughtful, deliberate regional economic decisions. Hundreds of thousands in Northeast Ohio will be invited to participate in this engagement initiative through citizen interviews, group forums, large-scale town meetings and other venues.

The Washington D.C.-based organization AmericaSpeaks has been hired to orchestrate the effort.

To become a Voices & Choices ambassador, click here.