Articles
Cooperation, shared gains are still focus for Our Region Tomorrow
By Randy Hanna
SPECIAL TO BUSINESS MATTERS
[ Editor's Note : A year ago in preparation for the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce's annual Community Conference, chamber and civic leaders announced a regional economic development initiative.]
While the long-term interests of Leon and the eight surrounding counties may be best served by everyone working together, the first step in building a coalition is identifying who needs to be involved and what meaningful collaboration would look like.
That is the task of the new initiative spearheaded by the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce known as Our Region Tomorrow (ORT), a visioning and long-range action planning effort. ORT was created to encourage and facilitate cooperation between the public and private sectors of North Florida and South Georgia.
ORT Executive Director Matt Doster has been on the road, knocking on doors and introducing the concept to area decision-makers.
"We have been conducting informal meetings with elected leaders and business leaders in the region to better explain the vision, that this initiative can be whatever they want it to be," he said. "There is no preset agenda that they have to sign up for — it allows everyone involved to coordinate, collaborate and communicate in away that benefits the entire region."
The initiative is focusing on more than just long-term planning, Doster said.
"The emphasis for a standard regional visioning committee is limited to construction, land use and transportation," he said. "Issues such as economic development, jobs and quality of life are thought to happen more effectively downstream."
Some of those issues deserve attention sooner rather than later, however, according to Doster.
"We believe that there are lots of opportunities for regional collaboration now — especially in the areas of health-care and transportation — that don't require years of study to implement," he said. "We can be a visioning exercise, but at the same time be action oriented and get results on more obvious issues that need our attention."
ORT also has been participating in Tallahassee Mayor John Marks' Big Bend Regional Partnership with the same nine counties.
"We support each other and are working together on many of the same initiatives," Doster said.
Randy Hanna is managing shareholder at law firm Bryant Miller Olive and past chairman of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce.
