Here are the tasks we have been working on over the holidays:
1. We've been assembling our team for Making Change, and we are getting ready to schedule our working retreat in January. In December we conducted a planning session for the January retreat. (You may remember, the retreat follows our annual meeting last November. It is the next step in "Making Change", the process for building an innovation economi in Northeast Ohio.)
We are continuing to finalize the business plan for REI@Weatherhead, while structuring the Making Change process.
2. We have agreed to work with Jennifer Thomas at the Civic Innovation Lab initiative. For the projects selected, REI will provide consulting support from both our professional staff and students. For the projects that are not selected, we will provide a seminar on how different projects can be refined to improve their chances of success.
3. We have discussed the proposed economic development levy scheduled for March with Cuyahoga County staff. We have been asked help the County shape this agenda and align it with other activities going on in the region.
4. We are working with Jack Kleinhentz and Ziona Austrian from CSU on a proposal to the Ohio Aerospace Insitute to develop a clearer understanding of the strategic issues facing Ohio's aerospace companies. Hopefully, we will have this project completed by March or April. Jack and Ziona are taking the lead on the project.
5. We have been working with Mari Rege, a member of the Case economics faculty, on a proposal to upgrade Doan Brook and Rudy Rodgers Park. Mari has a class in environmental economics, and the class did an excellent job estimating the value of park improvements. Our next step is to work with KSU's Urban Design Center to define an on-going program of student engagement to improve the park.
6. We are starting a discussion with Ruth Durak and Hunter Morrison of the Urban Design Center to develop a working session on how to build quality connected places around our region's colleges and universities. The working title of the session: Creating Smart Places: The Challenges of Campus Community Planning.
7. We evaluated our work with Ashland University in hosting a Chinese delegation in Cleveland in early December. We will be working with Ashland on another delegation which is scheduled now for May. As an outgrowth of these activities, we have staqrted to assemble an internal team of Chinese graduate students who will assist us.
8. Ashland Univeristy has invited us to participate in another Cleveland-based initiative. Ashland is working with East High School in Cleveland on a financial education program. We will be devoted some staff time to exploring how this program could be expanded more aggressively. Key Bank is a supporter of the project.
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