The Partnership for Regional Livability is an initiative to create high-value regional projects with strong federal support. Regional Leadership Teams -- including business, government, and community leaders who want to work with the federal government -- are now articulating regional-scale projects. The federal government is joining the Regional Teams in exploring new ways to apply federal tools to achieve the regional project goals.

The Partnership hopes to add something fundamentally different to the small, but growing, stable of successful regional initiatives. To be specific, the Partnership is exploring ways federal and state agencies can help implement regional plans (in contrast to communities implementing a federal government-led agenda). Foundations are providing leadership for the Partnership, along with representatives from multiple federal agencies and regions. The four pilot regions are Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, and the Bay Area. The Partnership for Regional Livability has staff who are supporting the work of the Partnership, including creating a learning network among its members to speed the transfer of ideas among partners.

Over the next three months, each region will define one to three regional initiatives for which federal support is crucial for success, and explore innovative federal, state, regional, and local responses to these regional priorities. The regions will then propose a partnership with the federal government -- and other partners -- to implement the initiatives. The goal is for each project wto be regional in scope; nonpartisan; link multi-issue interests and a diverse set of stakeholders; link city, suburban, and rural interests; and stimulate public-private partnerships. The projects all will promote livable communities. They may include enhancing economic competitiveness and inclusion; preserving open space and addressing brownfields; promoting collaboration and a sense of community; improving transportation access and workforce development; or achieving "smart growth."

The Partnership for Regional Livability intends to have draft proposals for partnerships between each of the four regions and specific federal agencies by late June 1999. All of the partners will come together in late June in San Francisco to share, compare, and discuss their projects and commit to next steps for finalizing agreements to implement some projects by September. From June to September, projects and agreements among the partners will be hammered out and proposals drafted for moving forward. Other important results will include new connections between the regions and federal agencies, new inter-regional connections for dialog about regional strategies, and lessons for how to collaborate effectively toward common regional goals. If this first pilot of the Partnership is successful, then it will be replicated in additional regions.

The Partnership builds on the local and national dialogues hosted by the Metropolitan Initiative, the President's Council on Sustainable Development, and the Brookings Institution, and the recent panel study, Building Stronger Communities and Regions: How Can the Federal Government Help? released by the National Academy of Public Administration in March of 1998.

Services from the Partnership to the Regional Leadership Teams

(Pending Confirmation of Funding)

• Assistance in Securing Funding for the Regional Leadership Team process if needed.

• Staff Support from Regional Coordinators.

• Toolkits, including best practice information on regional initiatives and for conducting inventories of local assets, capacities, and goals.

• Access through the Partnership to consulting support from experts to address gaps in knowledge (such as best practice for specific livability goals, resources within the federal government, how to involve new stakeholders, how to negotiate multi-party agreements, etc.).

• Communication opportunities including a dedicated web site, list serv, cross-regional meetings, and documentation of the progress of the Partnership.

• Connection to regional best practices and learning through a Learning Network.

• Assistance in identifying potential partners within key federal agencies at the regional and national level.

Return to main page.

Last updated March 24, 1999.