NADO.org » Prosperous Places

Workshop Materials: Prosperous Places (Salt Lake City, UT)

Brett Schwartz — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:37:24 +0000

The Prosperous Places workshop, held March 25-26, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah, brought together around 50 HUD Sustainable Communities grantees, experts, and capacity-builders to focus on place-based economic development strategies and scenarios planning. This event was co-sponsored by NADO and Envision Utah.

Through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the NADO Research Foundation and Envision Utah are two of eight teams providing capacity building and technical assistance to HUD and EPA sustainable communities award recipients. The capacity building teams are forming networks among the grantees to exchange ideas on successful strategies, lessons learned, and emerging tools for community and economic development.

Below are links to the workshop materials, including presentations, worksheets, and grantee background information. If you have any questions about this workshop, these materials, or NADO’s work as a capacity building team, please contact Brett Schwartz.

Workshop Background Materials

Opening Plenary: Regional Visioning Based on Shared Values
Robert Grow, President/Chief Executive Officer, Envision Utah

Finding and Leveraging Competitive Advantage
Nora Johnson, Policy Fellow, US EPA Office of Sustainable Communities
Kathy Nothstine, Associate Director, NADO

Scenarios Planning 101 and Part 2
Christie Oostema, Planning Director, Envision Utah
Jay Baker, Countywide Planner, Cache County, Utah
Lori Haddock, Economic development professional, Bear Lake County, Idaho
Mitch Poulsen, Executive Director, Bear Lake Regional Commission

Rural Poverty and Equitable Development
Danielle Bergstrom, Program Associate, PolicyLink
Bill Vanderwall, Capacity Building Manager, Minnesota Housing Partnership

Keynote Address: Progress and Challenges in Place-Based Rural Policies
Chuck Fluharty, President/CEO, Rural Policy Research Institute

Best Practices in Creating Strong Regional Economic Development Strategies
Brian Kelsey, Director of Economic Development, NADO

Implementing a Regional Plan as an Over-arching Economic Development Strategy: Focus on Implementation Strategies and Toolkit
Christie Oostema, Planning Director, Envision Utah
Dave Conine, USDA Rural Development

Additional Materials/Links
Sonoran Institute’s About Town research and report
California Financial Opportunities Roundtable (CalFOR) Guidebook

Workshop Materials: Finding and Leveraging Competitive Advantage

Brett Schwartz — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:30:44 +0000

These materials are from the breakout session “Finding and Leveraging Competitive Advantage,” held at the Prosperous Places workshop in Salt Lake City, March 25-26, 2013. Organized by NADO and Envision Utah, this workshop brought together around 50 HUD Sustainable Communities grantees, experts, and capacity-builders to focus on place-based local economic development strategies and scenarios planning.

In this session, Nora Johnson (EPA) and Kathy Nothstine (NADO) facilitated a discussion that explored how regions and communities can approach bottom-up, asset-based economic development to better identify economic drivers, promote sustainable growth patterns, and attract and retain businesses and residents.

Materials:
Finding and Leveraging Competitive Advantage Powerpoint (PDF)
Leveraging Assets Worksheet (PDF)

Workshop Materials: Regional Visioning Based on Shared Values

Brett Schwartz — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:24:33 +0000

These materials are from Robert Grow’s (Envision Utah) opening plenary address “Regional Visioning Based on Shared Values,” given at the Prosperous Places workshop in Salt Lake City, March 25-26, 2013. Organized by NADO and Envision Utah, this workshop brought together around 50 HUD Sustainable Communities grantees, experts, and capacity-builders to focus on place-based local economic development strategies and scenarios planning.

Grow discussed how visions should satisfy the values, hopes, and dreams of citizens, and how a successful visioning process includes identifying community values to find common ground, frame issues, communicate, and build consensus. Visions that respond to core values can be implemented, because satisfying one’s values is the foundation of personal and collective decision making. This presentation explained the importance of understanding values in visioning processes and explored options for smaller places and rural regions.

Materials:
Regional Visioning Based on Shared Values Powerpoint (PDF) [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]
Creating a Strategy, Framing Issues for Scenarios, Using Values in Your Communication Strategy, Inviting Stakeholders Workshop (PDF)