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Regional Thinking in West Michigan Garners Multiple
Benefits by: Greg Northrup,
President- West Michigan Strategic Alliance
Source: The Review
(March/April 2009) - Michigan Municipal League/April
2009
A regional mindset in West Michigan didn’t
happen overnight. The notion of looking at West Michigan’s future
from a broad, regional perspective began in 1998 when business and
community leaders from Grand Rapids, Holland and Muskegon met to
talk about working together on regional issues. The West Michigan
Strategic Alliance (WMSA) was formally organized in 2000 to create a
shared vision for the region for the next 25 years. WMSA adopted the
vision “to be a best place to live, work, learn and play in the
Midwest” and is guided by the mission “to be a catalyst for regional
collaboration.” Today, the West Michigan region is defined as eight
counties-Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Ken, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo and
Ottawa-which include more than 219 units of government, 77 school
districts, three metro planning organizations, and countless
businesses and institutions.
But what we realized in
West Michigan is that, while all these separate and autonomous
entities are important, each can benefit by working together. We
noted that residents already think and act regionally-73 of
Michigan’s 83 counties showed an increase in inter-county commuting
in the 2000 census. It became obvious that our planning and thinking
had to be regional in scope to match the lifestyles and activities
of residents.
The goal of collaboration is a “win-win”
solution, ensuring a solution of maximum and equal benefits to all
parties. Individual units of government, businesses and nonprofits
will still maintain their autonomy. In collaboration, individual
goals are not muted; they are realized with greater and broader
effect.
Regional Leadership comes to West
Michigan for Inspiration
On
February 24-25, 2009 the West Michigan Strategic Alliance was
pleased to host representatives from The Regional Leadership
Institute, Indiana University – Kokomo, as a part of their tour of
organizations who act as catalyst for regional collaboration.
For its recognition for “best practices” in addressing the regions
toughest challenges such as: diversity, economic prosperity and
environmental integrity, WMSA was selected to provide a two-day tour
of West Michigan. The tour provided an insight to the
strengths and challenges West Michigan faces as a region.
Embracing a
Green Future
The Right Place,
Inc./MMTC-West is hosting this event featuring sessions lead by
manufacturers who have seen the power of sustainable business
practices first-hand. Their presentations will give you specific
tools and strategies in areas such as: Environmental Management
Systems, Product/Service Design, Facilities, Purchasing/Supply
Chain, Operations, Packaging, and
more.
Your conference
admission also includes your choice of two of our intensive,
half-day workshops:
* Lean and Green * Green
Materials and Chemistry * Carbon Management 101 * Green Marketing
Guidelines
Featuring Keynote
Presentations by:
* Nancy Hickey, Senior
Vice President/Chief Administrative Officer, Steelcase Inc. * Gary
Hirshberg, President/CEO, Stonyfield Farm * Doug DeVos, President,
Amway Corp.
For more information or to register, please click
here.
SAVE THE
DATE – 2009 STATE OF THE REGION
When: Wednesday, May 13,
2009 from 2:00pm - 5:00pm
Where: Pinnacle Center,
Hudsonville, MI
Look for more information about the 2009
State of the Region coming soon.
Join the many people and
organizations from around West Michigan who are contributors to the
work of regional collaboration by visiting our website wm-alliance.org or email info@wm-alliance.org
Note: This project is funded in whole or in part by a
WIRED grant from the U.S. Department of Labor - Employment Training
Administration
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