MPC is an
organization engaged in a variety of issues — education, housing, sensible
growth, technology, transportation, and redevelopment — and our partners and
friends understand us in different ways. A volunteer working on our freight
action agenda, for instance, is surprised to learn that the Council was deeply
involved in raising the education funding foundation level. Our fellow housing
organizations do not necessarily know about all of the other ways we support
sensible growth.
Delve just a little
deeper into any one of our issues, though, and the connection between them
becomes apparent.
And in 2004, MPC
will focus more deliberately on these connections. Our energies will be
organized in three cross-cutting priorities:
Education and tax reform
All of MPC’s education victories over the years in
winning more per-student funding, a better share for poor students, and other
education quality achievements, are still recognized as incremental changes.
Relying on property taxes to fund schools means that some communities will
always be left behind. Comprehensive tax reform will improve every aspect of
community life, from school quality to community development to affordable
housing (see MPC joins A+ Illinois
).
Community capacity building
MPC has worked since 2000 through a partnership between the Campaign for
Sensible Growth and Urban Land Institute Chicago on highly successful technical
assistance panels (see MPC on the Ground). Expanding the Council’s capacity building
services in 2004 will bring practical solutions to neighborhood challenges, put
best practices into the hands of community leaders, and build partnerships with
the people that make change happen.
Coordinated state infrastructure planning
MPC and Business Leaders for Transportation helped win
passage of Illinois FIRST in 1999. In 2004 and into 2005, we’ll push for a successor infrastructure spending program
that
more explicitly coordinates transportation investments, development decisions,
and economic revitalization. We’ll also seek incentives for communities who
undertake this sort of sensible, coordinated planning.
To achieve our
goals, we’re shaking things up. MPC staff and Board members have formed new
teams to allow us to leverage our expertise across issues. And, we’re reaching
out for support — tapping our volunteers, partners, and friends to help us think
more broadly, work more effectively, and bring the right people to the table. So
expect to hear from us in coming months, and be ready to help make big things
happen.