Flickr User Zane Hollingsworth (cc)
Collaboration has played an important role in responding to foreclosures across the Chicagoland region.
By Breann Gala and MPC Research Assistant Charles Dabah - October 15, 2013
On Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013, Regional Home Ownership Preservation Initiative (RHOPI) will host its annual forum in Chicago, Innovative Collaborations to Revitalize Communities. RHOPI was formed in 2008 in response to the foreclosure crisis that has devastated communities across the Chicago region. With limited resources amidst a sluggish economic recovery, coordinated solutions across the public, private and nonprofit sectors are necessary to rebuild our communities and prevent a spike in home foreclosures. The forum, co-presented by Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) in partnership with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Neighborhood Housing Services, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and other key partners, will address the effectiveness of cross-sector collaboration by highlighting how partnership between governments, nonprofits, businesses and universities can promote community revitalization.
Given the current economic climate, it is more appropriate than ever to say that nothing happens in a vacuum. The ripple effect of local decisions made and actions taken can be felt regionally, and given the size of the Chicago region, those actions can be felt across the state. The interconnectedness of actions leaves us with an even greater responsibility to continue thinking about policy formation and implementation from a collaborative perspective.
Over the past five years, MPC has moved forward with the mindset of collaborative response to our region’s most pressing housing challenges through a number of Interjurisdictional Collaboration initiatives. Profitwise’s report on interjurisdictional collaboration highlights the Chicago Southland Housing and Community Development Collaborative and the West Cook County Housing Collaborative, two efforts formed by MPC and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus in 2009 to develop solutions to rising foreclosures across the suburbs. These two collaboratives, understanding the need to work across and through the public, private and nonprofit sectors, have been able to leverage immense funding to pilot strategies that encourage economic recovery and growth. One of these pilot strategies, testing intergovernmental code enforcement and single-family rental strategies in the south suburbs, will be highlighted at the RHOPI forum.
Pooling resources through the formation of these partnerships in Illinois and across the country has led policy makers to rethink how they can target and reward collaboration. With positive indicators that coordination is a successful tool for sound regional growth, the private and public sectors are moving toward funding models and structures that favor intergovernmental and cross-sector collaboration.
With an emphasis on thinking creatively about building relationships, the RHOPI forum will explore models anchored in cooperation and resource sharing that have been used to counteract the economic downturn. The forum will highlight the benefits, challenges, and long-term viability of how we can work together to achieve community-level change. There will be multiple panel discussions that delve into the roots of local and regional collaboration, and why this is a sensible direction for the Chicagoland region as it continues to look for solutions-oriented approaches to home ownership preservation. Speakers will include Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Alan Berube of the Brookings Institute, who will expand more on the role that collaboration plays in building healthy and vibrant communities. Register now—slots are filling up.