What changes would you like to see at the federal level to support innovation in your own community? Share your questions and ideas with MPC, and help shape the discussion at our Sept. 17 Annual Luncheon.
Capping off a recent day-long discussion on the future of America’s metropolitan areas with the White House Office of Urban Affairs and Domestic Policy Council, President Barack Obama announced that members of his Cabinet will soon be visiting cities and regions across the country “as part of a national conversation to lift up best practices from around the country, to look at innovations for the metropolitan areas of tomorrow.”
MPC is pleased to announce the listening tour will kick off in Chicago on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009, at MPC’s 2009 Annual Luncheon, “Connecting the Dots: Metropolitan Chicago’s Path to Prosperity.” Keynote speakers Shaun Donovan, secretary, U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development; Lisa Jackson, administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and Ray LaHood, secretary, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, will discuss their agencies’ joint Partnership for Sustainable Communities and other ways the Obama administration is supporting innovative and sustainable community development. Learn more about the event and register today on MPC’s web calendar.
“We’re excited to share some of the ideas MPC and our many regional partners have for expanding on efforts like the Partnership for Sustainable Communities,” said MPC President MarySue Barrett. “While these key Cabinet officials are in town, we’ll be sure they get a report from the front lines about what communities and regions can achieve when the federal government encourages local innovation.”
The Partnership for Sustainable Communities established the following six livability principles to guide the agency’s coordinated efforts:
- Provide more transportation choices.
- Promote equitable, affordable housing.
- Enhance economic competitiveness.
- Support existing communities.
- Coordinate policies and leverage investment.
- Value communities and neighborhoods
People across the region are invited to help shape this conversation by posting questions and ideas for the secretaries to the MPC web site. The speakers will take questions at the luncheon, and MPC will use some of these questions to enrich the discussion.
What do you want to know about the Partnership for Sustainable Communities? Do you have your own ideas for how the Obama administration can support sensible local, regional and state development policies? What changes would you like to see at the federal level to support innovation in your own community? Don’t be shy! Tell us, by using the Comment feature, below.
Learn more about MPC’s ongoing effort to help shape a new federal investment policy by reading the white paper MPC release on June 5, Goal-driven, Right-sized, and Coordinated: Federal Investment Reform for the 21st Century.
And don’t forget to register for MPC’s 2009 Annual Luncheon, which also will mark our 75th anniversary.