The Northeast Ohio Mayors and City Managers Association voted overwhelmingly on May 15 to support continuing an effort to bring greater regional planning and revenue sharing to the region.

The effort, funded in part by the Fund for Our Economic Future, has been called radical, momentous and historical. The region's media recognized the importance of the region's elected officials deciding to move forward with an effort to share their local tax dollars and surrender some autonomy for the region's greater good. More details on the group's work is available at www.revenuestudy.org.

To get a full flavor of this effort you should read the various newspaper articles, including coverage from the Plain Dealer, Elyria Chronicle Telegram, Akron Beacon Journal and the Canton Repository.

The mayors made specific recommendations that will be pursued in Phase II of the effort, including that the:

During Voices & Choices, residents of Northeast Ohio made it clear they wanted a high quality education system that prepared our residents for the jobs of the 21st Century. Developing such a system has remained elusive. Earlier this week, leaders from Ashtabula, Mahoning, Columbiana and Mahoning counties gathered to review the issue with representatives of the Ohio Grantmakers Forum, a statewide group representing philanthropy that is leading an effort to push for changes in education in the state.

Jennifer Kovacs of the Warren Tribune Chronicle described the meeting this way in this story:

Area education, business and community leaders came together Monday morning to discuss how the educational system in Ohio can be restructured to better prepare students to compete in a global economy.

But by the end of the discussions, many were calling for completely ‘‘blowing up’’ that system rather than just tweaking it a bit.

‘‘It’s not simple. But it’s something we cannot walk away from,’’ George Espy, president of the Ohio Grantmakers Forum, said.

The group held the regional education initiative conversation with officials from Trumbull, Mahoning, Ashtabula and Columbiana counties over a light breakfast at the Avalon Inn Resort and Conference Center. OGF has held similar conferences around the state to gain insight from those who have concerns about the future of education and aims to share the information gained with the office of Gov. Ted Strickland.

Are you ready to blow up the state's education system?

Team NEO has announced the Goodyear Riverwalk Project as “Deal of the Year.”

The regional business attraction organization will recognize the partners in the Goodyear deal  – City of Akron, County of Summit, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce, Industrial Realty Group, LLC, State of Ohio, and Summit County Port Authority – at the upcoming Team NEO Economic Development Impact Awards dinner being held June 4, 2008 at the Embassy Suites in Independence.

In addition, more than a dozen additional projects that have positively impacted Northeast Ohio’s economic potential will also be recognized at the awards dinner. Learn more about the awards dinner and how to register here.

Northeast Ohio's economic future depends on our region fostering a large number of high-growth companies in new industries and every day, it seems, we have more evidence that are region is succeeding in those efforts.

Here's the latest from Paula Schleiss at the Akron Beacon Journal, who regularly documents entrepreneurial developments in the region:

For 25 years, the Akron Global Business Accelerator has been a rather quiet force for economic development in Northeast Ohio.

But the national spotlight found it on Tuesday.

The facility won the 2008 Incubator Innovation Award from the National Business Incubation Association at the organization's annual conference in San Antonio, Texas.

And one of the incubator's tenants — Summit Data Communications — took second place for Outstanding Incubator Client in the technology category.

The Accelerator is one of a handful of so-called business incubators operated throughout the region that are part of the NEOinc network. Check out the network's web site to see how they can help your company achieve its high-growth potential.

On May 5 Advance Norheast Ohio Partner met in Akron - the first time Partners have convened since ANEO's launch in 2007.  Gathering at the Taylor Insitutite for Direct Marketing at the University of Akron (also an ANEO Partner), ANEO partners set out to strengthen relationships with each other and explore opportunities for collaborating on behalf of the region.  ANEO partners include representatives from the civic sector, public sector and business; their diverse perspectives of the work and their role in driving our region's economic competitiveness is impressive.  The challenge at hand is defining HOW Partners will lead Advance Northeast Ohio and regional cooperation.  The short take away based on initial feedback is that the HOW is a big question to answer. 

Over the next few weeks and months the Fund will work with Partners to explore the HOW and your thoughts are also important in this discussion.

You can watch videos from the Partners meeting here.