Our Action Plan

A BIG ANEO welcome goes to four new ANEO partners who joined the growing number of individuals and organizations working together to realize economic success for everyone in Northeast Ohio.  CAAO, the Consortium of African American Organizations, the Western Reserve Resource Conservation and Development Council, the Urban League of Greater Cleveland and Community Transition Partners.  Its great to have more partners in our work!

When ANEO launched last year about 73 organizations / individuals pledged support to the Region's Economic Action Plan.  They committed to work together to develop the plan, build support for it and implement projects and strategies together that would increase our economic success as a region.  When our communications materials first were printed, we listed the parters by "type" - i.e., business groups, universities, leadership programs, elected officials / governments.  What we know now, after a year of working together, is that we have partners that represent lots of different types of organizations and who do lots of different types of work.  What they share in common, however, is a preference towards three different ways of engaging in our regions' work.  They are either Funding Partners, Knowledge/People Partners, or Doing Partners.
Each type of partner is critical to the success of our collective work and when put together, they make the wheels of change turn.

Together, these partners are catalyzing positive change in Northeast Ohio.  Can you imagine what our region would look like if there were 730 individuals and organizations as partners in ANEO?  What would it look like to you?

I am blessed as I move about the region and meet so many people and so many organizations doing transformational work.  Over the last 8 weeks of my blog-silence, I've met and connected with so many people and great work --- the women's network in Akron, the Taskforce for 21st Century Government in Stark County, the Cle+Ytown+Pitt learning network in the Valley, the PMBA in Akron, the Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy, the Local Food Network, Northeast Ohio Citizens League --- the list goes on and on and on.  I'll be writing about each of those in the coming days/weeks in this blog.  As I write about the stories of great work taking place among Partners in ANEO, I'll also be asking the question I have asked before as I strive to keep alive a state of inquiry.  Inquiry into the idea of how we are being organized.  My assertion is this:  the longer we stay in the state of inquiry the better chance we have in realizing Northeast Ohio can be the best region for the world. 

Question for you:  what organizing principles will lead to economic success for all people in Northeast Ohio and can you give me one example? 

(Thank you Chet Bowling for the words that cleared the blogwebs in by brain.)

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.