Introduction
The Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission launched Common Ground: A Blueprint for Regional Action with a series of 12 workshops across the region for community leaders this winter. Approximately 850 leaders participated in the sessions, representing government, business, non-profit, faith-based and educational organizations and institutions. Participants worked to shape the agenda of the process and identify the most important challenges for our region to address.
The workshops began in February with one each in DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties. These were followed in April and May by four workshops in Chicago and three in suburban Cook County. Preliminary reports and transcripts of input from the sessions were sent to participants following their conclusion. A final report of the results of the workshops was also prepared.
Who Attended?
Participation in the public, open workshops averaged at about 75 participants, with a range from 40 participants on the south side of Chicago to 125 in Will county. At the suburban locations, representatives of local governments made up the single largest group with those from educational institutions, nonprofit and civic organizations, and business also well represented. In Chicago, civic and neighborhood organizations represented the largest group present. In keeping with NIPCıs goal of bringing new audiences into the planning process, more than half of the total participants had never before attended a NIPC event.
Approximately 60 percent of the participants had lived or worked in northeastern Illinois for more than 25 years. Just over twenty percent of the participants represented county, township and state governmental organizations, followed closely by municipal government organizations and nonprofit and civic organizations. More than ten percent represented business and economic development organizations, as well as educational institutions. Community and neighborhood organizations, private citizens, and media were also represented. Ten percent of the participants were elected officials.
What Did We Hear From Workshop Participants?
The workshops were designed to encourage wide-ranging discussion and to identify shared priorities for issues that must be addressed throughout the region. Participants worked at round tables with volunteer facilitators, talking about the regionıs most probable future and the major challenges in 5 topic areas: economic development, community development, environment and natural resources, transportation and infrastructure, and quality of life. As the groups talked, they entered their discussion points into networked laptop computers. A professional "theme team" reviewed the table entries and identified major themes that were emerging.
There was remarkably widespread agreement among the participants in the 12 workshops on the major challenges facing northeastern Illinois. For instance, public transportation was of primary concern to participants at 10 sites, and almost 300 participants, at 9 sites, identified balancing economic and environmental concerns as the most serious challenge facing the region. Participants on the west side of Chicago agreed with those in more rural areas of the region that preserving farm land as an economic resource is essential.
Generally, workshop participants were optimistic about the future of the region. More than 75 percent said they were at least somewhat optimistic about the future of the region. When asked to rate the importance of regional action in the five topics of regional issues on a scale of 1 to 10, participants overwhelmingly placed transportation and infrastructure on the top of the list. It was followed by environment and natural resources, community development, economic development, and quality of life.
Among dozens of issues, the most frequently mentioned were:
- Achieving balance between economic growth and environmental protection
- Attaining greater cooperation among local governments and communities
- Providing affordable housing close to jobs
- Responding to the region's growing racial and cultural diversity
- Training the workforce required by the changing economy
- Expanding and improving the region's public transportation system
- Developing a more equitable tax structure
At the conclusion of each workshop, participants had the opportunity to evaluate the session using their polling keypads. Overall, 93 percent of the participants rated the sessions as "excellent" or "good" and 98 percent rated the use of technology as "excellent" or "good." Less than one percent rated the overall quality of the workshops or the technology as below average or poor. The use of scenarios to frame the discussions received more mixed responses with only 78 percent rating them "excellent" or "good."
Eighty-nine percent of participants said they were "highly committed" or "committed" to remaining involved with the process. Workshop participants were also given two opportunities to fill out forms expressing their interest in remaining involved and providing additional feedback to NIPC about the sessions.
