Leadership in Action

The concepts and principles included in this report are already appearing across the United States. They include alliances that cross jurisdictional lines, public-private collaborations, and universities acting as full partners to create competitive regional economies. This report cites just a few examples. The Committee is aware of many more, and it commends all efforts to strengthen communities and regions for the opportunities of a global marketplace.

A regional approach to job creation in central California shows early results.
Private sector executives, the mayors of Fresno, Clovis, and the Chair of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors joined forces in 2003 to create the Regional Jobs Initiative (RJI) to transform fundamentally the Fresno/Madera regional approach to economic development. Focusing on improving the region’s climate for innovation, business creation, expansion, and retention, RJI includes nine industry clusters (water technology, food processing, information processing, etc.), and has an initial goal of creating 30,000 new jobs within the first five years. By the end of its first year, RJI generated 3,800 direct jobs in the nine clusters, and many indirect jobs. By April 2005, Fresno County’s unemployment had dropped below double-digits for the first time in 15 years during the month of April.

In Colorado, a university-industry-city collaboration builds a 21st century “life sciences city.”
The 1999 shutdown of Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado, caused the sudden loss of the city’s largest employer and generator of economic activity. The need of the University of Colorado for a new medical campus became the basis for strategy to colocate an academic medical center and a biotechnology research park. The redevelopment, led by an authority chartered by the city and university, is recasting Aurora as a hub and focus for the life sciences industry in the Rocky Mountain region. The 4,000 jobs lost from the base closure have already been replaced with higher-wage, higher-pay positions in teaching, patient care, research, and private biotechnology R&D activity. The strategy at Fitzsimons goes beyond physical redevelopment; it involves industry-university collaboration, business incubation, entrepreneurial support, venture capital, and private developer investments. Broad civic support has been a critical factor in the launch of this ambitious endeavor. The first new building, Bioscience Park Center, opened within 15 months after the Army’s departure; and by the start of 2005, capital investments in the Fitzsimons redevelopment had already reached $2 billion and employment had reached 5,000.

Five states join to pursue CANAMEX, an economic development initiative of broad regional scope.
The CANAMEX Corridor Project is a joint project of Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, and Montana, with the primary objective of developing and implementing the CANAMEX Corridor Plan. The Plan provides areas of collaboration by the states with the goals of stimulating investment and economic growth in the region and enhancing safety and efficiency within the corridor. A comprehensive and coordinated plan will ensure the efficient allocation of resources along the corridor necessary to maximize the economic potential for the United States, Canada, and Mexico. CANAMEX includes transportation, commerce, and communications components. The transportation component calls for the development of a continuous four-lane roadway from Mexico through the U.S. CANAMEX states, into Canada.

However, CANAMEX is more than a line on a map or a specific highway because people and products may enter or leave the CANAMEX at any point. Plans call for integrated development of the entire CANAMEX corridor to provide extensive benefits to the region.

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