Opening the 06.24.05 City Club forum, Vice President Sanjiv K. Kapur announced the expiration of the term of
President Kevin J. Donahue by celebrating the Club’s success under his
leadership. This year has been seen at the City Club perhaps the finest slate
of speakers and events in history and Kapur exclaims the
Club is better positioned than ever for the future. Looking forward, he
declares there are three initiatives underway by the Board of Directors:

Development – to insure overall organizational progress

Diversity – to insure a diverse membership and inclusive
community value

Distribution – addressing changing technologies to further
global appreciation for the City Club and programming

On the agenda today is Robert W. Briggs, Chairman of Fund
for Our Economic Future, presenting his perspectives on “Regionalization�.

Robert W. Briggs - Chairman of Fund for Our Economic Future and Chairman Emeritus, Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs

Location

Ideastream broadcast an interesting community discussion show called Ideas, Sunday at 11 AM (after broadcast of the City Club Forum, which is also excellent), which this week covered the Fund For Our Economic Future's annual report to the community, held last week at the Akron Inventors' Hall of Fame. The show featured a panel of foundation leaders talking about Voices & Choices, led by America Speaks (see related Plain Dealer article), a $3 million, 18 month initiative for facilitated dialogue among up to 100,000 area residents on their issues and views about the future of this region. The FFOEF believes this effort will help local leaders set agendas, and educate the public.

We the Region: Fund for Our
Economic Future Annual Meeting

Monday, February 28, 8 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
at National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron - The Ohio Grantmakers Forum is
hosting speaker Manuel Pastor, who will offer an analysis of why regional action
is so essential in today's global economy. Representatives from the Gallup
Barometer Study will report on citizen perceptions of NE Ohio, and case study
highlights of regional initiatives--BioEnterprise, JumpStart, NorTech, and Team
NEO--will be provided. Tickets: $50. Reservations: 216.861.6223 or www.ohiograntmakers.org.

Location

Come and meet serial and aspiring entrepreneurs, supporters of entrepreneurship, community leaders, business leaders, deal makers, and investors at Northeast Ohio's premier networking event at Pickwick & Frolic. Make new contacts and connections while enjoying an assortment of drinks and hors d'oeuvres.Individuals from JumpStart's new portfolio companies will also be present to share their stories and insights.

Over 600 are expected. Space is Limited. Register Now!

Location

The “right� to vote, the subject of nonviolent protests, bloody confrontations and solemn pronouncements by Supreme Courts and Congress for centuries, is very much in doubt. Like a desert mirage, the image of an effective election, with widespread, universal voting looms before us, but always out of reach. In a practical manner, the right to vote is defined, not by the United States Constitution or the lives lost to ensure a vote, but by the amount of money legislators, Governors and other state officials are willing to spend to implement fair elections.  The President and Congress should treat the right to vote as a full entitlement, guaranteed by the Constitution, and provide the money needed to ensure accurate elections. 

The Fund For Our Economic Future recently publicized insight from their first Minority Forum, which features a link to an interesting presentation from the keynote speaker, Dr. John Powell from Ohio State, on issues related to diversity and regionalization. Also included is a presentation from Ray Leach, CEO of NEO entrepreneurship supporters JumpStart, which expresses a commitment to be diverse and an interest to support minority entrepreneurs and help place minority business people in companies Jump Start supports. Page 3 of the presentation also says one thing that is "Different about Jump Start" is "We believe we can serve as a convener for all interested parties to build a social network". As this is a purpose of REALNEO, and this social network is committed to all parties in the region interested in entrepreneurship, it is clear we should all work together - we're all working with Case and dedicated to bettering this region. Time to start co-convening! Later in January, Jump Start is hosting an "Exchange", which should be a nice opportunity for local entrepreneurs to form physical connections... in the mean time, REALNEO will continue developing virtual connections and explore collaboration with Jump Start.

I'm not sure whether this release got picked up by the local media. COSE is launching its annual business plan competition. Read more or visit the web site.

Business plan competitions are a good way to stimulate entrepreneurial efforts in a region. Here's a good article from McKinsey on the strategy. Read more.

Investing in business plan competitions would be a good strategy for the Fund for Our Economic Future. Here's how it could work. The Fund would challenge every college campus in Northeast Ohio to co-sponsor a business plan competition. The Fund would put up $50,000 in prize money for each campus electing to participate. That would require a commitment of about $1 million per year.

Each year, we would likely generate twenty to thirty good business proposals across the region. Some of these ideas will be small and focused on local markets. Others will be bolder ideas targeting higher growth businesses.

The competitions would deliver to the door step of other organizations -- JumpStart, GLIDE, COSE -- a promising set of business plans. In addition, the schools could commit to providing guidance and support to those who entered the competition but did not win.

Results would be clearly measurable by additional start-up investment.

Here's a press release from the Fund on how the Dashboard project will be launched and administered. Read more.