What will NEO look like in 2010 if we focus on Early Childhood Development (ECD) supporting pregnant women, babies and children - for them and for economic development

Forum 02/01 is part of a process leading to regional action plan. Roberta Waxman-Lenz at REI, Joe Gauntner (sp?) Dir. Cuyahoga County Center for Family and Children and Joyce Bressler (sp?) at Starting Point.

In anticipation of the 02.01.05 REI forum on Early Childhood Development, being held at the Natural History Museum in University Circle, WCPN is featuring the topic on their 90.3 at 9 radio broadcast on 01.25.05 - tune in and get up to speed on this most critical issue for our community... and visit the NEO Childhood Community Of Interest Links for more insight!

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"A Biofuels Primer"

A presentation on the history and potential of biofuels in the energy equation. Topics will trace timeline from the pre-WWII chemurgy movement to current developments such as algal biodiesel and biomass pyrolysis for hydrogen production. Incorporating concepts that include well-to-wheel efficiency, end-of-vehicle-life landfill mandates and integrated biorefineries, a path towards sustainable economic development will be explored within the framework of industrial ecology.

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Each Tuesday there is an orientation on REALNEO at REI - these are free form open discussions offering REALNEO users the opportunity to get together and discuss the vision of the initiative and any implementation questions - join us - notes and comments post here.

There is no experience to compare to hearing a genius present the future of the world's most complex situation, realizing that genius is leading NEO's most important institution, and is a leader of the world's most important industry, and will save our local economy.

Cleveland Clinic's incoming CEO Delos Cosgrove M.D. presented a full house at the Cleveland City Club with a clear vision on the current and future state of the healthcare industry that is critical to understanding global quality of life, economic development, and our region's national and global potentials - there will be no more important discussions initiated in this region this year.

Bottom line, while it is awesome the Clinic represents over 5% of our area economy, what is remarkable is they are a global leader in the largest and fastest growing industry in the world, and positioned to play a dramatically greater and changing role in our economy and their global industry. They offer much more than their $2.5 billion contribution to the 2004 regional economy, their 29,000 NEO jobs (65,000, with trickle-down), their $310 million in NEO taxes paid, and their $250 million in uncompensated services for area residents in need - the Clinic is our world-class leader in the industry most responsible for improving people's quality of life, and global productivity, at the time when the potentials of the greatest breakthroughs and innovations in the history of healthcare are just becoming apparent, and while more centralized and socialized policy is inevitable. While the fact is the Clinic is a world-class hospital, the true excitement today is not that the Clinic saves lives but that the Clinic is positioned to save the region's life, making Cleveland one of very few true healthcare capitals of the world.

Those companies with diverse board (of directors) representation benefit from having executives who "get away from group-think" and "challenge the prevailing way of thinking," promotes The Greater Cleveland Roundtable in their weekly e-news on trends in diversity and inclusion. They further quote the CEO of diversity award winner Pitney Bowes as saying diverse directors "pay more attention to moral issues and how the frontline employees feel...They're more challenging of the orthodox ways of thinking." That is the kind of thinking we need in NEO - go to the Roundtable site and subscribe to their eNews for such insight in your box weekly.

A Community of Interest committed to the understanding North East Ohio's greatest strength is our cultural diversity, and that is the key to our sustainability as a community, society and economy

The 01/21/05 Financial Times has picked a decidedly hopeful NEO spin on the recent resignation of Peter Lewis from the board of the Guggenheim Museum, asking if this development marks opportunity for Cleveland - like $77 Million worth. It seems possible only if Cleveland starts acting in concert to demonstrate the innovative, sophisicated thinking Peter clearly expects around him. So far, we haven't impressed him, and it is clearly time to change our approaches and collaborate to show Peter NEO is worthy of his further support - plenty of other regions will try to do so and Peter is far from locked behind any of our gates - so let's think open, openly.

I. REALNEO Status

A. Drafting of Legal
Agreements

1. Bill Vasu has JD from
Marshall in Intellectual Property and he would be willing to help with framing
of legal agreements, etc.

A two-part forum on: The Economics of Early Childhood Development

 Awareness: Session; One February 1, 2005, 4:00-6:00PM, Cleveland Museum of Natural History on Wade Oval in University Circle

 Alignment and Action: Session Two, February 14, 9AM to 12PM, Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development in Shaker Heights

Close to 200 people gathered Tuesday evening at the Great Lakes Brewing Company's Tasting Room for 2005's kick off meeting for Entrepreneurs for Sustainability.

The organization's founder, Holly Harlan, set the stage by having local entrepreneurs, like Kathleen O'Neill Web of the Coit Road Farmer's Market and Jim White of CLEER TEC, perform a skit sharing how their work is contributing to the vision of a Sustainable Economy in Northeast Ohio.

01.19.05 "Community of Minds," Regional Business & Technology Networking Event, Wednesday, 01.19.05, 5:30PM - 7:30PM, George Dively Building, Case. Change is afoot! Opportunities, trends and technologies are the currency of today's dynamic economy. Don't miss this opportunity to meet with leaders of thought and industry from

Location

Each Tuesday from 2:00 - 4:00 PM REI is holding REALNEO planning and orientation sessions for open dialogue and inclusion supportig the Open Source Economic Development framework for North East Ohio. These sessions are open to everyone - feel free to come anytime between 2 and 4, and stick around after for the weekly Tuesday@REI meetings, from 4:00 - 5:45 PM.

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Topic:
"Building Global
Models in NEO: Alternate Strategies for the Arts & Entertainment
Industry"
What
would Northeast Ohio look like as a global leader in the Arts &
Entertainment industry? With world renowned landmarks like Severance Hall,
Playhouse Square, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and so many others, what
opportunities are we missing? What will it take for our region to become a
global leader in Arts & Entertainment? Learn more about alternate proposals
designed by dedicated civic entrepreneurs. Help us build the networks toward
next steps.

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Who cares about open source? The world's teachers, and countries, for example. Today on ZDNet UK there's a headline that could be about NEO college students, but is not - it's about some students in the UK, who developed an open source Linux operating system package for schools, which is also being embraced by nations and industry (and they're seeking US distributors, if anyone here wants a good second tier opportunity - see http://SchoolLINUX.com. How many open source savvy students are we nurturing here to be such innovators? And how soon will we at least use such open source innovations to transform our schools here, so they may better serve our students, so we'll have effective global innovators in the future. These are the brainpower challenges for our region to become a quality connected place for new economy development in the future. Time for NEO leaders to push these issues to the very top of the agenda to drive economic development here. Read how it's happening beyond our island...

Scott Suttell, the managing editor of Crain’s Cleveland Business, throws up a caution sign to convention center proponents. He points to a USA Today article on a new Brookings report.

The report deflates the argument that convention center investments make a lot of sense. The reason: a soft national market and an over-supply of space. The market is not down just a little. It has fallen 30% to 50%, according to the report.

Cuyahoga County Cultural Roundtable

WHEN: Friday, February 18, 2005

8:30am – 10:00am

WHERE: Beck Center for the Arts

17801 Detroit Avenue – Lakewood

Recital Hall Armory

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There is a fascinating article in the 01/16/05 NY Times on the challenges outstanding international students have finding jobs in the US. Considering the US is an immigrant-based economy and, except for Native Americans, we're all relatively recent transplants, the current "lock the gates" federal policy is probably the most harmful to the US economy of any of the current administration - we are not importing knowledge workers, at a time when the world is eclipsing us in brainpower. As you read on you'll see, there's Ivy League brainpower all over the world and some of it wants to work in America - foolish US policy is keeping it out, driving US companies to send work abroad, as other economies gain competitive advantages over the US. Perhaps smart leaders in NEO can excel as world-experts in bringing global brainpower here, as a unique value of NEO. Tell me, why not! Read on...

Does residential real estate development play a significant role in economic development? In effect, my question is whether real estate development can serve as a catalyst for the transformation of citzens' economic condition or whether it is merely a lagging indicator of other successful economic development activity such as job creation. Can a builder/developer be a source of added economic vitality to the community, or must the community's value be raised by other means before his/her activities can be supported?

Click
Here to Register for this Workshop Now!

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ULI Cleveland, Downtown Cleveland Partnership,

& Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority

Get
on Board: Developing Along the Euclid
Corridor

National and local
experts will explore the possibilities of BRT “Bus Rapid Transit� oriented
development along the Euclid Corridor. How do the neighborhoods,
developers, and the City leverage this transportation investment? What is the “win winâ€? model for business,
residential, retail --- for Cleveland and for you?

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Topic: "Regional Economic Development in Indiana: An Update on Best Practices"

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Each Tuesday from 2:00 - 4:00 PM REI is holding REALNEO planning and orientation sessions for open dialogue and inclusion supportig the Open Source Economic Development framework for North East Ohio. These sessions are open to everyone - feel free to come anytime between 2 and 4, and stick around after for the weekly Tuesday@REI meetings, from 4:00 - 5:45 PM.

Location

Sonoma State University hosts a media research group called "Project Censored", with the mission to educate people about the role of independent journalism in a democratic society and to tell The News That Didn't Make the News and why. Project Censored "tracks the news published in independent journals
and newsletters. From these, Project Censored compiles an annual list of 25
news stories of social significance that have been overlooked, under-reported
or self-censored by the country’s major national news media". Project Censored is part of the open source knowledge building community that includes independent journalism, and REALNEO, that is transforming society world-wide, for the better. Read on for links to Sonoma State University's list of top 25 censored news stories of last year, as we work for an inclusive 2005.

Here's an organic interpretation on the interconnections of TOPSOIL - Technology Optimization Platform for Social Organization, Innovation and Learning - REALNEO - Regional Economic Action Links (North East Ohio) - OSED - Open Source Economic Development - and IP - Intellectual Property - being the ecosystem enabling and nurturing Entrepreneurship and unique value creation and growth.

OSED consists of (B)rainpower, (I)nnovation and (Q)uality atoms, held interconnected with the magnetism of REALink Dialogue and Inclusion. These atoms combine in infinite combinations of Intellectual property molecules, which combine in organic structures forming more complex elements like schools, universities, companies and governments within a community ecosystem, in North East Ohio called NEO. The more supportive the ecosystem, the stronger the elements, and more elements to thrive. At the foundation of the ecosystem is TOPSOIL - the healthier and more nutritious the better. Branding and Marketing promote elements and ecosystems versus others, completing the OSED framework.