PORT ST. LUCIE, FL - Home shopping giant, QVC, announced it would bring 1,600 jobs to St. Lucie County. This will be QVC's fourth call center in the US and will open in the fall. St. Lucie County has a high seasonal unemployment rate and these jobs will help address a strategy from the St. Lucie Vision that was completed in 1995.

LAKELAND, FL - The City of Lakeland, FL may be the benchmark for containing health care cost. In 1991, the city elected to be self-insured with their own PPO network of 1,180 doctors and 13 hospitals throughout the US. The hospitals include specialty hospitals like MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. The premium charged to employees and employer contribution has not changed - since October 1992. Employee associations are actively involved in managing the plan. Rates with hospitals and doctors have been reduced 4 times since 1992. Government Managers may call Allen Wilson at (941) 499-6799 for information. Congratulations on a great record!

RAPID CITY, SD - "Frontiers -Forging Our Future" for the eight Black Hills Region had three Town Hall meetings to celebrate the end of the first year of Collaborative Implementation with over 300 attending. Each Foundation Action team had a booth with information about Vision Partners' activities for their foundation. "Frontiers" has 245 Vision Partners who have adopted 120 strategies out of 135 strategies. Seventy-three of the Vision Partners have already turned in Action Steps for strategies. Despite this tremendous activity and many "quick wins", two of the Key Benchmarks reviews turned in negative results. "Frontiers" is not discouraged by this, but considers it a challenge that will result in a more intense focus of energy and action. They have selected 18 strategies to focus on development of Strategic Alliances during the next years.

PENSACOLA, FL - Envision EscaRosa had a Steering Committee and Action Team meeting to agree on the role of Action teams. They agreed upon the purpose. Then Vision chair, John Tice, led the group through an exercise to identify their top 3 enablers and restrainers. The top restrainer was understanding the process and terms. Becky Bray said that it would help if we changed the name of Action Teams to "Foundation Teams" since they don't act but motivate and facilitate. Also, she suggested changing the name Vision Partners to "Action Partners" since they are responsible for all the action in Collaborative Implementation. We would like your thoughts.

LAKELAND, FL - Collaborative Implementation began with Henry Luke meeting with the Lakeland City Council on February 5, 1999 to review each of the Key Benchmarks and Strategies of the Metro Lakeland Vision.

HARRISBURG, PA - There was an overflow crowd present on February 4, 1999 to hear Envision Capital region Chair, David Shanweiler announce the endorsement of 317 Vision Partners.

MOBILE, AL - ENVISON MOBILE-BALDWIN now has 341 Vision Partners and these partners have adopted 130 out of 152 Vision Strategies. At the January 12 Steering Committee, they reported on accomplishments on 23 strategies, including securing funds for a regional airport feasibility study, a community forum on self-governance/home rule, evaluation of land use planning and zoning, attendance for the first time of Baldwin County representatives on the 1998 Chamber Leadership trip, commitment for a $22 million public library expansion and the city of Mobile received the Alabama Quality Award. ENVISION'S first annual meeting will be on March 3.

SCHUYLKILL, PA - The Mayor of Pottsville has made a strong commitment to pursue the strategies from the Schuylkill Vision that are unique to the City. He intends to accomplish this by developing the Pottsville Vision. Schuylkill's application seems to be close to being selected as one of the 12 Keystone Opportunity Zones in Pennsylvania.

JACKSONVILLE, FL - On February 9, 1999 a coalition of Jacksonville organizations announced a commitment to the Jacksonville version of "Character Counts". Jacksonville has nine Pillars of Character-Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, Citizenship, Commitment, Faith and Courage. Each of the Pillars will be publicized for a month.

MINOT, ND - On January 21, 1999 over 200 people attended the final Town Hall meeting to review the Vision draft.

WILKES, NC - On January 28, 1999, 361 people attended the Stakeholders Summit.

BOOK AND ARTICLE RECOMMENDATIONS - "The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail", published by Harvard Business School - press, written by Clayton Christensen. There is an excellent commentary on the book in Forbes magazine, January 25, 1999.

Jim Kevlin, editor of the Pottsville REPUBLICAN - , Schuylkill, PA recommends "A Prayer for the City" by Buzz Bissinger. This is the story of the renewal of Philadelphia through the leadership of Mayor Edward Rendell.

David Shankweiler, Chair of Envision Capital Region, Harrisburg, PA recommends "The Twenty-first Century City-Resurrecting Urban America" by Indianapolis Mayor, Stephen Goldsmith.

Fortune - February 1, 1999 has a very thought provoking article, "Finished at 40-Companies used to pay for experience. Now they want potential- on the cheap." — www.fortune.com - . This may give us ideas on how to increase the involvement of the 20 to 40 age groups.