MEMPHIS, TN-On May 12, 1999, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital outlined a $1 billion expansion that by 2005 will double the facility's size and expand research to include additional genetic and infectious diseases. It will add about 1,200 jobs to the hospitals current 1,900-employee payroll.

SPOKANE, WA- Spokane, WA/Kootenai, ID has placed great emphasis on using Strategic Alliances to improve educational opportunities to prepare for the New Century.

On November 11, 1998, four universities, the community colleges of Spokane and the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce announced the establishment of a Higher Education Leadership Group. The Group has five initiatives: program review, marketing, cultural diversity, economic development and research forums

A Three-University Engineering Degree Consortium is offering a BS in Computer Engineering. Upper division course offering will begin in the Fall of 1999.

Four partners teamed up to provide the Downtown Learning Center. The Center provides training opportunities for current employees in downtown Spokane, entry-level employees and Welfare-to-Work participants. Some of the students will qualify for free tuition.

The school district and Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce jointly fund the Spokane Youth Job Programs. The program has several components including placing students in part-time jobs. One formerly at-risk student is revising the transportation maps for the city using Auto Cad and C++ programming.

BAY COUNTY, FL-The Bay Vision had their annual meeting on June 24 with 100 present. Chair, Ted Haney said that one week before the meeting, the local TV Stations taped and ran a 30-minute review of Bay Vision with the Foundation Chairs and Vision Chair.

The St. Joe Corporation owns 70% of Bay County and almost all the undeveloped property. St. Joe and it subsidiary, The Arvida Corporation, has recently announced a large number of projects in Bay and adjacent counties on the beautiful Emerald Coast. A study has been funded to determine the feasibility of improving air transportation by relocating the Panama City Airport north to property that will be donated by St. Joe.

GWINNETT, GA- Richard Tucker, President of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce has been appointed to the new 15-member Georgia Regional Transportation Authority. (see last month's report) The Gwinnett Chamber is currently leading a $6 million capital campaign to fund a new building. The new building will house the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, Gwinnett Foundation, Gwinnett Convention and Visitors Bureau, Gwinnett Council for Quality Growth and United Way.

www. area-devleopment.com-The May 1999 issue had articles from 10 CEO's about the future. All were excellent, but the CEO at Dupont presented an interesting approach to a 200-year old company reinventing itself. He defines three horizons: 1) the next two years, 2) two to six years and 3) beyond six years. This is good reading for all of us trying to transform our communities.

GERMANY-The ecological reform of taxes and contributions began on April 1, 1999 with the price of gasoline and diesel rising by 6 pfennig per liter, or 11.8 cents per gallon. The cost of gasoline was about $2.95 per gallon which results in a 4% increase. This is the first stage of continued growth in energy cost and taxes. Source-Common Ground-a tri-annual report on Germany's environment. A friend recently traveled to Germany and reported that the goal is a

3 & 1/3 increase to $9.83 per gallon over several years.

TALLAHASSEE, FL-In the early 80's, the Florida Chamber of Commerce began a transformation process that has resulted in it becoming one of the premier organizations in Florida. The Chamber accomplished this through many routes including: 1) the Florida Chamber Foundation sponsoring research that has been recognized as high quality and unbiased by the government, 2) actively seeking to create a sense of community in a state with nearly 15 million people and 16 major metro areas without much media market overlap, 3) constant communication with its stakeholders to create consensus and 4) constant focus on its Vision.

DALTON, GA-The Latin-American Community Alliance was formed in November 1997. The Latin-American community has become a vital part of the economic growth of the area with approximately 70 Latino-owned businesses and employment opportunities to help offset the tight labor market. In the 98-99 school year in the Dalton City Schools, Hispanic students increased to 51% of the student population.

Welcome to four-new web pages--Curacao, N.A; Minot, ND; Lakeland, Fl; Wilkes, NC. You can now hyper-link from www.lukevision.com to 15 Vision web sites. You can also review reports 1-5 of this newsletter. We are advertising these web sites in a variety of ways that should increase the hits for your community. Let us know if you have a Vision web site that we have not hyper-linked with our site.

ASHEVILLE, NC-The Asheville/Buncombe Vision has recently elected its 3^rd Chair. Pat Smith replaced Phil Carson, the initial Chair after two years and now two years later, Albert Snead takes over. The Vision Corporation has a committed and involved Board of Directors with a unique consensus process described below.

"The Vision Board of Directors has chosen to work by the process of consensus to accomplish Board business that normally would call for a Motion, a second to that Motion and then a vote asking for those in favor and for those opposed. The principles of consensus are:

+ Respect for other people's opinions

+ Willingness to listen and never interrupt

+ Paying "real" attention

+ Positive attitude

+ Willingness and motivation to problem solve and cooperate

+ Openness and fairness and a trust of the group

Everyone has to feel that they can make a contribution and are part of the decision.

The main problem arises when people do not agree and cannot be convinced. Choices are that 1) the person can leave the decision making process. This is not ideal but may be necessary if a "buy-in" is impossible and the individual continues to undermine what is happening, 2) the person may "stand aside". The person does not personally agree with the decision but is willing to let the group decide. This is noted in the minutes and the person who stands aside should not be asked or expected to help implement the decision.

Prior to forcing either of these decisions, many times it is best to simply revisit the decision at another meeting.

If the group finds they have reached a stalemate and it is not possible to revisit the issue at another meeting, the group may choose to stand aside the person or people who continue to disagree. This is recorded in the minutes; however, the group does not revisit the issue again."

HAMPTON ROADS, VA-There is a beautiful four-color booklet describing the creation of the Hampton Roads Flag. You can get a copy of the booklet from Jim Babcock (757) 428-0120 or jbabcock @learninglink.org

Henry Luke

  to view the PDF format, you will need this free download from Adobe if you do not already have it.

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“America's Leading Community VISION Facilitator”