80 | Business World Magazine |
Aug/Sep 2013
ed from the galvanization of more than 30
agencies from the Illinois Counties of Win-
nebago and Boone who collectively agreed to
align their respective strategies for econom-
ic growth and increased sustainability into
a common framework of goals and action
plans. In leading this consortium, the RMAP
was awarded a $600,000 grant from the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Devel-
opment’s Partnership for Sustainable Com-
munities which is has since used to develop
a sustainability plan that targets solutions
involving more than a dozen socio-economic
categories which includes all from biodiver-
sity, education, health and housing to safety,
technology, transportation, waste manage-
ment and more.
With respect to each category, Ernst ex-
plains that 20-year goals will be set and ad-
vanced through action steps undertaken by
community members and public and pri-
vate community leaders. Metrics will also be
aligned to each category to effectively moni-
tor and measure progression toward desired
outcomes. Genevieve Borich, who serves
as Co-Director of the Regional Vital Signs
Project, explains that in order to produce an
overall change in the Rockford Region, it
was imperative to proceed in a balanced ap-
proach in the range of categories, in such a
way that no one aspect took precedence over
another, each identified segment is ultimately
deemed essential to the future of the region.
The next steps include creating a centralized
structure tasked with oversight of the plan’s
implementation. Ernst explains that as best
practices are adopted, the region will devel-
op tools in the form of financial incentives,
