Gianni Longo, principal with ACP Visioning+Planning in New York, talks to the over 1,000 people gathered Wednesday night at the Grand Wayne Center in Fort Wayne to discus the Vision 2020 planning effort. Longo will be working on results of the planning study that has taken in 10 counties in northeast Indiana.

 

The new mantra for creating jobs and propelling economic growth in northeast Indiana is simple, declarative and very much out of character for a region that prides itself for its steady, conservative and hard-working Midwest attitudes.

Be outrageous.

"We have to be outrageous. We have to be bold. We have to be willing to make mistakes," said Mike Packnett, president and CEO of Parkview Health.

It was the refrain sounded again and again during the Vision 2020 Regional Economic Summit held Wednesday evening at the Grand Wayne Convention Center in Fort Wayne - an event that itself was a bit outrageous, with more than 1,000 people from a 10-county area coming to listen to, and vote on, ideas that will be used to create a road map for the region's economic future.

Vision 2020 is an initiative developed by the Northeast Indiana Fund, a nonprofit organization that supports the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership. For the past six months, the Vision 2020 effort has sought out business and industry leaders and held outreach meetings and workshops throughout the 10 counties that make up the regional partnership: Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells and Whitley.

Vision 2020 is led by a coordinating group that is co-chaired by Packnett and Keith Busse, chairman and CEO of Steel Dynamics Inc., and includes 25 other business and community leaders from across northeast Indiana. The group has identified five "pillars" around which it will concentrate its efforts: attracting 21st-century talent; fostering a competitive business climate; entrepreneurship; building infrastructure; and improving quality of life.

"I would suggest to you today that we have to be excellent in all of these five areas," Packnett said Wednesday night.

Excellent, because northeast Indiana has been lagging behind the state and the country in some key economic areas, and the gap has grown wider since the start of the decade. According to data compiled for Vision 2020, per-capita income declined from 96.2 percent of the national average in 1994 to 79.5 percent in 2008. The employment growth rate also has trailed the state and the U.S.; from 1998-2008, it was minus-7.8 percent for the region, minus-1.1 percent for the state and 6.2 percent for the nation.

The disparity in average annual wages has grown, too, according to the data. In 2001, annual average wages were: more than $30,000 for northeast Indiana; slightly less than $32,000 for the state; and more than $36,000 for the U.S. In 2008, they were: more than $35,000 for the region; more than $38,000 for the state; and more than $45,000 for the U.S.

John Stafford, director of the Community Research Institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, said northeast Indiana's lower cost of living versus other areas - long used as a major selling point for the region - can only offset the wage disparity so much. And the region won't be so affordable if workers' incomes don't keep pace with other parts of the country.

"Cost of living is not a panacea for explaining this (information)," he said.

To get wages - and the overall economy - moving in the opposite direction will require businesses, organizations, cities, counties and economic development groups to work together in a collaborative fashion. Freeman Miller, owner of F&N Woodworking in LaGrange, said now is the time for action, and everyone must chip in to do his or her part.

"The guy standing back and wishing will never go anywhere. You've got to drive forward," he said.

Two consultants have been hired to assist Vision 2020: Gianni Longo, principal with ACP Visioning+Planning in New York, who previously has assisted the city of Fort Wayne on efforts to revitalize the downtown area and develop the North River area formerly occupied by OmniSource Corp.; and Dave Kolzow, president of Franklin, Tenn.-based Team Kolzow Inc.

At the summit, Kolzow and Longo presented a series of strategies related to Vision 2020's five economic development pillars that were formulated during the workshops held earlier this year. They then asked all of the audience members to vote on the strategies using small electronic devices, with the results tabulated instantly. The strategies that received the most votes will guide the Vision 2020 process as it moves forward.

Among the strategies receiving the most votes were:

. Give every academically qualified high school graduate the opportunity and resources for post-secondary education.

. Combine expertise in engineering and manufacturing and provide incentives to emerging technologies.

. Set up national and international networks to identify and bring to the region viable, growth-oriented businesses.

. Develop a regional plan that addresses infrastructure, sustainability, land use and the optimal location of regional-scale industrial sites, among others.

. Launch a regional multimodal network that promotes an active, healthy lifestyle and connects and provides access to schools, neighborhoods, businesses, and natural and cultural assets.

Mark Becker, executive director of the Northeast Indiana Fund, said Thursday the public can expect to see action on the strategies beginning quickly. The Vision 2020 coordinating group will remain an informal organization, while implementation of the strategies will be left to public officials, economic development agencies, the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership and the Regional Chamber of Northeast Indiana.

Longo and Kolzow will deliver a final report in July, in which they'll provide examples of how other communities have transformed themselves and benchmarks to gauge northeast Indiana's progress.

Those involved in Vision 2020 admit it won't be easy, and perhaps the greatest challenge is changing the region's perception of itself. Those attending the summit were asked to respond to the question, "What is holding us back from becoming a great region?" The largest portion - 42 percent of the more than 1,000 respondents - voted for "apathy or fear of change."

"Vision 2020 does not end here tonight. It begins here tonight," Busse said at the summit. "We want for everyone in this room to be supportive, and we need to hold ourselves accountable."

Be outrageous? For Becker and others involved in Vision 2020, there's no alternative.

Said Becker: "The same old stuff isn't going to get us where we need to get."