Forging Our Future Together: Addressing Rural and Urban Needs to Build a Stronger Region
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D ECTE OFFIC EL IA L LS A R U E N T N R A d E r A 3 FORGING T 2 OUR FUTURE TOGETHER: ADDRESSING RURAL AND URBAN S NEEDS TO BUILD E B P A STRONGER U T L E REGION C M Y B T E I R S R 19 VE /2 NI 0, 2019 | U Hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Office of the Chancellor and the Institute of Politics UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR and INSTITUTE OF POLITICS welcome you to the TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL ELECTED OFFICIALS RETREAT Forging Our Future Together: Addressing Rural and Urban Needs to Build a Stronger Region September 19-20, 2019 University Club If you have questions about the materials or any aspect of the program, please inquire at the registration desk. Contents About the Institute ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Director’s Note .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Retreat Agenda ............................................................................................................................................. 7 2019 Coleman Award Winner – Frederick W. Thieman ............................................................................. 10 Speaker and Panelist Biographies ............................................................................................................... 11 IOP Program Criteria and Strategies ........................................................................................................... 27 Evaluation Instructions ............................................................................................................................... 29 Advisory Board Membership ...................................................................................................................... 30 Policy Committee Membership .................................................................................................................. 35 2 | University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics About the Institute A forum for public and private decision makers The Institute’s goal of consensus building among regional leaders, both elected and nonelected, is fulfilled by its unique ability to gather decision makers around the table while acting as a non-partisan catalyst for public policy discourse. The facilitation of dialogue among public officials and other community leaders guides the Institute’s programming and its deliverables. The Institute stimulates ongoing dialogue and offers issue specific educational programs and services such as seminars, briefings, and publications, which enable decision makers to examine regional economic, social, and political issues within local, state, and national contexts. In 2019, this focus was strengthened with the addition of the Dick Thornburgh Forum for Law & Public Policy to the Institute. Established in 2007, the Forum builds upon Thornburgh’s legacy to advance his vision of creating effective and principled governance. Its mission is to foster public education and civic action on important national and international public policy issues. Access to expertise and research The Institute provides regional elected officials and foundation, community, and business leaders with access to the many academic resources of the University of Pittsburgh and other area universities and strives to apply these resources to regional policy outcomes. Student involvement The Institute enables University of Pittsburgh students to gain valuable insights into the political process as well as the challenges and rewards of public service. In 2015, the Institute strengthened its student programming with the launch of the Elise Hillman Civic Forum, an initiative designed to help bring young people and the community together to fuel progress in the Pittsburgh region while reflecting the generosity and humanity Elise Hillman displayed throughout her life. Vision The Institute of Politics will be recognized as the region’s most effective partner in the development of enlightened public policy that promotes the vitality of Western Pennsylvania to the benefit of individuals, institutions, and businesses. Mission The Institute of Politics delivers timely information about the great issues affecting our region to elected officials and community leaders—and the public whom they serve—and provides a non-partisan forum where that knowledge and associated diverse viewpoints are discussed, digested, enriched, and applied to the goal of promoting an improved quality of life, government efficiency, and economic vitality in Western Pennsylvania. 2019 Elected Officials Retreat | 3 Elected Officials Retreat Statement of Purpose The March 7, 1997 Institute of Politics Board of Fellows meeting produced a request that the University of Pittsburgh host a retreat for public officials from different levels of government in Western Pennsylvania. Its principal purpose is to provide an informal forum for the discussion of strategies to address regional issues. The meeting also aims to enhance professional relationships among the participants. 4 | University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics Director’s Note Welcome to the 23rd Annual Elected Officials Retreat. We are honored by the number of government officials and civic leaders attending this year’s forum, “Forging our Future Together: Meeting urban and rural needs to build a stronger region”. Pitt’s Institute of Politics has been making distinctive contributions to the work of elected officials and other civic leaders in our home region for 30 years, principally by providing opportunities for the consideration of critically important policy issues in a nonpartisan forum and providing in-depth policy analysis and evidence-based data. Our annual Elected Officials Retreat, cosponsored by the Office of the Chancellor, provides rich opportunities for both substantive discussion and personal interaction in an off-the-record setting. The complexity inherent in this year’s retreat topic represents the type of work the Institute has tackled over the past three decades, requiring the necessary role that the Institute plays in our region as a nonpartisan convener and mediator. According to Darrell West, author of Divided Politics, Divided Nation, the growing political divide between urban and rural America and the hyper-partisanship that colors it is challenging our democracy. West states that unless we learn to bridge these divisions and forge a future together, it will be impossible to maintain a functioning democracy and solve the problems facing our country. The urban-rural divide is an extraordinarily complicated issue touching on deep-seated historical, cultural, and economic contexts – going well beyond the somewhat superficial suggestions that reduce this geographic division to political party affiliation and electoral maps. Behind those maps are the people they represent, many of whom have life experiences that are impacted by geography and public policy approaches that continue to create unequal access to opportunity. Poor health outcomes, lack of access to a quality education, and a lack of employment opportunities that pay family-sustaining wages are now largely defined by where people live. The culmination of these stressors causes hopelessness within families, an escalating distrust of government, businesses, universities, and deepening divisions among people. That is why we have called this year’s retreat Forging our Future Together. For our region to succeed and unify, its strength must be defined by collective efforts to enhance the vitality of all our communities and provide access to opportunities for all people. Doing so requires us to hear and understand the perspectives of our fellow residents. It also requires innovative policy design and bipartisanship, which could be assisted through new tools like the Hamilton Project’s Vitality Index and Opportunity Insights’ Opportunity Atlas. Dr. Jim Johnson, Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and Director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina will set the stage for the retreat by reviewing southwestern Pennsylvania’s demographic profiles and discussing disruptive trends playing out across the country and the opportunities they present in our region. The two panel discussions that follow, explore more deeply the challenges and opportunities facing urban and rural communities. Lisa Schroeder, President and CEO of The Pittsburgh Foundation, will lead a discussion on issues facing people who live in urban settings. Jen Giovannitti, President of the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, will lead a discussion on perspectives from rural Pennsylvania. 2019 Elected Officials Retreat | 5 The first day will close with a presentation called Place-Based Policies for Shared Economic Growth, examining policy solutions at the federal and state level. Dr. Jay Shambaugh, Director of the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution will present the Project’s research on the Geography of Prosperity, The Role of Race in Regional Inequality, and a new economic measurement tool called the Vitality Index, which measures community well-being at the county level. In keeping with this theme, Friday morning will open with Developing Community Economic and Social Mobility, a presentation from Dr. John Friedman, Professor of Economics and International and Political Affairs at Brown University and