VIBRANTNEO BLOG

25 Oct: What makes a quality connected place?

One of the Vibrant NEO 2040 work streams is focused on the attributes of a quality connected place and the elements that lead to vibrant place making. We have many of these great spaces and places through Northeast Ohio that truly make our 12 county region unique. A good way to begin analyzing these attributes of quality connected places is to think about what we have as assets in the region. Northeast Ohio is a diverse, vibrant and exciting region, with assets, attributes and points of pride in every community. Those assets may be natural wonders, historic buildings, cultural monuments, arts institutions, etc. Everyone who lives here has his or her own idea of Northeast Ohio’s most important assets. NEOSCC has been working to catalog, map, and quantify the impact of Northeast Ohio’s regional and local assets. Because our assets make us what we are as a region, we want…

24 Oct: A Platform for Discussion

In June, the NEOSCC published its first report, the Conditions and Trends platform.  The platform is the result of over 150 experts in the region coming together to look at Northeast Ohio and how our land use effects economic development, the environment, housing and communities and transportation.  The resulting report was transformed into what we call a platform or launching place for engagement. By creating an on-line tool, we ensured that the platform can evolve as we engage the region in a discussion about existing conditions and trends.  It also creates the opportunity to add more data, maps and graphics as we become aware of these resources. We developed the Conditions and Trends Platform with four distinct ways for everyone in Northeast Ohio to learn about the findings: Themes – five themes were developed based on the relationship between the findings; Subject Matter (i.e. Economic Development, Environment, etc.); Maps/Geographies – the…

23 Oct: Learning and Sharing: Ashtabula County

In June, the Consortium launched its 12 Counties in 12 Months Board program to foster a better understanding of assets, successes and challenges across the region. Our board meeting today in Ashtabula County marks the NEOSCC’s fifth travelling board meeting. These day-long visits feature tours focused on economic, transportation, housing and environmental issues as well as discussions on best practices that are being employed.  The host county is also able to share its quality connected places and the assets that make each county in Northeast Ohio unique. Today in Ashtabula County, we will be meeting at the Spire Institute.  Located in Geneva, Ohio, the Institute is one of the largest indoor, multi-sport, training and competition complexes in the world.  The board will also be touring a variety of locations throughout Ashtabula during the morning. For those unfamiliar with the largest county in Ohio, here is some background from the Visit Ashtabula County…

22 Oct: Welcome to the new Vibrant NEO/NEOSCC Site!

In developing our new site we took great care to reflect the theme of our engagement process, Learn, Share, Create and Act.  Throughout these pages, and on our accompanying Conditions and Trends platform there are moments to learn about our initiative and some of our early findings, places to share your thoughts, suggestions and what you value most about Northeast Ohio, information to illustrate how you can help us create a shared vision through Vibrant NEO 2040 and suggestions on how you can take action with us as well as on your own. We welcome your comments and suggestions to how we can improve the site and more importantly how we can engage with you in our work together.