Buffalo State College’s Bulger Communications Center has been announced as the location for the Great Lakes Metros and the New Opportunity, Remaking Policy and Practice in a Time of Transformation, a program that will provide topical overviews and opportunities for future federal support.
The conference will house four organizations, the Great Lakes Urban Exchange (GLUE). the Northeast-Midwest Institute, The Buffalo State College Center for Economic and Policy Studies, and Buffalo’s Partnership for Public Good, each with distinct but overlapping missions. Practitioners, policy makers, advocates, legislators, and stakeholders who seek to use the stimulus bill, future allocations, and other federal support to promote sustainable and equitable cities have united to analyze the best practices in the use of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funds.
“This is a unique moment,” GLUE Director Sarah Szurpicki said. “The new administration has made cities a priority, and there is a virtually unanimous acknowledgment that old thinking about supporting local economies simply will not work anymore. Unless policymakers, activists, and other stakeholders seize this moment to advance new strategies for regional collaboration and to rethink the role of federal policy in urban vitality, we may have to wait decades for another opportunity like this. Cities like Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Detroit don’t have that kind of time.”
The conference will take place over two full days with an expected 150-200 participants, who will lay groundwork for the development of new Federal policies, such as regional planning and metro governance, for revitalizing Great Lakes cities. More specifically, the topics include the expansion of weatherization and other green jobs programs, models for regional and metropolitan governance, innovative uses of NSP funds, and Great Lakes restoration. A detailed outline of conversation topics can be found on the Great Lakes Metros and the New Opportunity agenda.
Whether investigating new opportunities or scaling up existing programs, attendees will gain a birds-eye view of trends in their field and the best practice strategies for ensuring maximum impact for chronically challenged older industrial cities.
Online registration for the summit is officially open, and is available at the Great Lakes Metros and the New Opportunity website. The event will take place Thursday, June 18th and Friday, June 19th at Buffalo State College’s Bulger Communications Center.