Tim Norton and John Waltner: A growing need for more regional cooperation

After directly engaging thousands of citizens through community meetings, work groups, surveys and social media, the South Central Kansas Prosperity Plan is nearing completion. These efforts produced a regional plan with an array of tools and information to help ensure this region is a prosperous place where people can live, work, play and learn.

It was an honor and privilege for us to have served in a leadership role for this project. We want to thank all the community partners, local governments and individuals that participated.

The prosperity plan was an opportunity for diverse groups to come together and create a vision for the future of this region. A wide range of important topics were carefully examined, including transportation, water, jobs, natural resources and healthy communities.

What emerged was not a pre-dictated federal agenda, but a Kansas template reflecting the local values and regional priorities developed by our friends and neighbors from across five counties.

This collaborative toolbox of ideas and tactics recognizes challenges in the region, such as modest projected job growth, aging public infrastructure, limited housing options, and fragmented planning for transportation and environmental resources. These are not uncommon issues, and are being faced by many communities.

However, if these challenges are not addressed with aggressive, thoughtful and cooperative strategies, they will persist and grow. What we witnessed was a strong commitment to take on these challenges in a collaborative and coordinated manner.

The outcome of the prosperity plan is not a singular plan or document to be adopted by local governments or community organizations. It is a set of tools and package of information available for regional partners to use as needed to effectively create economic opportunity and raise the quality of life in south-central Kansas.

The project was not done in a vacuum, and the work of the prosperity plan is contributing to a number of regional initiatives led by partners from Wichita State University, Kansas Global Trade Services, the Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition and the Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas.

As the work progressed, a common theme developed: a growing need for more regional coordination.

The regional economy is not about a single city or county. It is a collection of autonomous communities that need to work together to make sure south-central Kansas remains economically competitive in the global economy.

The prosperity plan is one of many resources now in play to make this happen. The hard work of local people, extensive data gathering, tough conversations, strategic and tactical development, and collaborative effort should not be viewed in any context but as a sincere, honest, needed and regional effort to solve common problems in microeconomic jurisdictions that create our macroeconomic landscape.

For more information, or to access the resources and tools in the South Central Kansas Prosperity Plan, visit thinktomorrowtoday.org.

This story was originally published March 7, 2015 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Tim Norton and John Waltner: A growing need for more regional cooperation."