ABOUT THE FUND ->People ->FAQs May 15, 2008 Management Contact the Fund Members People FAQs FAQs The Region   The Fund   The Economy   Collaboration   Economic Development   Public Engagement   The Region What is a region and why are regions important? What makes Northeast Ohio a region? Have there been studies or data to support this? Why does the Fund focus on a 16-county region? Wouldn’t a smaller region be more manageable – say, Cleveland and Akron and the counties immediately surrounding them? The Fund How do I learn about giving money to the Fund? Why has the Fund undertaken this initiative? How will a few grants transform the economy of Northeast Ohio? Is grant making really going to make such a huge impact? What is the Fund’s plan for long-term sustainability? Can the philanthropic sector sustain the funding to turn the economy around? The Economy The economy is important, but what about the lakefront? What about the airport? What about downtown? What about a convention center? Aren’t there a lot of issues that need to be addressed before we can take a leap at something so large as the regional economy? It’s often said that you can’t build strong communities without strong schools. Why not start with the schools? Why is the Fund’s focus just economic development? What about other issues affecting quality of life such as poverty, education, health and human services, or the arts? Collaboration Have you looked carefully at what other government entities are doing in terms of economic development? How will your program work with these existing efforts? How will your program avoid a duplication of efforts? Are all the government leaders in the region on board, all the mayors and county commissioners? If not, how will they be brought in to the process? Economic Development The Fund’s focus on emerging industries seems to be moving away from existing industries such as manufacturing? What’s wrong with manufacturing? The Fund seems to have two conflicting objectives – diversifying the economy but focusing on industry clusters. How can we do both at once? Who says we want to be high-tech? How will these new high-tech industries provide jobs for the current unemployed in our community? Public Engagement It seems like the Fund has already chosen high-tech fields like life sciences as our economic focus. Is there a predetermined outcome? We are leaving a lot up to the process of public engagement. Does the average person really know which industries we should pursue or what economic development plan is the best one? Why not put $3 million directly into economic development as an investment in business, instead of spending it on a discussion process? Diversity is one of the Fund’s values. How will the Fund ensure that minorities have a voice in the region? Why not conduct a few focus groups and then consult with the experts? Except publicity, what is to be gained from these expensive town hall meetings? Don’t we already know what needs to be done? Do we really need to go through the exercise of all these forums and discussions? I’m still not clear about the scope of the Voices & Choices deliberations. Can you provide an example of what will be discussed? What will keep the whole thing from going away after the period of public engagement? How will we keep the ball rolling? Will the average person care and will he or she be able to sustain an interest in this lengthy process of public engagement?