HAMMOND | Region community and business leaders support public works projects like the South Shore expansion and public transit, but they also support improving race relations and parental engagement in education.
"Working together doesn't mean we all follow the same flag or march under the same banner, but we will all move the Region forward," Times Publisher Chris White said Friday in a call to action at the end of the Regional Priorities Summit at Purdue University Calumet.
The all-day summit attracted 200 people and featured round-table group discussions and key-pad polling to set future priorities for the region.
The dozen priority-goals identified will be researched and incorporated in a "blueprint" for the area, according to Tina Rongers of Karnerblue Era consultancy, who acted as facilitator for the day.
The key-pad polling revealed very high support for the South Shore expansion, with the proposed 9-mile commuter rail line or the goal of expanding public transit emerging with the most votes in three out of four categories. The four goal-setting categories were economy, transportation, education and regional coordination.
The event was put on by One Region and the Northwest Indiana Forum. One Region was founded by former Times Publisher Bill Masterson Jr. at the behest of Indiana state Rep. Charlie Brown and seeks to foster development through regional cooperation. The Northwest Indiana Forum is a private economic development organization that counts many of the Region's leading companies as members.
"This is not something that happens overnight," said Northwest Indiana Forum CEO Heather Ennis. "This is a lifelong process of change on many of these things."
The event had a rousing start when Purdue Calumet Chancellor Thomas Keon delivered the news that one more step has been taken toward consolidation of his campus with that of Purdue North-Central, with his appointment effective July 1 as chancellor of the combined school.
"We will build what will be the fifth largest university in the state into the best university in Northwest Indiana," Keon said after the news of his appointment received a standing ovation.
Keon said the consolidation is just one example of what can happen when different areas of Northwest Indiana work together.
The topics for the goal-setting sessions were derived from a poll conducted by Nielsen-Harris for One Region, Rongers said. That polling showed there is remarkable unanimity among people in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties, who say they want better jobs, more equal access to education and improvements in transportation.
Late in the day, there was a serious exchange among participants on the both the potential benefits and pitfalls of government consolidation that sometimes goes by the name of Unigov.
"If you look at Indianapolis, where they had Unigov, it disparaged people of color," said Rev. Cheryl Rivera. Both improving race relations and Unigov ended up being added as priority goals No. 2 and No. 3 respectively under regional coordination.
"If we can really do something about goal No. 2, it will make all the others that much easier to achieve," said RDA board member Harley Snyder.