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Among American regionalists, William R. (Bill) Dodge is regarded as a lead thinker and facilitator — a man who’s worked effectively over three decades to help regional communities identify their critical challenges and build collaborations that address a whole range of tough challenges, from balanced growth to fiscal and ethnic disparities to creating effective regional decision-making networks.In the mid-1990s his book, Regional Excellence: Governing Together to Compete Globally and Flourish Locally, provided critical assistance to public and private leaders seeking to improve regional decision making in the citistate age. He is is currently writing a book on the seven key components to building successful regions for all, including becoming excellent regional citizens, connecting regional decision-making networks, and negotiating regional cooperative growth compacts.
In the late-1990s, as Executive Director of the National Association of Regional Councils, Dodge brought regional leaders and their organizations together, in annual Regional Summits, to help advance a National Regional Agenda. He also guided the preparation of the first National State-of-the-Regions report and represented the interests of regional councils before the U. S. Congress and federal agencies.
Later, as Principal of Regional Excellence Consulting, and continuing in his individual capacity, Dodge helps public, private, academic, foundation and civic leaders to strengthen their regional decision-making. He analyzes regional challenges, guides regional visioning processes, and helps create new regional organizations. He also makes presentations on the latest tools and techniques for addressing regional challenges and conducts regional workshops for community leaders and citizens.
Dodge recently served as the Interim Town Administrator for Silverton, Colorado, guiding the preparation of the annual budget, pursuing key infrastructure and recreation improvements, and helping to recruit a new Town Administrator.
He is active nationally as a Fellow of the National Academy for Public Administration and the Institute for The Regional Community. He serves on the Growing Smart Directorate of the American Planning Association. He is the 2001 recipient of the Don Stone Intergovernmental Cooperation Award of the American Society for Public Administration.
Recent projects are listed below. To obtain PDF files of any, contact Farley Peters, Citistates business manager, at fpeters@citistates.com.
- Regional Governance — Dodge prepared a monograph on strengthening regional decision-making, entitled The Triumph of the Commons. This monograph explores regional governance challenges and shares recent and potential future actions to strengthen regional decision-making.
- Regional Emergency Preparedness/Homeland Security — Dodge prepared a monograph on regional approaches to emergency preparedness/homeland security, entitled Regional Emergency Preparedness Compacts: Safeguarding the Nation’s Regions. This monograph explores the need for regional cooperation to provide effective emergency preparedness and shares the most promising examples of regional emergency preparedness compacts.
- Regional Academic Center — Dodge prepared a report for the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education on launching a college/university center to assist community leaders and citizens to address regional challenges. The report shares examples of the most promising regional academic centers and presents a prospectus for creating a Center for Metropolitan Hartford.
- Foundation Support for Fostering Regional Cooperation — Dodge prepared a report for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation addressing the questions; what is a successful region, how far have we progressed towards creating successful regions, and what gaps need to be closed to create successful regions. Dodge recommends four initiatives that foundations could support to assist regions to achieve regional success — a National Center for Regional Governance Excellence, a National Regional Stewardship Academy, a National Regional Information Clearinghouse, and National/Global Committees of the Regions.
Speech Topics
- Becoming Excellent Regional Citizens — Regional citizens are critical to addressing regional challenges successfully. With an abundance of them, almost any challenge can be addressed. Hear about seven steps to becoming excellent regional citizens — starting with declaring your regional citizenship and ending with connecting with regional citizens globally. Also, hear about successful strategies for training regional citizens to participate in regional decision-making.
- Developing Effective Regional Decision-making Networks — Regional decision-making mechanisms are springing up in the public, private, academic, and civic sectors — from regional councils of governments to regional chambers of commerce, regional academic enters, and regional civic organizations. Even neighborhood groups and faith-based coalitions have regional agendas. Community leaders and citizens realize they need to weave this growing array of regional interests into an effective regional decision-making network if they are to address the tough challenges successfully. Hear about what you need in a regional decision-making network to play the regional game — the venues, from regional leadership forums to regional service-delivery agents; the equipment, from regional information centers to regional meeting places; and the coaches/trainers, the regional experts to guide regional decision-making.
- Negotiating Equitable Regional Growth and Emergency Preparedness Compacts — The toughest task facing regions in the new century is negotiating compacts among already grown and growing jurisdictions for shaping growth that fosters economic competitiveness, protects sensitive environments, and balances neighborhood inequities. Regional leaders and citizens realize they need to shape growth whether they are growing too fast or too slow — growth that benefits all neighborhoods of the region and anticipates infrastructure needs before they become prohibitively expensive. Since November 11, 2002, community leaders and citizens also realize that they need to negotiate regional compacts to protect their citizens and harden their infrastructure against terrorist attacks. Hear about the protocols, policies, practices, and programs being negotiated in regional compacts.
- Practical Guidance for Regional Excellence — Regions offer a global laboratory for testing a broad array of approaches for achieving regional excellence. Hear about the most promising practices in regions, nationally and internationally, to make regions more prominent, strategic, equitable, empowering, and institutionalized. Especially hear about the approaches that are being taken to address the pressing challenges in your region.
Recent Speeches
- National Academy of Public Administration — Washington, D.C. region — November 2006 — Speaker on building regional cooperation capacity and panel moderator at two-day conference on “Managing Across Organizational Boundaries.”
- Partners for Livable Communities — Charlotte, N.C. region — October, 2006 — Speaker on metropolitan funding strategies and panel moderator at three-day conference on “Cultivating Creative Communities.”
- Mountain Studies Institute — Durango, Colorado region — October 2006 — Designer and facilitator of three-day conference on the impact of climate change and global warming on the San Juan Mountains.
- Region 9 Economic Development District — Durango, Colorado region — September 2006 — Designer and facilitator of day-long “Exploring Regional Challenges and Cooperation Workshop” with key community leaders and citizens.
- Johnson County Leadership Summit — Johnson County, Kansas (Kansas City region) — March 2006 — Keynote speaker at first gathering of local elected officials and community leaders on building the capacity to cooperate across the county and region.
Last updated January 14, 2007 |