Proactive Leadership of our Community Foundation

As a community leader, our Community Foundation has made a commitment to work more proactively, not just reactively, to better address our region's greatest needs. Our board of trustees recognizes that our Community Foundation can and should do more as a leader. 

Community “listening tours” were conducted in fall 2015 and early 2016 to find out what the community felt were the region’s greatest needs, and what our role should be in addressing those needs. We analyzed the feedback we received, and through board retreats in fall 2015 and spring 2016 we determined our new strategic leadership initiative, which is to lead placemaking projects that will create vibrant communities to enhance economic prosperity in our region.

Economic prosperity for all

We believe that economic prosperity is vitally important to our region, especially for the disadvantaged. An improved economy helps everyone. 

Economic development is all about attracting and retaining talent, and people with talent want to live in cities that have a vibrant downtown, attractive and welcoming public spaces, and rich artistic and cultural opportunities. Placemaking is an investment proven to have a “multiplier effect” that attracts a talented workforce, employers and jobs.

Our Current Placemaking Focus

We may lead projects that no one else is working on, or we may collaborate on existing projects where we can address gaps and sticking points.

To start, we will focus first on the region’s urban core, which is the Michigan Avenue corridor, from the Capitol to Abbot Road, and ¼ mile to the north and south of the avenue, including the downtown riverfront. 

Learn more about our placemaking contest here.