CENTER FOR REGIONAL ECONOMIC ISSUES: AN OVERVIEW
Since its founding in 1984, the Center for Regional Economic Issues (REI) has sought to enhance the competitiveness of northeast Ohio’s economy by providing high-quality, in-depth research and policy analysis on economic trends and conditions in the region. REI began as a collaboration between the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management. It is now part of the Weatherhead School.
Today REI focuses its efforts on building northeast Ohio’s social capital by fostering collaborations and networking among key institutions and inidividuals in the region. Under the leadership of executive director Ed Morrison, REI has launched several new intiatives aimed at building the region’s social capital, including:
- A partnership among presidents of the region’s leading public and private universities to coordinate resources in order to accelerate regional economic transformation
- An economic development landscaping project using innovative social networking software to map relationships among northeast Ohio’s economic development organizations
- “Tuesdays at REI,” a weekly discussion on the future of the region’s economy that serves to connect people to a broader range of economic initiatives
- Making Change, an open source, bottom-up mode of economic development which balances public particpation with leadership direction to guide the region’s economic transformation
In addition, REI produces a range of publications to help build awareness of the region’s economic challenges and opportunities. Among these are Innovation for Regional Advantage, a periodic overview of a particular theme in economic development; EdPro? Weblog, a daily look at economic development initiatves taking place throughout the United States; and the NEO Briefing Book, a compendium of facts, figures and analyses of Northeast Ohio’s economy produced with the Northeast Ohio Research Consortium.
- Jeff Bendix
Return to Making Change November 15
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