Local service coordination, and where appropriate consolidation, is one of several coordinated investment strategies emphasized in GO TO 2040 for local governmental units to create efficiencies and adapt to a future of increasingly limited financial resources. In northeastern Illinois, 307 public school districts collect nearly half of all revenues from local governments (over $18.5 billion in FY 2009). ...

A new report from Metropolis Strategies provides some ideas for nurturing industry clusters in our region, one of GO TO 2040’srecommendations to support economic innovation.  Prepared by RW Ventures and Innovation Network for Communities, “The Chicago Region’s “Green” Economic Opportunities” reportidentifies several opportunities for economic innovation in the region’s burgeoning green sectors.  It...

On December 8, 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau published the 2006-2010 American Community Survey (ACS) five-year estimates, which provide a rolling sample of detailed population characteristics over the past several years.

The ACS data is available to the public.  A more detailed analysis and instructions for accessing the data can be found on CMAP’s Census page. 

In summary:

• The CMAP region shows an increase in overall...

In June 2011, CMAP’s Policy Updates blog covered efforts by the State of Illinois, Cook County, and the City of Chicago to support efficient governance by improving access to information and coordinating across government bodies, helping to save money and improve service delivery.  In the months since, progress has been made by all three units of government to further those efforts.

On June 21, 2011, the State...

Metropolitan regions drive the U.S. economy, and their residents are among the nation's most valuable assets.  The Brookings Institution recently released analysis of racial and ethnic demographic shifts in the country’s top 100 metropolitan regions based on 2010 Census data.  Findings include that 98 percent of population growth in large metro areas between 2000 and 2010 is attributed to...

The seven-county metropolitan Chicago region is among the nation’s few global economic centers.  GO TO 2040 seeks to maintain and strengthen this position.  A global region needs to have a modern infrastructure; a diversity of business types and economic activity; a skilled workforce, including a strong higher education system; active cultural institutions; and a high overall quality of...

While Chicago’s population declined over the past four decades, there are also signs that the City’s economic core strengthened.  Bill Testa, vice president and director of regional research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago,  examines those signs on his Midwest Economy blog, including how the City’s growth in educated, mostly young, working adults population has also diversified Chicago’s job...

On June 23, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its FY 2011 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), which includes an additional $67 million through its Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants program. According to the program section of the NOFA, the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants program “supports metropolitan and multijurisdictional planning efforts that...

The Brookings Institution has issued a report depicting an increase from 1994 to 2010 in the percentage of immigrants to the U.S. who are considered highly skilled (Bachelor's degree or higher).  Some metropolitan areas draw a high proportion of these workers, according to Brookings analysis of American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and the report makes a case that these immigrants...

GO TO 2040 places a strong emphasis on the region’s industry clusters -- firms that share common resources and technologies and depend on a similar labor pool and institutions.  Clusters provide a substantial amount of the “value added” that the Chicago region brings to the economies of the Midwest, the nation, and the world.  GO TO 2040 recommends that the region nurture its existing clusters...