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2009 – 2010 PUBLIC POLICY ADVOCACY AGENDA
Volume XIV
OUR MISSION
To drive economic development and prosperity for the people of the Greater Akron region.
I. Grow Greater Akron
Grow greater Akron by broadening and strengthening innovative economic
development efforts to sustain job growth and increase local wealth in the short and
long term.
a. Business Friendly Environment
i. Continue to support public policy that conveys the message that the
greater Akron region is a favorable local to support attraction and
expansion investment opportunities.
b. Entrepreneurship
i. Work with local and regional partners to support technology transfer
programs and the creation of startup tech businesses.
ii. Pursue policy and state and federal funding opportunities with regional
partners to support entrepreneurial investment and innovation.
Opportunities on the state level could be pursued through the Third
Frontier Program.
c. Innovation Centers
i. Promote policies and funding that enhance the expansion and retention of
local industry clusters such as Advanced Materials (metal, polymers and
liquid crystals); Healthcare (biomedical); Advanced Energy; Instruments,
Controls; and Electronics and Service (Finance/Insurance/Real
Estate/Housing) as an integral part of our economic growth strategy.
ii. The BioInnovation Institute will pioneer the next generation of life-
enhancing and life-saving innovation for the 21st
Century. Support the
Institute’s goal of raising $120 million over the next ten years to become a
world class facility. Support will include advocacy for the increase of
research and development funding for universities and health care partners
from the state and federal government.
d. Tax Reform
i. The Chamber is committed to support pro-growth tax policies that
preserve global competitiveness and create a tax climate that fosters
business development to invest in new products, equipment and
employees.
ii. Continue to monitor the implementation of the state Commercial Activity
Tax (CAT) and local taxes as they pertain to business.
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e. Health Care
i. Continue to support market-driven solutions to control growth in health
care costs and to foster competition in the private health insurance market.
ii. Advocate for fair and equitable reimbursement plans for health care
providers ensuring their continued growth in the region.
iii. Support public/private sustainable solutions to increase citizen access to
health insurance coverage and decrease the number of uninsured.
II. Invest in Human Capital
Develop our workforce to meet the needs of businesses by enhancing the education,
training, and workforce development programs of the public school system; higher
education institutions and other available resources.
a. Workforce Development
i. Support the attraction and retention of a talented workforce. The Chamber
will continue to collaborate with partners in efforts to advocate for policies
and funding that will build a diverse and skilled regional workforce
including apprentice, co-op, internship and skills retraining programs.
ii. Support programs that align employee skills to business needs by
supporting public and private efforts to bridge employment disparity.
iii. Continue advocacy leadership on enhancing the urban core to retain and
attract emerging talent/young professionals.
b. Education (P-16)
i. Continue to support the National Inventors Hall of Fame School…Center
for Science, Engineering, Technology and Math learning middle school.
ii. Support the creation of a STEM based high school to compliment the
STEM middle school.
iii. Continue to work with community leadership on creating a program to
fund a post secondary scholarship program.
iv. Support policy to transform our education system to develop students to
meet the challenges of employment in a 21st
Century economy. The
system would include implementation of ACT testing for all high students
and curriculum alignment at all levels of education.
v. Encourage communities, schools, and governments to work together to
fund public education for the economic success of the region.
III. Revitalize our Physical Assets
Collaborate with the public and private sectors to continue the revitalization of our
urban core and other key tangible assets that will enhance our sense of place and
quality of life.
a. Transportation
i. Air: Support Akron-Canton Airport’s 2018 capital improvement plan
which will make necessary upgrades to retain their low-fare advantage;
retain and expand national service providers and flights. Advocate for
international service for the region.
ii. Surface and Multi-Modal Transportation: Advocate for transportation
policies and related funding that improves the movement of people and
goods to spur economic growth.
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b. Energy
i. Advocate for the regulatory structure to achieve a fair balance between
keeping prices reasonable and affordable for customers while ensuring
utilities have the resources they need to make appropriate investments in
service reliability.
ii. Support the development of renewable energy sources, provided the cost
of these resources does not undermine economic development and job
growth in the region. These efforts should recognize the importance of
energy storage technologies that can make renewable sources such as wind
and solar more feasible and cost-effective in our region.
iii. Support energy efficiency programs that can help our member companies
better manage their energy use while achieving clearly defined
environmental goals.
c. Sustainability
i. Support efforts that promote community planning concepts and projects
that would preserve and expand our park and green system and revitalize
our urban area.
ii. Advocate for funding of sustainable development opportunities that
enhance regional corridors; such as the Tech Belt, Biomedical corridor,
University Park Area, Eastgate Renewal Area, and Firestone Park
redevelopment.
d. Cultural and Recreational Amenities
i. Promote projects that would support the arts, sports and other recreational
activities that add economic impact.
e. Prisons and Corrections
i. The Greater Akron Chamber continues to support the utilization and
expansion of successful, cost saving, community corrections programs
which help to make communities safer, hold offenders accountable, and
provide opportunities for offenders to improve their lives.
ii. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has the second
largest department budget in the State of Ohio.
iii. While incarceration is dictated for violent, predatory offenders, there
remains a large population of nonviolent offenders spending short periods
of time in overcrowded, expensive prison cells. Over 60% of the
offenders in Ohio’s prisons are serving a sentence of less than one year
and are unable to access rehabilitative services.
iv. Support Community Corrections for appropriate offenders, which will
save the state hundreds of millions of dollars that could be better spent on
education, health care and workforce development.
f. Communication
i. Strive for communication policies that promote and ensure fair and open
competition; removing obsolete barriers that result from outdated
burdensome regulation and requirements; regulate for all technologies that
provide similar services in markets that are competitive; and encourage
innovation and investment.
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IV. Enhance Area Businesses
The Chamber supports efforts to grow and enhance the region’s business community
by advocating for policies that promote an efficient and profitable business climate.
a. Business Climate
i. Advocate for a reduction and elimination of unfunded mandates that
restrict operating a profitable business.
ii. Oppose policy that does not balance employer and employee interests.
iii. Support Regulatory Reform to ensure that government is creating and
implementing policy that is responsive to customer needs.
iv. Monitor the local, state and national economy by partnering with
appropriate officials to address economic concerns.
v. Encourage our federal legislators to focus attention on reducing the federal
deficit.
b. Minority Owned Enterprise
i. Support the growth of minority owned enterprises in the region.
ii. Continue advocacy for government funding to support local programs and
enterprises such as the Akron Urban League and the Minority Business
Development Organization.
V. Create the Capacity to Succeed
Unite and leverage greater Akron’s business, civic, academic and political leadership
for the purpose of maintaining and enhancing a globally competitive region.
a. Advocacy
i. Review and advocate local tax issues and levies that benefit business
development, community improvement and quality of life.
b. Quality of Life
i. Support the balancing of business, social and recreational needs of the
community that contributes to greater Akron’s exceptional quality of life.