The Future of Toledo Initiative connects government and community to maximize existing, emerging, and new programs in order to do more together than we can alone. Our aim is to utilize the latest in collaborative processes to accelerate the transformation of our city and region. A key principle of the process is to include more and more people in the discussion until all who care about the future and have a positive “can do” attitude are involved. Our collaborative process entails examining where we are today, where we are going, and how we are going to get there. We will then work in action teams to implement evidence-based priorities and continuously learn as we build a sustainable initiative supporting the long-term viability of our city and region.

Together, we listened to government leaders present progress reports, identified what is working and not working, and finally completed an evaluation of the process. Across these discussions, we found that the those who care about the future, and have that positive “can do” attitude are:

  1. Ready to be involved in transforming the city for future generations… and they want more people included,
  2. Proud of the city and its strengths… and they feel a sense of urgency to capitalize on these strengths now, not later,
  3. Impressed with the progress made by the city and Mayor… and they want more done to communicate the progress with people across the region,
  4. Expecting to be strategic partners for action… and they want to have input on the vision, mission, strategic priorities, action plans, and implementation, and
  5. Glad there is a well organized collaborative process being used… and they want to be sure that it stays efficient, continuous, and lasting.