CREC Celebrates Release of Destination Erie: A Regional Vision
March 27, 2015Destination Erie: A Regional Vision has been released to the public. This is the culmination of years of work by CREC and other consulting groups under the 5-county region’s HUD Sustainable Communities Initiative. While our focus was on the economic and workforce development issues, you can see our fingerprints throughout the plan, including analysis we conducted with out partner, Jim Kurre, former professor with Pennsylvania State University.
Destination Erie: A Regional Vision is about envisioning the County’s future and creating a strategy to meet the region’s economic, social, and environmental challenges of the 21st century. The planning process coincided with Erie’s bicentennial (2013) celebration of the Battle of Lake Erie. The planning process was carried out in three phases over three years, driven by public input throughout the process. A diverse consortium of the region’s organizations and leaders developed the Destination Erie plan.
The Sustainable Communities Initiative consists of two grant programs: Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants and Community Challenge Planning Grants. The Initiative also has a research and evaluation program. Sustainable Communities Regional Planning (SCRP) Grants support metropolitan and multijurisdictional planning efforts that integrate housing, land use, economic and workforce development, transportation, and infrastructure investments.