Strength in Public Policy Coalitions

Transcription

1 Strength in Public Policy Coalitions Taylor Landin Greater Houston Partnership Vice President, Public Policy David May Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO

2 Overview: Greater Houston Partnership Houston Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1840 Merged with the Harris County EDC and Houston World Trade Center in 1989 to form the Greater Houston Partnership Represent 11 counties in SE Texas 1,400 members Executive Partners: 2

3 Regional Chambers of Commerce 80 Chambers in the Greater Houston Region All of various size, budget and influence Umbrella Organization: Gulf Coast Chamber Executives Influential group of engaged chamber executives 3

4 Advocacy Reach Regional Elected Officials Congressional Delegation: 13 State Senate and House: 47 City of Houston City Council: 17 Harris County Commissioner s Court: 75 Local Mayors and Council Members and County Officials: 757 Total Elected Officials: Over 900 4

5 Development of Regional Chamber Network Before 2014, smaller regional chambers viewed the Partnership with indifference or, in some cases, hostility. It became clear that the Partnership would benefit from becoming actively involved in the chamber community. Relationship multiplier Grassroots capability Message Consistency and Amplification Resource Sharing Commitment to network development from regional metro chamber 5

6 Relationship Multiplier Too many policy makers for one organization to own all relationships In most cases, local chambers have stronger relationships with their elected official Local chambers understand local leadership ecosystem 6

7 Grassroots Capability Message distribution network Most chambers care about same set of issues Issue focus vastly expanded through collaboration Regional chamber network allows for flipping the switch when regional issues arise 7

8 Message Consistency and Amplification Regional chamber network creates surround sound Leverage networks of other chamber organizations Hearing same message from multiple organizations is powerful Impacts elected officials thinking when local community is unified Opposing messages ensures no action from elected officials 8

9 Resource Sharing Regional Metro Chamber can help support policy/advocacy work of local chambers with limited budgets Content is king! Create white labeled version of all content and share with chamber network 9

10 Commitment to network development from regional metro chamber Show up! Be transparent Care about the work of other chambers Give; don t take 10

11 Case Study: Ex-Im and Multi-chamber Letter Quantify the issue Coordinate regional chamber briefings to build awareness Connect chambers to Ex-Im users in their footprint Time multi-chamber letter around newsworthy event

12 Case Study: Toolkit Model and Prop. 1 Package all elements of chamber advocacy campaign together Make easy to download and reproduce Push out to regional chamber network Timing is important: create early to spur adoption; not duplication 12

13 Strength in Public Policy Coalitions ACCE Montreal 2015 Panelist: David May, Fort Collins (CO) Area Chamber of Commerce

14 Northern Colorado Region Larimer and Weld Counties Between Denver and Wyoming Population Current: 601, : 1,000,000 6,651 square miles Bigger than Hawaii (6,459 sq mi) Bigger than CT & RI combined (6,219 sq mi) Largest cities: Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland

15 Regional Competition & Cooperation Water wars of the 1870s all western U.S. water law evolved from disputes in Northern Colorado Strong intra-regional government cooperation 3 main regional chamber programs / initiatives: 1992 Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance 2009 Leadership Northern Colorado 2014 Fix North I-25 Business Alliance

16 Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance

17 Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance Joint state / federal government affairs committee of top business groups in Larimer / Weld Counties 3 chambers, 2 edc s 1992 founded to align business interests in Northern Colorado and amplify voice in capitol

18 Leadership Northern Colorado

19 Leadership Northern Colorado Regional leadership development program for Larimer and Weld Counties Joint initiative of the Fort Collins, Greeley and Loveland Chambers of Commerce, the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado and the Community Foundation Serving Greeley and Weld County

20 LNC Purpose Mission: to build the human capacity and will to identify, define and address the issues facing the Northern Colorado region Genesis of program from recognition of need to grow leaders with broader understanding of regional issues, regional relationships, the skills to lead in a regional context

21 General Description Curriculum in three broad categories: Regional issues: Globalization of the national economy Education & workforce development Transportation The environment and land use Utilities Regionalism: Defining our region How decisions get made in a regional context Models for regional decision-making Opportunities and limitations of regionalism Regional leadership skills: Art and science of collaboration Unique challenges of leading in a regional context Northern Colorado s regional demographic and political profile (why we act the way we do)

22 Fix North I-25 Business Alliance

23 What is North I-25?

24 The Problem I-25 Fort Collins to Longmont (28 miles) lacks adequate capacity resulting in frequent traffic delays North I-25 at Level of Service D headed to LOS F by 2035 = 3 hours to Denver and DIA Population by 2040: +52% Larimer, +111% Weld Cost to widen I-25 fr Hwy 14 to Hwy 66: $965M, but no funding has been committed Lack of an organized lobbying effort focused on securing funds to widen North I-25

25 Fix North I-25 Business Alliance A permanent lobbying effort Fix North I-25 Business Alliance created through Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance Mission: Help secure $965M (or however much is necessary) to widen I-25 to 3 lanes each way between Highway 14 and Highway 66 by 2025

26 Leadership Two-Tiered Leadership Council The heavies Total: 15 Steering Committee The worker bees Total: 12

27 Activities of Alliance Clear focus vision, guiding principles, goals Studying highway funding options Highway Funding 101 manual Direct Lobbying governor, legislators, county / city officials, CDOT, Highway Commission, Congressional delegation, chair of U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, etc Public relations and ally building

28 Six Projects Year 1 Clarity of purpose vision/mission, guiding principles 18-month plan of action Get leadership and management structure set Fund raising for Alliance Communications, lobbying, allies Understand the world of highway funding

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30 Results To-Date (in 16 mos) $99.5M committed to capacity improvements on north I-25 interchange, climbing hill, etc North I-25 now considered a top state transportation priority Positioned Northern Colorado as a state leader in conversation about Colorado s transportation funding needs Alliance creating regional consensus on strategy and priority funding options Within one vote in Legislature of getting $3.6B bond measure on ballot Federal Highway Trust Fund bill has North I-25 funding

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32 In Conclusion Many issues much bigger than one jurisdiction and require coordinated policy action Division freezes policy-setters, unity encourages their support (i.e. courage) Structure (like NCLA) and building leadership capacity & relationships (thru LNC) set stage for tackling big initiatives (Fix North I-25) Business community can set expectations for public partners Businesses hungry for leadership from Chamber (or some other group, if we don t lead)

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