MacArthur announces $1.3 million in support over the next four years for the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus to help develop solutions to Chicago's regional issues, including transportation and education funding reform.
"Problems can no longer be solved at the neighborhood or city level," said Jonathan Fanton, President of the MacArthur Foundation. "Collaboration across municipal boundaries is required to address the most daunting issues facing urban areas today. The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and a few other organizations are working hard to both demonstrate the value of thinking regionally and to finding solutions that balance the needs of the individual communities with the goals of regional competiveness and quality of life."
The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus is a network of locally elected officials from communities in the six-county Chicago region, organized for the purpose of developing strategies that will position the region more competitively both nationally and globally. Originally formed in 1997 as a partnership between the City of Chicago and nine suburban municipal associations, with the goal of developing strategies to position the regional more competitively within the U.S. and around the globe, the Caucus has grown steadily in importance as it demonstrates its effectiveness as a forum for addressing the region's problems.
Support from MacArthur will be used by the Caucus to pursue a broad-based policy agenda, which includes a housing strategy designed to promote housing that the local workforce can afford, that is well-managed, well-designed, near jobs and close to transport, and to focus on the region's transportation system, education funding, and the Clear Air Counts campaign.