www.greaterohio.org The Smart Growth Coalition served as the southwest Ohio host organization for the Greater Ohio campaign, created to attack Ohio’s sprawl from a public policy angle. Greater Ohio has since become a successful independent non-profit organization. Their mission is to promote - through research, public education and grassroots advocacy - public policy in Ohio to grow our economy and improve our quality of life through intelligent land use. To this end, Greater Ohio will work to support redevelopment of existing communities, strengthen regional cooperation and protect the countryside and Ohio's natural resources.

The Restoring Prosperity to Ohio Policy Summit held September 10th of 2008 was the product of an initiative led by Greater Ohio Policy Center and the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings Institution. This Summit was the center piece of a multi-year research, policy development, and networking effort to revitalize Ohio’s core communities, create new opportunities for the people of Ohio, and invigorate the state’s economy.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and key legislative leaders joined more than a thousand Ohioans to outline policy reforms needed to reinvigorate struggling communities across the state. The summit brought together a remarkable cross-section of the state’s government, education, business, neighborhood and civic leadership to chart a policy strategy.

The Restoring Prosperity Summit heard the common expression, uttered by many of its speakers regarding the condition of the state of Ohio, “the glass is half full” indicating the value of the many assets, amenities and initiatives Ohio has to offer. Nancy Zimpher, President of the University of Cincinnati, called on us to “celebrate our regional accomplishments, connect the dots and use evidence based decision making.” The summit participants recognize that each of Ohio's core cities has different strengths and different opportunities. Identifying our individual strengths can create a new opportunity for prosperity.

A key intention of the summit was to build on the state’s potential, build on the distinctive assets of our core communities. It was agreed that the state can take a lesson from innovators at a local level, even taking examples from communities being entrepreneurial on their own in addressing their challenges. These accomplishments and other examples can influence, and ultimately shape, state policy (plan for the aftermath of the summit). Smart Growth Coalition’s ‘Success Breeds Success’ project puts this initiative into action at a local level to ensure southwest Ohio’s involvement. Showcasing our successes here will lead to a thorough and more viable resource for the state.