Cumberland Tomorrow

From the organization's web site

The story of Cumberland Region Tomorrow begins with the Peirce Report on Middle Tennessee, published in the Tennessean in the fall of 1999. The series of articles was conducted by the Citistates group, a Washington, D.C. consulting firm. Citistates conducts studies of regional problems on behalf of groups of interested citizens, together with a sponsoring organization (in this case, the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies), which acts as the local organizer and project manager.

The object of the report was to gather a broad perspective on the region's assets and challenges and on possible strategies available to deal with those challenges. The report was published in the Tennessean, the regional newspaper, and was supported by gifts from several individuals and organizations. To view the Peirce Report, click here.

Following the publication of the article, there was much interest, initiated by the VIPPS and the First Amendment Center, in creating some kind of follow-up to the Peirce Report. The first impulse for the follow-up was to plan some sort of conference that would address the issues identified in the Peirce Report, present some best practices revealed by research, and provide a forum for public discussion. Jeff Carr, with Vanderbilt University, spearheaded the planning process towards a regional conference to discuss the issues the report addressed. Representatives from the Vanderbilt Office of University Relations began making visits to the surrounding counties, speaking with county officials, planning professionals, and economic development representatives regarding what topics concerned the county leaders the most.

After getting input from throughout the region, the final program agenda for what became the Regional Planning Summit took the form of three panel discussions and a wrap-up concluding panel. The first session was focused on local issues, the second on local and national issues, and the third included presentations on best practices from other areas of the country. View the results from the Summit in the Regional Planning Summit Proceedings. Simultaneous with the Regional Summit was an exploratory effort to determine if a non-profit organization, such as Bluegrass Tomorrow in Kentucky, Central Carolina Choices in Charlotte, or New Jersey Future, would be of benefit in Middle Tennessee. The support for the model that Bluegrass Tomorrow offered was immense. In particular, the diversity of the Board of Directors and the strategy of building consensus rather than lining up on one side or another on difficult issues were intriguing. The support from this small group inspired the invitation for Jean Scott, Executive Director of Bluegrass Tomorrow, to present at the Regional Planning Summit before a larger audience to gauge the interest of a more diverse and regionally representative crowd.

A group of organizers was recruited to work with Vanderbilt to define the proposed organization's mission and goals, to begin raising funds for its support, and to recruit its founding Board of Directors. The organizers were Cyrus Booker, Jeff Carr, Marion Fowlkes, Robert McNeilly, Jr., Jean Nelson, Susan Russell, Paul Sloan, and Quenton White. In addition, James Sandlin, Mary Pat Teague, and Jennifer Schiess continued to provide staff support on behalf of Vanderbilt throughout the organizational phase. After a trip to Lexington, and meetings with several Bluegrass Tomorrow stakeholders and Board members, the organizers commenced a series of meetings to address key organizational issues such as the mission, the founding principles, and the formal name for the organization: Cumberland Region Tomorrow.

Next, the organizers recruited a Board of Directors of fifty-three members whose geographic distribution corresponded with the population distribution of the region, and more importantly, whose interests and backgrounds represented so many parts of the region, ranging from the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation to Dollar General and everything in between. Beyond the surface quality of the Board members, they also came with a firm commitment to the region and to this new organization. Officers were elected at the first Board meeting in December of 2000, and a half-day retreat in April of 2001 for the Directors brought in speakers from Denver, New Jersey, and Portland, and included some basic education about the concepts of regional planning and strategies across the country.

Simultaneous with the recruitment of the Board, the organizers had begun a campaign to raise operating funds for CRT. Due to their hard work and to the increasing sense in the region that the issues of growth planning are approaching a critical point, CRT has begun its life with a solid base of funding from a variety of sources and has great potential for the future.

The search for an Executive Director began in late spring 2001. Jennifer Schiess had been serving a six-month term as Associate Director during the search until the Executive Committee selected Edward H. Cole as Cumberland Region Tomorrow's first Executive Director. Over the past twenty-five years, Ed has had a number of professional responsibilities, including teaching at George Peabody College, environmental analysis with the Metropolitan (Nashville) Planning Commission, systems development and administrative management with the Tennessee Departments of Health, Children's Services, and Environment and Conservation. Ed began work in August 2001, and shortly afterward, he hired Jenny Wiedower, a recent graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, TN, as his Executive Assistant. Together, they make up the staff of CRT.

With the Cumberland Region Tomorrow Regional Visioning Project achieving great successes, Cumberland Region Tomorrow is looking to its future program goals and beginning to plan for follow-ups to the project. The organization has already established itself as a valuable and important part of the regional discussion and plans to continue bringing resources to bear that will enable the region to continue to grow and prosper while preserving the quality of life that makes it an attractive home for individuals and businesses. Click here to learn more about the Regional Visioning Project.