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Message from the Director
Welcome to the Center for Regional Advancement (CRA), a major public service and community outreach program of SUNY Fredonia.
Since its founding in 1997, the Center has been a major catalyst for regional collaboration, governance innovations, community outreach and economic development.
Our purpose is to engage the intellectual and analytical human resources of the SUNY Fredonia to enhance our region's governance and development capacity. Specifically, the Center undertakes studies to provide blueprints for regional governance and development actions as well as provides direct technical and strategic assistance to local government officials desiring to embark upon intermunicipal efforts.
Over the past thirteen years, the Center has been involved in many regional studies and consultations involving several SUNY Fredonia CRA faculty fellows and receiving grants that total in the millions of dollars. The Center has been the major facilitator for the Chadwick Bay Champion Community; the City of Jamestown Strategic Planning and Partnership Commission; and the Chautauqua Shared Services Committee; and the SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator.
Major studies include Regional Policing; development of a comprehensive web based demographic base for local governments; youth center feasibility study for City of Dunkirk; G.I.S. studies of the Cherry Creek dredge, and boundaries for the N. Chautauqua County Empire Zone; performance based government in Chautauqua County and City of Jamestown (adopted); development of a Chadwick Bay regional water commission; a regional approach to funding of Jamestown Community College (adopted); and an analysis of a payment in lieu of taxes project for NRG in Dunkirk (adopted). The Center also recently obtained the personal papers of Stan Lundine as Chair of the NYS Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness. They are currently housed at the Reed Library.
Our regional governance program provides technical and strategic assistance to local government officials desiring to embark upon intermunicipal efforts. It also promotes regional governance, the consolidation of government services, through public forums and events.
The Center routinely hosts public forums including the “Lundine Forum Series” and the The “New” New York Act forums. The Lundine forum series was established after the NYS Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness issued its final recommendations. The Commission Chair and former NYS Lieutenant Governor Stan Lundine led the forum panel discussions. The “New” New York Act was enacted in March 2010 and streamlined municipal dissolution and merger requirements. The forums featured NYS Deputy Attorney General David Sampson.
Enhancing community and economic development capacities and the promotion of regional shared services have been a focus of recent Center projects. The Center conducted a regional "Healthy Neighborhoods" Conference in 2010 and continues to support and lead efforts to bolster neighborhood confidence in the surrounding weak market region.
We welcome your interest and involvement as the Center strives to make our region a better place in which to live, work, and grow.
Sincerely,
Chuck Cornell
Director, Center for Regional Advancement
State University of New York at Fredonia