Kathryn A. Foster, director of the UB Regional Institute, has recently received approximately $200,000 from the Macarthur Foundation to conduct a national analysis concerning how regions respond to national demographic, economic and social challenges.
Foster, a co-investigator for the Network on Building Resilient Regions, said that the analysis has been years in the making.
"The process that we have undergone in obtaining this grant has been underway since mid-2004," Foster said. "Over this time, we have been building a team of researchers, put forward many proposals - and last week we finally heard the response we were looking for."
Last week, at a meeting of board members of potential recipients, Foster learned that the Macarthur Foundation had awarded 13 universities $3.2 million over the course of three years in grant money.
"It was such a relief in knowing that our proposal had been accepted," Foster said. "Even more so in the sense that we finally knew that we could get started on our research."
The long term goal for the Network on Building Resilient Regions is to focus primarily on metropolitan areas. Foster asserts the need for evaluation of the different challenges that are being posed to the different regions.
"We are examining every region individually, while comparing the problems of different regions to see why one region had responded better to one than another," Foster said.
She observed the Buffalo Metropolitan area in comparison with the city of Las Vegas, Nevada. The Buffalo Metropolitan area, which has been in economic decline for the last 50 years, has had a multitude of problems ranging from the sub-urbanization of poverty, to the absence of industry.
In contrast, Las Vegas, a city that 50-60 years ago faced some of the same problems Buffalo is facing, now has been in an economic upswing going on the last 30 years.
Foster and the Network on Building Resilient Regions are hoping to solve these difficult questions.
"What roles do the media play? The businesses, community leaders and faith-based institutions? All of these things play an integral part in the development, or the decline in an area," Foster said.
The few areas within Buffalo that are thriving are thought-based institutions: Hospitals, research centers and universities, Foster said. The problem in Buffalo lies with the fact that it was formerly a manufacturing town, and as that industry ceased to exist, so did the opportunity.
"What we have found out for the Buffalo Metropolitan area is that it is not a resilient region - but not for lack of planning or knowledge," she said. "The fact is every region has the potential to bounce back from decline, especially a place like Buffalo. With this study, we are hoping that we can add enough insight to push this city in the right direction."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
