GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — A group of 50 people from 14 counties in North Central Indiana hope to establish a team to promote regional development.

The Regional Leadership Institute based at Indiana University Kokomo has been sending people to Michigan, Kentucky and North Carolina to see how those areas formed a regional structure to tackle common problems.

Some of the group spent two days this week in Grand Rapids, Mich. to learn how the West Michigan Strategic Alliance (WMSA) was formed in 2000. The WMSA encourages regional thinking on a wide range of initiatives, from economic development to keeping college students in the area.

The 50-member group will meet in May in Indianapolis to begin putting together an organizational structure, determine what counties want to participate and establish a direction for the group’s efforts.

So far the 14-county region includes Kokomo, Logansport, Lafayette, Peru, Frankfort and Tipton.

Sue Sciame-Giesecke, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Kokomo, is leading the local effort, which received a one-year federal grant to work on the formation of the organization.

“I’m hoping at the May meeting we will know what the region will look like,” she said. “Some counties will be on board and others will decide to go in a different direction and work with other regions.”

The WMSA encouraged the Indiana group to look at commuting patterns, the job market and the demographics of the manufacturing base in the region.

Sciame-Giesecke said the Kentucky group is similar to the one in Michigan, but it continues to use committees to meet and work on specific problems like economic development and education.

The Michigan group uses a small paid staff to develop the programs then allows new groups to form for implementation. It is the only regional organization in Michigan.

“Our goal is to hand this over to an organization, ‘Here are the people interested in the regional concept, structure and funding in place,’” she said.

The new organization will have to seek government grants and corporate sponsorships to sustain itself in the future.

“Without funding, there will be no organization in the future,” she said.

Sciame-Giesecke hopes the May meeting will create a board of directors for the regional organization, a mission and vision statement then go to the various communities in search of support.

The leadership class was formed from recommendations made by each county involved.

“We took the names and tried to get a diverse group to be in the leadership class,” Sciame-Giesecke said. “We didn’t get enough young people in that group.

“I hope they take back the process of how West Michigan formed their organization. What it means to have a regional organizational, a catalyst for change. This is about helping everyone in the region to work toward a common goal.”

She said some people may not be aware of the organization, but those interested in working together on a regional basis will become involved.

Greg Northrup, president of WMSA, said the organization doesn’t try to tackle all the innovations it has outlined. The organization works to promote other groups already doing the work.

One area WMSA is not directly involved with is diversity in the community.

Nadine Newsome, assistant director, for Workforce and Economic Development at Ivy Tech Community College in Kokomo, said it will be a challenge to get people to think as a region.

“We don’t have that mindset,” she said.

Sciame-Giesecke said the move to regional thinking is a campaign and won’t take place overnight.

“It may take 10 years before people come to Indiana to see how we formed a regional organization,” she said.

Ken de la Bastide can be reached at (765) 454 -8580 or via e-mail at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com