For more information, please contact Danielle Chesky, Northeast-Midwest Institute.

 For more information, please contact Danielle Chesky, Northeast-Midwest Institute.

The Federal Reserve System will host a webinar on Tuesday, December 10 (3-4pm Eastern) highlighting the work of four Federal Reserve Banks to create a dialogue for older industrial cities. The Banks have organized a series of four video conferences and in-person meetings involving community leaders in Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. This audio conference will focus on what was learned in the second session of the series, including the roles anchor institutions, and cultural and art organizations have played and can play in cities. Speakers will include representatives from Federal Reserve Banks of Richmond (representing Baltimore), Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Chicago. To register, visit the Connecting Communities� web site.

 

For more information, please contact Colleen Cain, Senior Policy Analyst, Northeast-Midwest Institute.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently  released a report on the status of coastal wetlands in the U.S. The report covers the status of coastal wetlands from 2004 to 2009 along the marine coasts of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico and the freshwater coasts of the Great Lakes. The authors determined national coastal wetland loss has accelerated in past years. However, in contrast to the marine coasts, which lost nearly 375,000 acres, the Great Lakes region gained 13,610 acres. Over 250 projects supported by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative from FY2010-12 and costing nearly $130.5 million helped protect and restore wetlands. Benefits from functioning wetlands include: nursery and rearing grounds for important aquatic species; habitat for migratory water fowl; storm and flood protection; and buffers to pollution in runoff.

 

For more information, please contact  Danielle Chesky, Northeast-Midwest Institute. 

 

The ecosystem Task Forces and delegations of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional and Senate Coalitions announced their priorities for the Water Resources (Reform and) Development Act in letters to the bills' Conferees. Great Lakes members in the Senate and House, led by Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chairs, supported navigation provisions within the bill, including a regional designation of the Great Lakes Navigation System, and greater use of Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund dollars for harbor maintenance. Members in the East Coast River Basin Task Forces and delegations (Susquehanna, Delaware and Potomac) requested funds for the River Basin Commissions, which coordinate critical interstate management and restoration efforts. The NEMW House delegation members wrote in support of set-aside funding for maintenance of small harbors.

 

The WRDA Conference Committee met formally for the first time on Wednesday, November 20 to discuss and debate differences between the House and Senate bills. The Committee aims to have a compromise ready for Congressional consideration before the end of 2013, although limited time planned for legislative debate in December 2013, and competing Congressional priorities may make the targeted schedule difficult.

 

For more information, please contact  Danielle Chesky, Northeast-Midwest Institute. 

 

NEWMI welcomes back Colleen Cain with open arms, smiles, and much relief after her fall maternity-leave. Eamonn joined Colleen and her husband's family on August 21, 2013. "I always knew Colleen's contribution to NEMWI office was invaluable, particularly her work at the helm of the NEMWI workforce development and urban revitalization projects, but there is nothing like an absence to drive the point home!"  said NEMWI President Allegra Cangelosi. "But Eamonn is well worth the trouble!" she added. Colin Wellenkamp, Director of the NEMWI Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative reflected, "Thankfully, Colleen took great care to place some of her projects on auto-pilot while she was gone - showing just how good of a project manager she is; otherwise, I'm not sure I would've known what to do exactly...except panic." Welcome back Colleen from all of us at NEMWI!