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Bottom-up, Flexible Approach Needed for Revitalizing Left Behind Areas

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Paul Collier, renowned development economist and author of Left Behind:
A New Economics for Neglected Places, talks about the failure of
bureaucratized, one-size-fits-all and market driven approaches to
helping areas that lost their core industries. Collier shares practical
solutions based on his experiences from around the globe for left behind
communities that have applications to many regions in Iowa and Illinois
that experienced economic dislocation.

Robin A. Johnson is a governmental relations, public policy and political consultant. He is an expert on government reform issues and has consulted with numerous local governments on consolidation/merger, public-private partnerships and full-cost accounting of public services. Robin has also helped candidates win elections for the U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, state legislature, judiciary and local government. Robin served as a consultant to the Office of Statewide Performance Review in the Illinois Governor’s Office and is former director of the Illinois Center for Competitive Government, a partnership between the Illinois Comptroller’s Office and the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University. Prior to that, he was Director of the Local Government Affairs Division of the Illinois Comptroller’s Office. Robin served on the Board of Directors of the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships (NCPPP) in 1999-2000.