Since the Bingham Fellows' creation in 1988, program teams have distinguished themselves by their remarkable tenacity and passion to bring out-of-the-box thinking to some of the region’s most critical challenges.

The 2010 Bingham Fellows team will continue this tradition by building on a three year focus on Quality of Place goals identified in the Greater Louisville Project.

In 2008 the Bingham Fellows laid the groundwork for this theme with a spotlight on how to create strong regional partnerships. Learn more about the regional summit planned by the 2008 class and its outcomes.

A key topic from that summit was how to Create a Cool Region, one that will attract the next generation of talent for the 21st century workforce. This topic became the focus of the 2009 Bingham Fellows. Learn about three ambitious initiatives undertaken by the 2009 class.

The Opportunity

To position Louisville as a Green Leader.

The 2010 Fellows will examine greening and sustainability initiatives to inspire a community vision for making Louisville a green city front-runner, integrating ecological principles and stewardship with community and business practices.

Areas of Focus

• Sustainable use and protection of natural resources, including land, water and energy management
• Partnerships between the public and private sectors, including public health and environmental education initiatives
• Research and design of infrastructure and transportation

The Possible Outcomes

• Indexing and consolidating ongoing local initiatives to promote responsible environmental practices
• Expanding the Partnership for a Green City project to the private sector
• Establishing Green resource, infrastructure and transportation guidelines
• Creating a forum for best practices in environmental procurement and corporate responsibility
• Collaborating with community leaders on recommendations to Metro Government

The Reason

All of a sudden, everything is green. From magazine covers to the labels on grocery products, environmental quality and impact is shaping economic development decisions. Because of such powerful urban cultural, economic and political influences, cities are the ideal medium for sustainability-related improvements, pilot projects and awareness campaigns. As The TIP Report: Wired65 Regional Competetiveness Strategy points out, talented people seek jobs based on the quality of life. They want to work to live, not live to work. Accessible hiking trails are now viewed as more of a lifestyle asset than golf courses.

How does the Louisville region stack up?

Louisville placed 29th on the recent SustainLane list of the top 50 cities, the nation’s most complete report card on urban sustainability. The rankings focus on the many ways city policies and practices differ from one another and how that affects the people living in those places. Ranking 29 out of 50 classifies Louisville as a community that is “Hitting its stride.” But, is it enough to hit our stride? And, how does this compare to our competitive cities?

Portland, which earned the #1 spot, achieved an “All-around good to great” performance in most every category. Their success was credited to Portland’s citizens working hard at being involved in city policy, boards, projects and practices that impact sustainability.

How can the Louisville Metro region move from “hitting its stride” to becoming a front-runner like Portland or Minneapolis?

Louisville’s recent progress with bike paths, the 21st Century Parks initiative, top water quality rankings and even the plentiful farmers markets show that the region is headed in the right direction. But there’s now an urgency to quicken the pace to move up the ladder.

For more information, contact Jennifer Stevens, Membership and Recruitment Specialist, at (502) 561-5231 or email.