Farm & Food Policy. 

Federal policy related to agriculture and food has evolved significantly over the last several decades. While the roughly twice per decade Farm Bill still addresses commodity price supports, it also provides significant federal funding for food stamps and farm conservation programs. Because the northeastern states and the midwestern states contain a distinct mix of urban and rural/agricultural areas, the Institute has played a unique role in bringing together regional interest groups from both worlds to address critical issues such as: urban food access, sustainable farming practices, the proliferation of markets for locally grown food, childhood obesity and rural water quality protection.

Energy. 

Energy policy is extremely important to the 18 states of the northeast and the midwest.For historic and climatic reasons, these states consume a significant share of both the nation’s total energy production and the nation’s imported fuel resources. This means that the Institute must take a leadership position in assuring that federal efforts to reach energy independence also protect low income residents of the region from exorbitant winter fuel costs, as well as seeking avenues to foster energy conservation within the region. The Institute has also pursued policy research into federal incentives to move the economy toward a more sustainable energy future and encourage the siting of “green manufacturing” within the region.

Manufacturing. 

Manufacturing has served as the backbone of the economy of the 18 midwestern and northeastern states for over a century. The recent emergence of a global marketplace for manufactured goods has placed severe strains on that economy. Some parts of the region have prospered by moving to high technology manufacturing by utilizing their proximity to the region’s world class universities and hospitals. Other areas have seen high paying jobs disappear as operations that require lesser skills have migrated offshore. The Institute works closely with the Manufacturing Task Forces on the Northeast-Midwest Congressional and Senate Coalitions to provide federal assistance to manufacturing start-up companies and otherwise enhance the region’s competitiveness through manufacturing innovation.

Urban Revitalization. 

The Brookings Institution has identified the nation’s most economically challenged major cities. These cities suffer from loss of high paying manufacturing jobs, population decline, erosion of their local tax base and a concomitant inability to provide needed municipal services. Sixty five percent of these cities are located in the northeast-midwest region. The Institute, working with a specially created task force of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition, develops policy recommendations that these legislators can turn into federal legislation to assist these cities. Particular issue areas include: transportation and infrastructure, economic and workforce development, and housing and vacant properties.

Brownfields. 

Abandoned contaminated land has proven particularly resistant to the federal and state cleanup statutes and programs. In the early 1990s, the Institute was one of the first organizations to recognize this and focus analytical research on the issue of brownfields redevelopment. In the intervening two decades, the Institute has worked closely with federal and state regulatory agencies to identify impediments to reusing these sites, compile best practices from cleanup efforts that have been successful, and coordinate interested public and private sector organizations in efforts to find innovative financial mechanisms to expedite site redevelopment.

Trade and the Environment. 

Trade has been a lynch pin in the economic development of the 18 northeastern and midwestern states. Unfortunately, the mechanisms of that trade, particularly ocean-going shipping, have created environmental challenges to the region. Aquatic invasive species, invasive microbes and invasive forest pests and pathogens now threaten the ecosystems of the region as never before. The Institute has a long history of involvement in addressing these issues by: documenting the levels of threat, identifying invasion pathways, advising the region’s federal legislators on potential solutions, and organizing the region’s stakeholders to implement solutions, including through testing of technologies that can help limit or solve parts of the invasives problem for the region.

Watersheds and Ecosystems. 

The northeast-midwest region is blessed with some of the most magnificent – and most fragile – ecosystems in the world. Key to maintaining these ecosystems is protecting their life blood; the freshwater and brackish water watersheds that run through them. Most of these watersheds include multiple states and are not easily managed by state authority. The Institute serves as bridge between stakeholders in these watersheds – farmers, boaters, shippers, municipalities, the fishing industry, state governors – and the federal legislators best positioned to help provide the necessary protections. In doing so the Institute works with task forces of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional and Senate Coalitions created specifically to protect: the Great Lakes, the Chesapeake Bay, the Delaware River, and the upper Mississippi River. We also consult regularly with the Administration and its federal agencies and a host of non-governmental organizations.