DaytonDailyNews.com

The Dayton Development Coalition has proven that our community can do great things when we work together and speak with one voice.

We are proud of the coalition's accomplishments over the years, achieved by working together with our partners. Support for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has resulted in a growing bright spot for our economy. The creation of three locally grown venture capital funds has resulted in needed resources for budding entrepreneurs. Focused, bipartisan and open advocacy has led to hundreds of millions of dollars for economic development in our region.

These efforts have been lauded by Democrats and Republicans all over Ohio and in Washington, D.C., as a model for best practices.

The coalition is a regional, private, not-for-profit organization formed to address the need to create jobs in the region. Anything as important as establishing a regional identity is bound to stir up controversy. We welcome that conversation. In fact, it is a conversation we must have.

We used a thorough process to scope and hire our consulting team for this project, including the Turner Effect. We evaluated several companies. In the end, we were unanimous in our support for our process and our decision to hire the Turner Effect. Doug Franklin, publisher of the Dayton Daily News, and Pete Luongo were co-chairs of this effort.

We strongly believe that we put the best team with the right capabilities and the capacity to do the job — all for the benefit of our community.

We understand that a perception of conflict of interest may exist, and we discussed that concern before proceeding. We don't want to minimize this perception, but we need to be clear: there is no conflict.

We were unanimous on this point as well.

One of the reasons we determined that there was not a conflict is because the development coalition advocates with the federal government for resources for the community and not for our operations.

What's next?

Our community will move forward, and we will be successful. This will be achieved by working together — private sector, public sector, Democrats and Republicans.

"Get Midwest" — love it, hate it, or like it, we believe it is who we are. Our Midwest heritage is a great strength, and we invite the world to share it.

But to succeed, we need to stay focused, work hard, be inclusive and Be Midwest — together. We are committed for the long haul. Please join us.

Dennis Rediker is CEO of Standard Register and chairman of the Dayton Development Coalition. This piece was also signed by Dan Curran, Doug Franklin, John Landess, Pete Luongo, Clay Mathile, J.P. Nauseef and Bev Shillito.