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The Greater Portland Partnership for Economic Advancement (GPPEA) is a not-for-profit organization working to improve the economic outcomes of the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area through research, strategy, regional convening, and major initiative coordination.

GPPEA's hands-on approach includes learning best practices of cities across the U.S. and then presenting lessons learned for application to the local economy.

For more than 30 years, GPPEA has united public sector officials, private sector business executives, and higher education leaders to collaboratively accomplish three key categories of work:

• Research and strategic regional planning
• Project management of major economic advancement initiatives
• Best practices education and networking for local government economic developers

Visits to other cities worldwide have proven to be incredibly enlightening, offering valuable lessons about the successes, failures, and obstacles overcome by other major cities addressing public policy challenges. Through these visits, GPPEA has explored business attraction and retention, land use, transportation, public transit, growth limitations, immigration, and the unique culture and challenges of each one of these communities.

Visits have included Toronto, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Charlotte, Boston, Washington DC, New York City, Philadelphia, Vancouver BC, multiple Scandinavian cities, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit, Madrid and Barcelona, Spain, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Israel, and Austin, with the most recent in the spring of 2015 to Houston.

GPI Board Member Randy Miller leads the annual best practices trips and encourages all with an interest in making Greater Portland a better place to attend. Past attendees include public officials, both elected and support managers, business leaders, non-profit leaders, and education professionals. All are welcome, and Greater Portland champions are encouraged to attend. 

A spring 2017 trip to Japan is planned with a delegation representing 50 public and private-sector leaders. A fall 2017 trip to Brooklyn is also being planned. If you are interested in participating and would like more information, email Randy Miller, Chairman, GPI Best Practices program at Randy@ProduceRowLLC.com.

To be added to the Best Practices email list, please contact Linda Arnold at arnoldx2@comcast.net.