The COG Board of Directors approved Region Forward ©, a comprehensive, new guide for achieving environmental, transportation, economic and other regional goals in the 21st century.  Following today’s action by the Board of Directors, COG will ask each of its 21 member governments to support the effort and its regional Compact in the spring. 

While voluntary, the Compact will motivate cities and counties in the region to pledge to use their best efforts to advance the goals in Region Forward.  By endorsing it, local governments will also be agreeing to have COG measure regional progress toward the goals about every three years.  COG will also conduct public surveys on a regular basis to provide a clearer picture of regional progress and develop and refine strategies for meeting the goals.  

Region Forward was developed over the past year-and-a-half by the Greater Washington 2050 Coalition, a group of public officials and business, civic and environmental leaders created by COG to help the region meet interrelated challenges like population growth, climate change, traffic gridlock, and disparities in public safety, health, and education. 

The Coalition developed the goals by selecting the best elements from local government visions, previous COG plans, a workshop that studied bold future scenarios, and public input from a survey of thousands of area residents conducted earlier this year. 

Last November, COG received nearly 400 public comments from local government officials, business and civic groups, and area residents related to Region Forward, which strengthened the final report. 

To view Region Forward, click here.