Buffalo Niagara Region

Based on the premise, "you can't manage what you can't measure," the University at Buffalo Regional Institute founded the State of the Region project in 1998 to monitor the Buffalo Niagara region's performance in key areas. By providing objective and timely data on critical issues, the project serves as a reliable base of information to guide policy action and encourage long-range planning in the region.

For purposes of this project, the Buffalo Niagara region encompasses the eight counties of Western New York, and the Regional Municipality of Niagara and City of Hamilton in Southern Ontario.

The project's first report, State of the Region: Performance Indicators for the Buffalo-Niagara Region in the 21st Century, was released in November 1999 and culminated a year-long effort by the Regional Institute and more than 200 citizens and community leaders. This report initiated this process of monitoring and measuring performance and motivating action in areas central to the competitive standing and quality of life in Buffalo Niagara.

Responding to the region's need for the ongoing monitoring of its performance trends, the State of the Region Progress Report 2000 for the Buffalo-Niagara Region was released in November 2000 to update and expand indicators as well as outline progress toward goals.

The third State of the Region report focuses on the issue of Equity in the Buffalo Niagara region while monitoring and updating performance indicators from the project's other topic areas. Released in 2002, State of the Region Progress Report 2002: Equity in Buffalo-Niagara quantitatively and qualitatively explores issues of social, economic, and political fairness and equity in the region.

In 2005, the State of the Region project moved forward to significantly enhance its web presence by transitioning to an online format (read more about the transition). The project's previous Web site served a limited purpose-largely as an alternative medium for viewing printed reports. Expanding the project's online presence has been a natural evolution for the State of the Region, as information technology tools help the project monitor regional performance more effectively, more efficiently and more often. The flexibility and real-time nature of the web format not only improves the timeliness and relevance of the project's information, but expands public access to this critical data. Consequently, the project more effectively informs community dialogue and guides policy decisions in the Buffalo Niagara region.

The institute began the project's online transition in February 2005 with the posting of 22 indicator updates at its Web site; indicator updates are posted regularly, as soon as data become available. Also, the revised www.regional-institute.buffalo.edu/sotr features a more dynamic format, enhanced tools for accessing and sorting data, and user-friendly navigation options, including the organization of data by the project's 11 key topic areas.