Paul Samuel Nicolosi

I first became focused on finding ways for our district to re-invest in its amateur sports tournament facilities in 2011. For nearly two decades before, our district had earned a national reputation for being a leader in hosting amateur sports tournaments. While we invested in our facilities over t...hose years, we did not do so at the same pace as other communities and the competitive environment was leading to a loss in our reputation. I was committed to retaining and regaining that reputation which is when I turned to Paul. I first became familiar with Paul's work about ten years ago when he represented a local government in our district who sought our participation in a regional economic development project involving five other local governments. Because of this project’s success, I felt confident that Paul would be able to help. That was nearly five years ago (see our complete project timeline) and today, with the guidance of Paul and his team, I am completing our region's award winning process for the development of a $65M amateur sports tournament hosting campus. None of which would have been accomplished without the help of Paul and his team. The Project, known as Reclaiming First, has a simple but powerful message - the reputation of our park district for hosting amateur sports tournament events is a critically important economic development engine for our region, and is, therefore, worth of regional support and investment. Developing this message and moving it from idea into action required consideration of political, financial, economic and legal issues. The experience of Paul and his team in helping build local government coalitions to achieve regional projects was an indispensable part of our success. Through countless meetings, board presentations, and state legislative sessions, my team and I working side by side with Paul and his team to identify each stakeholder's needs in the context of their particular financial and economic positions and to cobble together a strong unified political and financial coalition to bring this project home. The project has not only been an award winning model for success but, in large part because of Paul's approach, experience and technical understanding, it has created a new sense of community collaboration amongst the local governments in our district.