East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWG) believes the future of the St. Louis region can be as notable as its past. Though many of the problems now facing the St. Louis region are urgent, EWG believes the region has the physical and human resources needed to overcome its problems, take full advantage of its potential, and offer its residents an unexcelled quality of life. EWG commits itself to helping the region attain that goal. With that in mind, EWG defines its mission in the following terms:
- To recognize, analyze, and promote broad-based understanding of regional problems, issues, and opportunities; and to give special attention to the identification and assessment of emerging issues.
- To help create a better sense of “region” among our unique local government constituency by acting as a catalyst to achieve consensus on regional issues, plan alternative actions, and aggressively pursue positive change in the physical, economic, and social environment.
- To contribute to an environment for change by forming and maintaining an objective, informed, trusting, and open partnership with local governments, public agencies, the private sector, and the region’s citizenry — sharing ideas, resources, and responsibilities.
- To formulate and evaluate our work based on a sound assessment of needs, and to be innovative in our approaches to issues – not bound by past priorities, programs, and methods.
- To help local governments be bold, creative, effective, and efficient by providing assistance, developing thoughtful solutions to problems; aiding inter-governmental cooperation, and forming new partnerships to tackle persistent or emerging problems.
- To strengthen our efforts by maintaining a professional work environment that encourages diverse opinions and mutual respect, and that recognizes and values teamwork, innovation, and results; and to support a staff of skilled professional and retain them through a coordinated, well-articulated program of staff development and evaluation.