What would you call a project to try to create a cohesive identity for the future of the 30 counties in Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia that all surround Pittsburgh?

If you have an idea, there's a contest for you.

The contest is one of the first steps in a two-year "regional visioning" project started by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Development Partnership and Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission. The three groups are using money, $1.5 million raised so far, from local foundations to develop the vision, or future goals, of the region.

Allen G. Kukovich, the former director of Gov. Ed Rendell's southwest regional office who also served in the state legislature as a state representative and then as a state senator from Westmoreland County before losing his seat in 2004.

"Visioning is about action," Mr. Kukovich said. It's "grasping how people feel now about how their futures should look."

Mr. Kukovich said the money for the vision project would be used to pay for him and two staff members to develop a grassroots campaign, which would involve meeting with people all over the 30-county area, and also would cover costs of technology and getting the word out. He said he wants to get feedback on the regional vision from at least 20,000 people.

The region, as defined in this project, is 16,429 square miles and is home to nearly 3.9 million people. It runs as far east as Cambria and Bedford counties in Pennsylvania and Garrett County in Maryland, as far south as Harrison County in West Virginia, North in Pennsylvania to Mercer County and includes the five eastern counties in Ohio from Mahoning, where Youngstown is, to Monroe County.

Heather Arnet, the executive director of the Women and Girls Foundation and a member of the project's steering committee, said there are many common regional concerns, such as air quality, education and economic opportunities.

One thing the entire region does not have in common is football loyalty.

Jay Williams, the mayor of Youngstown, which is equidistant from Pittsburgh and Cleveland, said that while most of the region can be defined as Steelers Country, his city is home to an equal measure of Browns fans.

The naming contest is designed to improve on the working title of "regional visioning project."

Other regions have used names such as the conceptual "Blueprint Houston," the forward-looking "Chicago Metropolis 2020" and the less-than-pithy "Bay Area Smart Growth/Regional Livability."

The winner of the naming contest will receive tickets to the Youngstown Historical Center of Labor and Industry, the Senator John Heinz History Center and Sports Museum and the Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Museum of Rural Life in Avella, and overnight packages to stay at Oglebay Resort in Wheeling and at Deep Creek Lake to visit the Spruce Forest Artistan Village.

To enter the contest, visit www.regionalvision.org or send an e-mail to enterconstest@regionalvision.org. The contest ends June 30.