A Resource Guide for Working Toward Inclusive Communities

INTRODUCTION

The Resource Guide for Working Toward Inclusive Communities is a compilation of many NLC resources available to help city officials work towards becoming Inclusive Communities.   This guide is designed to be an online document that will be updated regularly with new information. 

The Resource Guide is a companion piece to the 2005 Futures Report, Inclusive Communities for All, which describes past and current work NLC and its members have undertaken towards this goal, and sets the stage for a new effort. The report also demonstrates the connections among these issues, suggests local roles, and calls for local action. (Click here to link directly to the 2005 Futures Report.)

NLC Past President James C. Hunt, councilmember from Clarksburg, West Virginia, stated that now is the time to make inclusiveness in our cities and towns a priority, and that making real progress in a community "requires leaders to take a risk and make a stand."

Now is the time to join the cities who have made the commitment to join the Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities. The Partnership encourages and celebrates local efforts to promote equal opportunity and fairness as well as citizen participation and engagement.  A Tool Kit providing details on how cities and towns can participate in the Partnership is on NLC's website (click here to download of a copy of the Tool Kit).

 
Racial Justice and Race Relations

The American Dream in 2004: A Survey of the American People (2004)  
PDF
35 pages
Results of a NLC public opinion survey of the American people to look at the state of the American Dream and to discover what Americans say needs to be done to promote fairness and opportunity in our communities.

Divided We Fall: Inequality and the Future of America's Cities and Towns (2003)
Futures Report
 PDF
26 pages
Report frames inclusiveness in economic terms; Focuses on wide disparities in wealth, a declining middle class, housing affordability, and access to well-paying jobs.

Race Equality Action Kit (2005)
Action Kit
PDF
19 pages
Action Kit helps communities reaffirm their commitment to ensuring equality and opportunity by providing helpful templates and guides for cities participating in NLC's annual Race Equality Week; Includes sample press releases, a resolution, and practical information to help plan activities.

Race Equality Week City Examples (2005)
 PDF
17 pages
Booklet describes programs that cities across the country have enacted to promote racial equality.

Undoing Racism: Fairness and Justice in America's Cities and Towns (1999)
Futures Report
PDF
32 pages
Report provides key steps for elected officials to begin to dismantle racial barriers in towns and cities; Promotes the framing of issues of race in a way that promotes unity rather than division, fragmentation, and hostility; Instructs officials to acknowledge the problem, become community models, address flawed programs, and reach out to their citizens.
 

Education and Youth

The Afterschool Hours (2005)
PDF
80 pages
Lessons-learned report based on a municipal leadership for expanded learning opportunities technical assistance project in eight cities;  Highlights strategies and insights for municipal efforts to broaden access to afterschool programs, assess local resources and needs, improve program quality, promote partnerships with key stakeholders, build public will to sustain public and private investment, and finance a citywide system of afterschool opportunities.

Expanding Afterschool Opportunities (2004)
Action Kit
PDF
14 pages
Action kit offers advice and a menu of opportunities for municipal leadership based on the latest research and best practices from across the nation; Contains attractive folder with terraced inserts that allow municipal officials to remove individual pages for reproduction and distribution to their staffs or other city officials and community leaders.

Improving Public Schools (2004)
Action Kit
PDF
14 pages
Action kit offers advice and a menu of opportunities for municipal leadership based on the latest research and best practices from across the nation; Contains attractive folder with terraced inserts that allow municipal officials to remove individual pages for reproduction and distribution to their staffs or other city officials and community leaders. 

Our Children, Our Future: Promoting Early Childhood Success in America's Cities (2002)
Futures Report
PDF
24 pages
Report focuses on the importance of making early childhood success a priority; Discusses new research showing impact of early childhood development on educational success and social behavior; Highlights municipal role in assessing community needs, building local support, making early childhood a government-wide priority, and coordinating and leveraging funding.

Promoting Youth Participation (2000)
Action Kit
PDF
14 pages
Action kit offers advice and a menu of opportunities for municipal leadership based on the latest research and best practices from across the nation; Contains attractive folder with terraced inserts that allow municipal officials to remove individual pages for reproduction and distribution to their staffs or other city officials and community leaders.

Reengaging Disconnected Youth (2000)
Action Kit
PDF
14 pages
Action kit offers advice and a menu of opportunities for municipal leadership based on the latest research and best practices from across the nation; Contains attractive folder with terraced inserts that allow municipal officials to remove individual pages for reproduction and distribution to their staffs or other city officials and community leaders.

Strengthening Families in America?s Cities: Early Childhood Development (2004)
PDF
19 pages
Report offers findings from NLC's Strengthening Families in America's Cities Survey which examined issues affecting children and families in American cities and towns.

Strengthening Families in America's Cities: Youth Conditions and Participation (2004) 
PDF
18 pages
Results of a survey that highlights the challenges municipal officials face in providing outlets for young people to encourage them to be productive members of communities; Report examines employment, participation, involvement in civic life, and the value of the youth voice in municipal government.

Stronger Schools, Stronger Cities (2004)
PDF
60 pages
Lessons-learned report based on findings from a project in six cities; Shows insights and successful strategies for municipal leaders to improve student achievement, build partnerships between communities and schools, support teacher quality and retention, and close achievement gaps.

Supporting Early Childhood Success (2003)
Action Kit
PDF
13 pages
Action kit offers advice and a menu of opportunities for municipal leadership based on the latest research and best practices from across the nation; Contains attractive folder with terraced inserts that allow municipal officials to remove individual pages for reproduction and distribution to their staffs or other city officials and community leaders.

 
Democratic Governance and Civic Involvement

Fostering Social Equity and Economic Opportunity through Citizen Participation: Rochester, NY (2003)
18 pages
Research report outlines an alternative approach to framing issues of social and economic equity in the context of local government administration and responsibilities; Argues that cities can build an agenda that incorporates social and economic equity as part of an interdependent model of municipal service-delivery.

The Rise of Democratic Governance: How Local Leaders are Reshaping Politics for the 21st Century (2004)
PDF
9 pages
Resource offers a framework for understanding how local elected officials view issues and challenges they face in governing nation's cities and towns;  Highlights how local officials are motivating their citizens to be active in community decision making, conflict resolution, and problem solving.

Housing and Community Development

Affordable Housing Finance Resources: A Primer (2004)
 PDF
42 pages
Primer designed to assist local governments in their pursuit of opportunities to achieve affordable housing goals; Presents a sampling of national foundations that have partnered with cities to successfully generate more housing initiatives; Lists national organizations involved in housing and community development.

Building Quality Communities: Making Local Land Use Decisions by Choice and Not by Chance (2001)
Futures Report
PDF
43 pages
Report develops a framework and ideas for local elected officials as they work to make purposeful decisions about land use and other issues that affect the quality of their communities; Promotes decisions made through examining the challenges and the problems each community faces with an appreciation for the hopes and dreams of the citizens to insure better communities.

Land Use and Development Challenges in America's Cities (2003)
PDF
22 pages
Report describes recent trends in land use development and identifies key issues that communities must weigh when determining their unique land use plans; Based on a forum convened in September 2003 by NLC?s Community and Regional Development Panel with leaders of other national organizations and policy experts.

Strengthening Partnerships for Housing Opportunities: Practical Approaches to Affordable Housing Challenges (2002)
PDF
28 pages
Hands-on guide for local officials outlining key components of affordable housing development and strategies for making them work;  Drawn from the direct experience of NLC staff and consultants as they worked with city officials, developers, nonprofits, community leaders, and bankers to develop affordable housing strategies in 20 communities across the country.
 

Economic Disparity and Poverty

Connecting Land Use and Poverty Reduction Strategies, Kalamazoo, MI (2003)
PDF
13 pages
Research report describes a process designed to create an environment where an effective place-based poverty reduction policy can be implemented; Process includes the political, social, and economic leadership of the country while at the same time engaging and mobilizing the grassroots; Any community can use this report to create the kinds of regional communities necessary to address the complex issues facing today?s metropolitan areas.

Connecting Poverty Reduction, Workforce Development and Economic Development: A Mid-Term Report on the Workforce Development for Poverty Reduction Project (2000)
PDF
14 pages
Findings from an NLC project providing technical assistance to five cities to develop and implement strategic action plans intended to apply workforce development and economic development strategies to get low-income residents out of poverty;  Examines the factors that play a role in the cities? efforts.

Creating Equity and Opportunity in America's Cities and Towns: A Report on the Equity and Opportunity Panel (2005)
PDF
22 pages
A report on the first two years of work of the CityFutures Panel on Equity and Opportunity; Offers a framework for understanding the impacts of growing inequalities on cities and towns and strategies that municipalities can take to address these impacts.

Divided We Fall: Inequality and the Future of America's Cities and Towns (2003)
Futures Report   
PDF
26 pages
Report frames inclusiveness in economic terms; Focuses on wide disparities in wealth, a declining middle class, housing affordability, and access to well-paying jobs.

Helping Working Families (2001)
PDF
14 pages
Action kit focuses on outreach strategies that city officials can take to assist low-income working families to access benefits such as State Child Health Insurance Program, food stamps, and Earned Income Tax Credit;  Contains folder with terraced inserts that allow municipal officials to remove individual pages for reproduction and distribution to their staffs or other city officials and community leaders.

Leaving Young Workers Behind (2003)
PDF
16 pages
Research report examining difficulties faced by young workers (age 16-24) in labor market; Based on collaboration with Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies; Shows impact of most recent economic downturn, long term decline in median young worker's earnings, problems of joblessness, underemployment, and distinctive difficulties facing immigrants and high school students.

Lessons and Insights from NLC's Workforce Development for Poverty Reduction Project (2001)
 PDF
24 pages
Series of articles offering lessons from a project assisting local officials in reducing poverty by connecting low income residents to economic opportunities for self-sufficiency; Strategies used in these cities were rooted in local context, addressed local realities, and drew upon local capacities and strengths.

Maximizing the Earned Income Tax Credit in Your Community: A Toolkit for Municipal Leaders (2004)
PDF
101 pages
Toolkit helps municipal leaders develop outreach strategies to ensure that eligible families apply for Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), strengthening working families and bringing more money into the local economy; Assists municipalities in developing an EITC outreach campaign, and offers concrete steps, advice from existing campaigns, specific roles for elected leaders, city examples, and links to important resources.

Trends, Policies, and Economic Conditions Affecting Poverty in America's Cities and Towns: A Discussion Paper (2004)
 PDF
14 pages
Discussion paper aims to provide municipal leaders with information on the social and economic changes affecting communities, and to support informed public discussion about the contemporary causes and effects of poverty.
 
 
Additional NLC Resources

Awards for Municipal Excellence
Link to Web Page
The Awards for Municipal Excellence identify and showcase outstanding city and town programs that improve the quality of life in America's communities.  Winners of this award exemplify excellence in city governance, best practices in municipal policy, and models to follow to improve the lives of their citizens.

City Examples 
Link to Web Page
Collection of more than 5,000 local government programs and practices.   These are current programs in cities and towns across the nation, and the collection covers a multitude of topics.  A brief program description outlines the basic program information.  Local contact information is provided for each program in the database.

CityFutures Panels
Link to Web Page
The CityFutures Panels (formerly Municipalities in Transition Panels) of elected officials investigate the issues and opinions that confront municipalities in specific policy and topical arenas, with a particular focus on trends, factors, and strategies and tools for city officials.  The panels are made up of local officials from cities and towns of varying size, location, and demographic composition, the four current CityFutures Panels are: the Public Finance Panel, the Democratic Governance Panel, the Equity and Opportunity Panel, and the Community and Regional Development Panel.

Constituency Groups
Link to Web Page
Constituency and Member Groups are groups and networks within the NLC membership which share common interests and concerns. They have been established over the years to reflect the diverse interests and backgrounds of NLC's membership, and they work collaboratively with NLC to contribute to leadership development, policy formulation, advocacy, and program activities. The Constituency Groups are: Asian Pacific American Municipal Officials (APAMO), Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Local Officials (GLBLO), Hispanic Elected Local Officials (HELO), National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials (NBC-LEO), University Communities Caucus (UCC), and Women in Municipal Government (WIMG).

Institute for Youth, Education and Families (YEF)
Link to Web Page
The Institute for Youth, Education, and Families, a special entity within the NLC, helps municipal leaders take action on behalf of the children, youth, and families in their communities.    Responsive to municipal leaders on a wide range of issues, the YEF Institute focuses on five core program areas: education, youth development, early childhood development, safety of children and growth, and family economic success.   The YEF Institute is a national resource, providing guidance and assistance to municipal officials, compiling and disseminating information on promising strategies and best practices, building networks of local officials working on similar issues and concerns, and conducting research on the key challenges facing municipalities in these core program areas.  It collaborates with a broad range of national partners and works with the nation's 49 state municipal leagues to reach local officials in up to 19,000 cities and towns across America.

Nation's Cities Weekly Library
Search Nation's Cities Weekly Library
The Nation's Cities Weekly Library contains weekly issues from January 2003 to the present. Weekly issues are posted by year / month / week. To locate a particular article use the Search Engine located on the left of the screen to navigate. For a more comprehensive search of posted articles, use the Advanced Search feature.