National Civic Blog

All-America City Finalists Announced

 

Today NCL announced the finalists in the 60th annual All-America City Awards, the "Oscar" for civic engagement and community problem solving.

The 32 finalists are:

Phoenix, Arizona
Fort Smith, Arkansas
Inglewood, California
Rancho Cordova, California
Windsor, Colorado
Tampa, Florida
Bensenville, Illinois
Carbondale, Illinois
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Richmond, Indiana
South Bend, Indiana
Des Moines, Iowa
Windsor Heights, Iowa
Wichita, Kansas
Pocomoke City, Maryland
Rockville, Maryland
Salisbury, Maryland
Somerville, Massachusetts
Belton, Missouri
Albany, New York
Benson, North Carolina
Kinston, North Carolina
Clinton, North Carolina
Statesville, North Carolina
Toledo, Ohio
Wooster, Ohio
Toledo, Oregon
Erie, Pennsylvania
Providence, Rhode Island
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Rowlett, Texas
Caroline County, Virginia

The award competition and alumni celebration will be held June 17-19 in Tampa, Florida.

This is going to be an exciting year for the program. Lots of energy with a great set of finalists.

Click here for more info.  

 

Julie Fanselow's very fine National Civic Review article on community blogging is featured on the Everyday Democracy web site.

Ours too, of course. If you haven't read it already, here's another chance.

What teachers think

MetLife Foundation has been doing an annual survey of public school teachers since 1984. The most recent survey, released last October, suggests that teachers today are more satisfied with their jobs than in years past. They feel more respected in society, recognized for their work and better compensated, compared to years past. All this according to the survey’s findings.

Teacher attitudes about their students have also improved. They view their students as better prepared for grade level work than in the past. The majority of teachers surveyed do not see the supply of qualified teachers as a serious problem for their schools. Teachers and principals alike rate the training and preparation of teachers for the classroom higher than in the past.

Unfortunately, the attitudes of teachers in urban schools are not as positive as those of their colleagues in suburban and rural communities. Urban educators rate their schools lower in quality and their students as less academically prepared. They are also more concerned about issues such as teacher turnover, student dropout rates, school disciplinary policies, parental support, poverty and poor nutrition.

You can read the full report here.

Sustainable Communities

NCL is working with the City of Broomfield, Colorado and U.C. Denver to organize a community conversation on sustainablity. The process will lead to the development of a "best practices" guide.

The stakeholder planning phase (about 30 to 50 residents) will focus on developing components of the community plan. It will include public meetings to keep the entire community up to date on the process.

One product of this effort will be a toolkit that could be used by other communities across the country. It will feature ways to capture the wishes of constituents and get buy-in from residents, businesses and other institutions. 

NCL has worked in Broomfield before in a process that led to the first city/county consolidaiton in the state in decades. It's in the city's comprehensive plan to be "a leader in implementing environmental stewardship policies."

l'll have more "who, what, why and how" info in subsequent posts....