About Our Work
In many ways the magic of American communities lies in their incredible diversity
and the cultural, geographic, and social mosaic that they create. However,
the one thing all communities have in common is problems. This doesn’t
always mean conflict or strife -- sometimes a problem may be deciding on how
best to use shared natural resources, or how to better connect citizens with
their government. Whether its questions about how the public should participate
in shared decisions, finding new ways to build healthy and safe neighborhoods,
dealing equitably with issues of diversity, or creating truly sustainable
local economies and ecosystems, all are challenges communities will ultimately
face at one time or another.
More importantly, many of these questions are never answered just once, but
constantly evolve and change to reflect the diverse nature of American communities.
At the National Civic League's Community Services Program, we specialize in
helping communities and the institutions and organizations that work with
them to create truly collaborative solutions to shared problems. This means
much more than simply providing expert advice or assistance to people, but
working with diverse groups to build their capacity to improve outcomes for
everyone. Our underlying philosophy is guided by the belief that community
decisions should be inclusive, participatory, and equitable, emerging out
of open dialogue among those who are ultimately affected by the decisions
being made.
What We Do
We are dedicated to helping community leaders build a collaborative civic
culture that "gets things done". Since 1988, we have provided a
range of assistance to communities and those who work with them, including
civic and neighborhood organizations, local, state, and federal government
departments and agencies, nonprofits, and foundations. We offer a fully integrated
array of services from “hands-on” skills (facilitation, training,
coaching and lectures) to longer-term support (multi-stakeholder collaboratives,
community driven decision-making processes, and analytical research).
We also maintain an active research program that focuses on identifying promising
and exemplary practices, examining impediments to effective collaboration,
and building strategies to move large and small scale change efforts forward.
The interests and expertise of Community Services span the issues that communities
everywhere struggle with -- achieving better outcomes for children and families,
handling pressures around environment and economic growth, building a sound
educational system, planning for sustainable community development, dealing
with racial and cultural conflicts, maintaining strong neighborhoods, and
a host of other concerns. Our staff combines a wealth of substantive experience
in community issues with a tested expertise in developing inclusive, consensus-based
processes for helping diverse stakeholders craft joint solutions to their
problems. Our ultimate goal, however, has remained the same throughout our
organization’s history - to help communities empower themselves and develop
a civic culture that nurtures and supports collaborative decision making.
How We Can Help
The Community Services (CS) teams work with communities that are willing
to face challenges head on. We equip communities with cutting-edge tools and
skills that, when combined with unique partnerships, unleash the power to
create community change.
- Does your community have fewer public dollars?
- Does your community engage in turf wars?
- Does your community need more effective leadership to address tough issues?
CS Can Help Your Community:
- Develop mutual trust through active citizen participation
- Build effective civic leadership
- Leverage financial resources
- Value the diversity of the community
- Create a shared vision to achieve the most desirable future
- Formulate meaningful benchmarks to measure progress
- Develop implementable and sustainable community projects
If we can be of service to you, please don't hesitate to contact
us.
Sincerely,
Community Services Staff
National Civic League
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