May 2002

Hello, and welcome to the May issue of the National Civic League's email newsletter. This monthly communication will provide information on the activities and accomplishments of NCL and links to information on a variety of topics relating to NCL's mission.

The National Civic League is a 108-year-old non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to strengthening citizen democracy by transforming democratic institutions. NCL accomplishes its mission through technical assistance, training, publishing, research, and the All-America City Award. The National Civic League is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, call 303-571-4343 or visit www.ncl.org.

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1. National Civic League Announces Finalists For 2002 All-America City Award
2. NCL Welcomes Delegation from Kyrgyzstan
3. Washington Post: "Now, the Local Races Are Awash in Cash"
4. NCL Joins Free Air Time Campaign Coalition
5. Community Services Updates
6. Colorado Conversations Concludes
7. The American Communities Movement
8. New Issues of Civic Action and New Politics Online
9. ANR: Things You Can Do For Your Community
10. Civic Index Feature: Apathetic Citizens? Not When They Can Make A Difference

30 communities vie for nation’s most prestigious civic award

On May 1st, the National Civic League announced the 30 Finalist communities for this year’s All-America City Award, the nation’s longest running and most prestigious civic recognition program. The 30 Finalists will participate in a final round of the All-America City competition hosted by the greater Kansas City region in Kansas City, Missouri, June 13-15. A delegation from each Finalist community will present to a 10-member jury their innovative programs and local solutions addressing a wide range of social and community issues, including crime, education, poverty, housing and race relations. On June 15th, ten communities will be selected as 2002 All-America Cities. Don't miss this exciting national event. Register online to attend at www.ncl.org/aac.

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On Friday, May 3, 2002, the National Civic League welcomed a delegation of leaders from the country of Kyrgyzstan to discuss conflict prevention and other challenges their country is facing. The delegation was invited to the United States under the auspices of the State Department's International Visitor Program hosted by the Institute of International Education. Participants consisted of leaders from the business, education, and government sector of the Aksy and Leilek region of Kyrgyzstan. Visit the NCL website for more information and pictures from the event.

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Michael Laris of the Washington Post recently wrote this article on the influence of growing donations to local political contests. The article references the local campaign finance reform work of the New Politics Program.

"Big money goes small town? You betcha. Americans are used to thinking of national politics as the place where the big decisions get made - and where the big money gets spent. That premise drove the campaign finance reform legislation President Bush signed last month. But that ballyhooed legislation did nothing to stem the flow of money to local and state campaigns. Local politics are just as fortified - some say corrupted - by cash as federal ones, and often more so." Read more...

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The National Civic League recently announced that it has joined the Free Air Time Campaign Coalition, a grass-roots effort created by the Alliance for Better Campaigns, to build support for proposals to require that broadcasters provide free air time for candidate ads, debates and issue discussion before every election.

"The National Civic League has long been a strong advocate of innovative approaches to reforming the campaign finance system at the state and local levels of government. Limitations on how much can be contributed to campaigns by who, where and when are all important parts of protecting the integrity of the system. However, until the cost of campaigns can be brought under control, the effectiveness of each of these reforms will be increasingly challenged along with the ability of our representation to reflect the vast diversity of our population," said Christopher T. Gates, President of the National Civic League. Read more...

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Community Services Facilitates Neighborhood College Programs

The Community Services team recently facilitated a series of training courses on "Cultural Competency and Creating a Healthy Community" for several neighborhood college programs in Fairfax County, Virginia. The course is designed to educate participants about becoming more culturally competent and expose them to skills around strengthening intergroup relations and collaborative problem solving.

The course is part of a 6-8 week curriculum that is designed to teach participants concepts related to leadership and community-building. The program began in Herndon, Virginia, in June 2001 and has since spread to other locations in the county.

Raytown Reaching for Tomorrow

NCL staff are facilitating a community visioning and strategic planning project in Raytown, Missouri, "Reaching for Tomorrow". Over 100 stakeholders are involved in an on-going process to develop detailed and implementable action plans that will work towards achieving their vision of improving Raytown. The planning portion of the project will run from April to September of 2002.

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Through our work in cities and regions all across the country, the National Civic League has seen that communities often lack the opportunities and structures for people from different sectors-neighborhoods, nonprofits, businesses, government, and public institutions-to come together to explore, discuss, and problem solve around the important issues affecting their community. Colorado Conversations 2002 was a five program series for Denver metro-area leaders to engage in dialogue and make connections together around some of the most crucial issues currently facing the Denver region. Participants heard national experts speak on cutting-edge ideas and initiatives taking place around the country, and had the opportunity to discuss and network around these issues with other Denver area leaders. Visit the Colorado Conversations web page to read summaries of the discussions and find out more about the event.

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Across the United States various movements such as Healthy Communities, Sustainable Communities, Community Building, Civic Democracy, Livable Communities, Safe Communities, and Smart Growth are all working to improve the quality of life in communities.

For the past eighteen months, the National Civic League and the Coalition for Healthier Cities and Communities have been conducting a project, supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, to evaluate the potential for convergence by these community movements into a "Communities Movement." While we found that it is too early to speak of such a Movement, these individual movements share a set of underlying values, tools, and goals. Read more...

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The National Civic League has released the Spring 2002 issues of Civic Action and New Politics as downloadable PDF files. This issue of Civic Action contains NCL program updates as well as articles on the recent losses of John Gardner and Betty Jane Narver. The New Politics Bulletin contains articles on the recent release of Bridging the Gap Between Citizens and Local Government with Information Technology and other issues related to the work of the New Politics Program. These newsletters are available online free of charge to everybody, while NCL members receive the newsletters in their mailbox each quarter.

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The Alliance for National Renewal is an intentional community of civic leaders and community builders who collaborate to learn and tell their stories to inspire creative problem solving, imitation, and innovation in pursuit of democratic revitalization and the renewal of civic life. The following ideas are an excerpt from their poster "100 Things You Can Do For Your Community In A New Century".

1. Become a candy striper at a local hospital.
2. Give Blood! Contact your local Red Cross.
3. Help a person with AIDS by buying groceries or caring for their pet. For information on these types pf programs in your area call the National Association for People with AIDS (www.napwa.org) at (202) 898-0414.
4. Make a monthly contribution to your public radio or television station.
5. Start or join a local Meals on Wheels program through National Association of Meals programs (703-548-5558).
6. If you are an older American consider volunteering with Americorps Senior Corps Program (www.cns.gov).
7. Organize a food drive, consult Second Harvest (1-800-648-3688).
8. Become certified in CPR and First Aid. Contact your local Red Cross or YMCA for information.

To learn more about the Alliance for National Renewal, visit their website at www.ncl.org/anr.

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Citizen participation in political, community, and neighborhood affairs is critical to the creation and maintenance of a strong, vibrant community. A community without regular interaction among citizens is less a community than a random collection of people. Without active participation, it is difficult for a community to agree on what problems to address and how to move forward collectively to solve them.

Citizen participation is at once the most and least controversial issue of democratic theory today. It is uncontroversial in that "everyone" agrees that citizen participation is requisite to the achievement of social, economic, and political equality in our communities and our nation. The controversy arises over concerns about who, when, where, and how citizens should participate.

Read more of this article by NCL's Derek Okubo...

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