October 2002

Hello, and welcome to the October 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.

This newsletter is by subscription only! You are receiving this newsletter because you requested a subscription on our website or because you are an NCL member. If you would like to unsubscribe, look for instructions at the end of this newsletter.

1. National Conference on Governance - Reminder to Register
2. Model City Charter Revision Project Updates
3. Staff Article - Felony Disenfranchisement
4. Community Services Updates
5. Federal-Community Partnerships Updates
6. ANR: Things You Can Do For Your Community
7. Civic Index Feature

Please remember to register for the The National Civic League's 108th National Conference on Governance, "New Approaches to Political Reform", to take place in Washington, DC on November 15-16.

Come hear speakers such as Paul Taylor, Executive Director of the Alliance for Better Campaigns; Rich Harwood, President of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation; Stephanie Wilson, Executive Director of the Fannie Lou Hamer Project; and others!

Participate in panel sessions addressing cutting edge political reform issues! Come and explore topics including: New Approaches to Youth and Civic Engagement, Campaigns and Technology, and Shaping the Form of Local Government: NCL's Model City Charter.

To register, or for more information, please visit the National Civic League's website at www.ncl.org/ncg, e-mail us at ncg@ncl.org, or fax us at (303) 571-4404.

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The National Civic League continues to develop the 8th edition of the Model City Charter, a document that has reflected and advanced trends in good local government since NCL first produced the Model in 1900. NCL recently convened the fifth and final meeting of the Model Charter Revision Committee on September 27-28, 2002, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the International City/County Management Association annual conference. In attendance were representatives from the International City/County Management Association, the National Civic League, the National League of Cities, the International Municipal Lawyers Association, the American Society for Public Administration, the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, the National Academy of Public Administration, the National Association of Counties, the League of Women Voters, and the American Bar Association.

At the meeting, the committee reviewed a draft of the charter that incorporated changes and revisions made since the meeting three months earlier. These changes included committee recommendations from the prior meeting, and the results of the work of sub-committees in the intervening months. The committee and sub-committees gave particular attention to the preamble to the charter, its finance provisions, and an appendix on options for cities that use the mayor-council form and have a chief administrative officer. Other changes included new language on: regional cooperation; performance management and outcome-oriented delivery of government service; citizen participation; disclosure of campaign finance and providing for the adoption of related measures by city council, such as contribution limits; and, new provisions describing the process of recall of elected officials.

NCL will publish the 8th edition of the charter in early 2003, the result of a process begun in spring of 2001. A draft of the charter will be considered by the NCL Board on November 16th at the National Conference on Governance. Those interested can learn more about the charter revision process and its subject matter by visiting http://www.ncl.org/npp/charter/ or by sending email to Matt Krumme at the National Civic League, mattk@ncl.org.

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By Camilla Modesitt, Director of NCL's New Politics Program

Felony disenfranchisement would seem to exist in the judicial sphere, rather than the political reform arena. The practice of felony disenfranchisement, however, directly impacts political reform concerns because, in general terms, it eliminates the right to vote to a significant population.

Felony disenfranchisement is the practice of denying the right to vote to convicted criminal offenders. Forty-six states and the District of Columbia deny the right to vote to all convicted adults in prison. Thirty-two states also deny the right to vote to felons serving parole, and twenty-nine states deny the right to vote to those on probation. Remarkably, fourteen states permanently deny the right to vote to criminal offenders, even upon the successful completion of an individual's sentence, parole, and/or probation.

Disenfranchisement laws originated during medieval times and survived the journey from Europe to the "New World." They were particularly notorious at the end of the nineteenth century as a method of excluding African Americans from the voting booth. In 1998, research conducted by The Sentencing Project reflected that approximately 3.9 million U.S. citizens were disenfranchised, including 1.4 million African American men (36% of the total disenfranchised population).

In fact, disenfranchisement laws have had devestating effects on the African American population. Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama contends that due to the felony disenfranchisement laws, the percent of African Americans entitled to vote will soon rival the number of African Americans voting prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Clearly, any law that renders a significant community incapable of exercising the right to vote must raise substantial concerns. States with active disenfranchisement laws, particularly the states with the more stringent laws, need to reconsider whether the principles underlying these laws are valid in today's society, especially in light of their consequences. It seems in today's culture, where we value the concept of "one man, one vote," the severe consequences of felony disenfranchisement laws outweigh any perceived benefits.

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Raytown Reaching for Tomorrow

Raytown Reaching for Tomorrow, a community based visioning and strategic planning effort facilitated by NCL, was recently completed in Raytown, Missouri. In all, a dedicated and energized group of 150+ stakeholders were involved in the visioning and planning process that spanned from April through September of 2002. The stakeholders selected four areas of focus for the plan: Neighborhoods, Image, Infrastructure and City Operations, and Economic Development. In addition, a research committee was formed to focus on gathering information of the various funding opportunities available to implement the plan. On October 24th, 2002 a celebration was held to release the plan and launch the implementation phase of Raytown Reaching for Tomorrow. An implementation entity will oversee and monitor the plan as it moves forward.

The Forum for Civic Advancement

In the last of a series of six forums held at the Penrose House in Colorado Springs, the National Civic League presented the results of a Civic Health Survey conducted in May 2002. The underlying factors of the results were discussed among the participants at the forum as well as how to move forward in strengthening the civic infrastructure of Colorado Springs. The areas of strength already present in the community included strong cross-sector collaboration, effective leadership programs, and plentiful opportunities for citizen education and citizen participation in the community. A few of the areas identified for improvement included bridging the diversity of the community, developing the information sharing capacity, and increasing citizen participation and responsibility in the community. The Forum for Civic Advancement is a collaborative initiative of El Pomar Foundation and the National Civic League. The Forum seeks to support and engage individuals who are contributing, or wish to contribute, to the civic advancement of Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region by serving in elected office or engaging in the political process.

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The Safe Start Initiative

The National Civic League has begun work on the Safe Start project, a national initiative funded by the Department of Justice's Office for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The 5-year project is a multi-site demonstration that seeks to show how systems reform can positively impact at-risk children who are exposed to violence or abuse by shifting resources to early intervention efforts and coordinating across agencies.

In October, the Federal-Community Partnerships team convened a cross-site meeting in Spokane, Washington for all eleven sites, the National Evaluation Team, and the program managers from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. This 3 day meeting provided an opportunity for participants to celebrate their successes to date, come together to share challenges they've faced, and provided opportunities for sites to learn from each other as they move forward. The Spokane site provided an in-depth overview of their Safe Start program, with a presentation that included local police, mental health professionals, and program evaluators. The Safe Start project is entering its third year, and site project directors and local and national evaluators were able to utilize this meeting for sharing information and building on lessons learned. The Federal Community Partnerships team will be collecting information from each site, such as flyers, presentations, etc, and creating a repository of information to facilitate further information sharing.

The team will begin their site visits to develop training and technical assistance plans in early November. Once assessments and site plans are completed, the FCP team will provide sites with three technical assistance site coordinators who will assist in moving the site toward full project implementation. These coordinators will provide expertise in the area of strategic consulting, process mapping, capacity building, and policy and fiscal analysis. In addition, the FCP team will broker technical assistance from other providers including the National Center for Children's Exposure to Violence, Finance Project, Institute for Educational Leadership, and the National Center for Family and Juvenile Court Judges with the Model Dependency Court. The FCP team will assist the eleven sites with their efforts that are both prevention and intervention focused-essentially assisting these collaboratives as they grow and expand existing partnerships among service providers in mental health, child protection, domestic violence, law enforcement, courts, schools, family and legal services that ultimately improve the service delivery system for children at risk of exposure or who have been exposed to violence. The next cross-site meeting will be held May 14th-16th in Pinellas, Florida.

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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".

Things You Can Do For Your Community With Your Family

1. Take a walk around your neighborhood, just to see what’s there and to identify places where your children can go if they need help.
2. Watch television critically and think about how conflicts are resolved, different racial groups are portrayed, and sexuality is handled.
3. Institute a one-hour family reading period at home where everyone comes together to read the material of their choice, a newspaper, a comic book, a novel, or a magazine.
4. Find out more about conflict resolution through National Institute of Dispute Resolution (202-466-4764).
5. Check out local 4-H activities for young people in your community (301-961-2800 or www.fourhcouncil.edu).
6. Get involved with the National Center for Community Education. Learn how to connect school administrators, parents and students (www.nccenet.org).

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

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Intergroup And Intragroup Relations: The String That Ties A Community Together

All communities are host to organized ethnic, racial or religious "solidarity" groups (as distinct from professional and business associations, ad hoc policy-oriented interest groups, or political parties) that may emerge to express or defend their members' basic social interests. The degree to which different solidarity groups co-exist in relative harmony and cooperate in resolving shared problems is an essential measure of civic health - particularly as local populations become more diverse...

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

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