|
National Summit To Focus On Your City’s Families
by Michael Karpman
 City officials and their school and community partners have the unique opportunity to attend the nation’s largest gathering of municipal officials and other local leaders who are working to improve the lives of children, youth, and families in their communities. Significant early registration discounts for the 2007 National Summit on Your City’s Families are available for registrations made by July 24.
The summit takes place September 30-October 2 at the Westin Riverwalk Hotel in San Antonio. The registration form is available at www.nlc.org/iyef.
Sponsored every two years by NLC’s Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute), the summit offers hundreds of local leaders the opportunity to participate in high-quality workshops and training sessions, network with peers and colleagues from cities across the country, and learn innovative new strategies.
This year’s sessions will focus on:
• Building a World-Class City. Workshop topics will include how to improve public schools, reduce youth violence, promote school readiness, encourage youth leadership, build a citywide afterschool system and help residents achieve financial stability.
• Adapting Innovative Strategies to Meet Your City’s Needs. Workshops will focus on developing a youth master plan, tapping new financing sources, creating a Children’s Budget and Scorecard, illustrating the challenges facing poor families and adapting models that work for small cities.
• Tackling Emerging Challenges and Seizing New Opportunities. Workshops will focus on working with local Chambers of Commerce and United Ways, forging city-school-community partnerships, combating childhood obesity, expanding access to college and helping youth in transition.
Summit participants will also have the opportunity to participate in site visits to innovative programs developed by the City of San Antonio through its Department of Community Initiatives.
In addition, city teams of three or more individuals will have access to a special team-building session to strengthen citywide collaboration in their communities.
Platform for Strengthening Families
Cities that have adopted NLC’s City Platform for Strengthening Families and Improving Outcomes for Children and Youth will receive special recognition for their efforts to build the “essential infrastructure” necessary to help young people and families succeed.
The platform, which has been formally adopted by 70 cities in 30 states, outlines the four tasks that every city can undertake to increase its capacity for sustained progress on behalf of children, youth, and families. In addition, the platform offers a menu of action steps and ideas for getting started.
Cities have used the platform to launch youth master planning processes, efforts to expand college access for local students, new opportunities for youth participation in local government, and initiatives to expand collaboration, streamline services and measure progress over time.
Keynote Speakers
The summit’s keynote speakers will be Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Ralph Smith, senior vice president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Mayor Hickenlooper has played a strong leadership role in improving public schools, promoting early childhood development and afterschool opportunities, helping low-income families achieve financial success and launching a citywide campaign to end homelessness.
Smith has made family strengthening the cornerstone of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s work and helped put families at the center of local policies and programs for children and youth.
A Unique Opportunity
The theme of the 2007 summit is “Building Stronger Communities: City Partnerships for Children, Youth, and Families.” This theme reflects the importance of broad-based partnerships in building a strong and economically vibrant city.
By attending the summit, local elected officials and senior city staff, along with school, business and neighborhood partners, will receive a unique opportunity to strengthen relationships that help jumpstart efforts at home.
Details: To register early for the summit, visit www.nlc.org/iyef and complete and send in the registration form by July 24. Registrants can also go to this site to make hotel reservations online and view a preliminary program. For more information about the summit, please contact Sharie Wood at wood@nlc.org or (202) 626-3087.
If you are interested in spreading the word about the summit to municipal officials and other local leaders from neighboring communities in your state or region, please contact Michael Karpman at karpman@nlc.org or (202) 626-3072.
What Participants Have Said about Previous Summits on Your City’s Families
“I thoroughly enjoyed this conference. It was insightful, well-organized and got my mind ticking.” – City councilmember, City of DeSoto, Texas
“This was the best conference I have been to in over 15 years. The information we were given was truly inspiring and helps facilitate the process of developing initiatives in our city to support children, youth and families.” – City manager, City of Spokane, Wash.
“Very good information – I’m excited to take this back and continue to build stronger communities within my city.” – Municipal staff, City of Las Vegas
“The YEF Institute has the pulse on what is happening at the local level.” – City councilmember, City of Portage, Ind.
“Our team came away with wonderful information from the Summit on Your City’s Families. It was incredibly valuable for our mayor and police chief to see how other small and large cities from around the U.S. invest in children, youth and families.” – School district representative, Sumner, Wash.
|