NLC Selects Six Cities for Project on Implementing Children and Youth Plans
by Tiffany Mitchell and Leon Andrews
NLC’s Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute) announced the selection of six cities — Charleston, S.C.; Lakewood, Ohio; Lexington, Ky.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Portland, Ore.; and Washington, D.C. — to receive technical assistance in the implementation of comprehensive plans to support children and youth.
These cities were competitively selected from 14 strong applications, and represent communities with a diverse range of plans and demographic compositions. Each of the six cities is well positioned to implement and sustain their planned efforts.
The new YEF Institute initiative, made possible through the generous support of the MetLife Foundation, will assist mayors, city council members, senior municipal staff and their school and community partners in building collaborations and coordinating systems that support the effective implementation of children and youth plans.
In addition to individualized technical assistance, the YEF Institute will structure multiple opportunities for these cities to share information, insights and strategies for progress with their colleagues. The institute will also broker access to national experts and identify strategies to help each city move forward.
Diverse City Approaches
Charleston and Lakewood participated in a previous NLC project on city-school youth planning that resulted in the development of their youth master plans. The knowledge they developed during this earlier phase of the YEF Institute’s work will be shared with the four other cities participating in the current effort.
Grand Rapids, Lexington and Washington, D.C., will seek to implement plans that were created in response to various challenges, such as the increased number of youth living in poverty, growing concerns about youth violence and a lack of developmental assets among youth that are essential to their future success. The City of Portland plans to begin implementing its Children and Youth Bill of Rights, based on the belief that all members of a community, including youth, have the right to be engaged in decisions that impact their lives.
Although each of the six cities selected have taken different paths in creating plans, they have all forged strong and broad-based local partnerships and are poised to make progress on their agendas.
A Focus on Implementation
More and more cities are developing comprehensive plans for meeting the needs of their children and youth. These plans allow city and school leaders to take stock of all the ways they currently serve youth, assess new or emerging opportunities, and address pressing needs while continuing to maintain the services and supports that are showing positive results. However, effective implementation of such plans is essential to sustain local partnerships and hold all stakeholders accountable.
This YEF Institute will draw lessons from the implementation experiences of the six cities and share them more broadly with NLC’s membership.
Details: To learn more about the project, contact Leon T. Andrews Jr., program director for youth development at the YEF Institute, at (202) 626-3039 or andrews@nlc.org.
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