by Cherie Duvall

Operating at full force to accomplish his goal, NLC President James Hunt, councilmember, Clarksburg, W.Va., is providing the nation?s city officials with the tools and momentum to band together in creating inclusive communities.

According to Hunt, cities and towns should begin by joining him in the Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities, a program to encourage and celebrate local efforts to promote equal opportunity and fairness as well as citizen participation and engagement.

The program?s tool kit, which will be released on www.nlc.org in early February, is the jumping-off point for city officials to participate in the initiative that includes local citizens, businesses and government in making community decisions.

The tool kit includes information on how to join the partnership, a sample resolution, a list of steps that cities can take to promote inclusive communities and examples of successful programs, policies and activities that cities have used to build inclusive communities.

?This kit will jump-start cities? efforts to become and remain inclusive communities in every sense of the word,? Hunt said. ?I encourage all cities to use the kit to further their own objectives.?

The tool kit also lists the objectives that the partnership will aim to accomplish. These goals are to:

? Raise awareness and focus attention on the importance and value of inclusive communities;

? Motivate cities and towns to make a public commitment to building inclusive communities;

? Provide support to local officials in focused efforts around affordable housing, race and ethnic relations, and equal citizen participation in community decision-making;

? Share valuable insight, experience and lessons among the participating cities and towns; and

? Recognize, publicize and celebrate the work of cities and towns that join the partnership.

Hunt encourages city officials to take part in this year?s activities for the initiative.

These activities include passing a resolution reaffirming communities? commitment to promoting inclusion.

Once a city or town sends the resolution to NLC, that community will be enrolled in the partnership and will receive a sign that will serve as a daily reminder that the community is working toward a better future for its citizens.

The onset of the partnership has been a year in coming, starting with Hunt?s request to NLC?s Advisory Council to determine what inclusive communities are, why it?s important to have them and how to go about building them.

The 2005 Futures Report, Inclusive Communities for All, is the result of the Advisory Council?s work, and sets the stage for new efforts while providing information on work that NLC and its members have done over the past 15 years to reach community inclusiveness.

A Resource Guide for Working Toward Inclusive Communities  was created as a companion piece to the Futures Report.
This online guide is updated regularly to ensure city officials get an up-to-date compilation of NLC resources that are available.

?I believe the Futures Report and the resource guide  support one of the greatest opportunities that we have to make a difference in America?s cities,? said Hunt. ?I would like to thank the Advisory Council and members of the CityFutures Program in their efforts to help cities and towns participate in the partnership. Their hard work has truly been a blessing in moving to accomplish one of my missions as president of the National League of Cities.?

Both the futures report and resource guide debuted at last month?s Congress of Cities and Exposition in Charlotte, N.C.

During his acceptance speech at the conference, Hunt gave his perspective on what an inclusive community is.

?It is a place where all children laugh and play,? he said. ?It is a place where poor is not a person, but a condition that is fixed by a job. It is a place where the quality of an education is not a result of your ZIP code or skin color. It is a place that never stops working toward inclusion.? 

However, referring to the problems that occurred in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina as a recent example of a lack of an inclusive community, Hunt noted that ?we have a problem.?

?It is not an insurmountable problem, but it is our problem,? he stressed. ?When we join together to solve this problem, we bring together the collective will of the greatest country that has ever existed. We bring together the rich and the poor, the young and the old, the educated and the uneducated.?

With the Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities program, Hunt believes city officials can begin to solve such problems of exclusiveness. In addition, he also believes that building inclusive communities should begin with replacing two commonly used words.

?I ask each city official to change your vocabulary from ?us? and ?them? to ?we?,? he said. ?We can build inclusive communities, and I ask you to join me in our effort. We will not complete the task, but we can begin.?

Details: To download the tool kit, go to the Inclusive Communities link on NLC?s home page at www.nlc.org. The two documents, Inclusive Communities for All and The Resource Guide for Working Toward Inclusive Communities, can also be found at this website.