by James Hunt

Signs matter.

They are an announcement, a declaration of intentions, the outward and visible indication of what is going to happen or what has happened. The sign reflects the place.

That is why a central piece of the Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities ? a priority of my NLC presidency ? is the signs that I hope many cities will erect in prominent and appropriate places. The signs will say:

?Welcome. We are building an inclusive community.?

In contrast to the intent of these words, many cities and towns in America grew up in periods of intolerance and exclusion. Signs of those times reflected these attitudes.

A new book about signs and places, for example, is getting a lot of attention. James W. Loewen, a former professor at the University of Vermont, is the author of ?Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism,? a study of communities that ?were all white on purpose? and that deliberately and even violently excluded African Americans and other minorities.

Signs were part of the way this purpose was achieved: ?No Mexicans after Night;? ?No Jews or Irish Need Apply;? ?Whites Only Within City Limits After Dark.? Such signs were often backed up by forceful, even violent action as well as governmental policy.

Vestiges of all this ugliness remain, but the times have changed. We need new signs and new action to reflect and help sustain a different purpose: ?all inclusive on purpose.? Municipal governments should be at the forefront of this effort.

NLC?s Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities is intended to promote open community dialogues and effective action around inclusiveness. The signs help open the discussion and should reflect commitment to action.

All of this builds on 15 years of sustained efforts by NLC and its member cities and towns. NLC leaders and members have approached these issues in a variety of ways, from diversity to community building to undoing racism to inequality and the American Dream. With ?inclusiveness,? I intend to encompass all of this work and to frame it in a constructive, forward-looking way.

I am sometimes asked to define inclusive. I usually reply that the specifics may be unique to your community and I ask, ?What would you say ?inclusiveness? means in your city or town?? That usually prompts a flood of observations and a useful discussion. In the 2005 Futures Report, Inclusive Communities for All, the NLC Advisory Council very helpfully used a broad set of categories: fairness, equity and opportunity, and citizen access and engagement in public life.

So, there?s no one way to move toward inclusiveness in your community. There are lots of ways, and I encourage every municipal official to explore them. Every step, every effort is important.

Similarly, working toward inclusiveness is a challenge for every community, no matter how exclusionary or how inclusive leaders feel the community is now.

Officials seem to agree ? 85 percent of municipal officials, in a survey that NLC will release next week at the Congressional City Conference, say that their city or town ?could do more? to promote fairness, equity and citizen engagement. We?re not creating a partnership of communities that are designated as ?inclusive.? It?s a partnership of communities that are committed to ?working toward? inclusiveness.

So, the Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities is a sign of our times. And it is time for these signs. I encourage you to take steps to have your municipality join the partnership.

For information on how to join the Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities, go to www.nlc.org and click on the ?Inclusive Communities? link. There, you will find the tool kit that provides instructions for joining. Or, send your inquiry to inclusive@nlc.org or call (202) 626-3030.