by Michael Karpman

Tualatin, Ore., Mayor Lou Ogden has demonstrated one way in which municipal officials can use NLC?s ?City Platform for Strengthening Families and Improving Outcomes for Children and Youth? to guide and assess their efforts on behalf of children, youth and families.

The platform, developed by NLC?s Council on Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Council), outlines the ?essential infrastructure,? or processes or mechanisms, necessary for sustained progress in helping children, youth, and families succeed. The platform also recommends concrete action steps in seven areas such as education and afterschool.

The Challenge
When Ogden, vice chair of the YEF Council, first paused to think about how to approach the platform, he wondered whether it was realistic to use the platform as a guide for his small community.

Tualatin has 25,000 residents, and its budget these days is relatively tight. While the mayor was interested in adopting the platform, he did not want to make promises that he could not keep or overwhelm the limited capacity of city staff by trying to implement every recommended action step.

Developing a ?Gap Analysis?
The solution, for Ogden, was to begin by using the platform as a self-assessment tool for Tualatin. He turned the platform into a simple checklist and then sought to identify all of the areas in which the city has already taken steps that are related to the platform?s recommendations.

The mayor?s ?gap analysis? showed where the City of Tualatin has made significant progress, such as its efforts to identify safe places for children to play and for youth to get together. From a planned teen center to a skate park to a summer gang resistance education program for middle school students, Tualatin has focused on creating many positive opportunities for its youth.

The city has also worked with the school district to create joint use agreements that have turned Tualatin schools into centers of community life. After voters approved more than $1.5 million of city funding, the city was able to cover the high school football stadium with artificial turf and pave a 5K running trail with compacted gravel around the high school perimeter.

?This tremendous partnership has made school property useable by the public in a meaningful way during evenings, weekends and summers,? said Ogden.

The analysis also highlighted areas ? including, most notably, family economic success ? in which the city is not yet engaged and opportunities for future progress could be explored.

Looking Ahead: Tualatin Together
One of the most exciting prospects for Tualatin involves the formation of a new community coalition for youth. Consistent with the platform?s recommendation to identify needs, opportunities and priorities through a group of public, private and nonprofit stakeholders, the coalition holds great promise.

Having convened a group of community stakeholders in the past, Ogden was enthusiastic when members of this group approached the city with a proposal to form Tualatin Together as ?a community coalition for positive youth development.?

Tualatin Together will focus on many aspects of promoting youth development, including drug and alcohol prevention and recreational opportunities. In addition, Tualatin?s elected and appointed officials will be an important part of the coalition, as will members of Tualatin?s youth advisory council and other students.

?This group of citizens began partnering with the city several years ago, and now they are stepping up in a big way to champion a youth development agenda,? said Ogden.

A Model for Small Communities
As members of the Tualatin City Council consider adopting the platform with a formal resolution, Ogden has shown how the platform?s recommendations are appropriate for communities of every size and composition. His approach may be particularly helpful to other small communities as they adopt the platform.

?It does illustrate that many of us are doing planks of the platform already, and the platform can serve as a tool in recognizing what we are currently doing, and then identifying other areas where we should be vigilant about looking for opportunities,? he said.

Details: To view the checklist developed by Mayor Ogden, and for more information about adopting the platform in your community, visit www.nlc.org/iyef/7915.cfm or contact Michael Karpman of NLC?s Institute for Youth, Education, and Families at (202) 626-3072 or karpman@nlc.org.