by LaStar Matthews

The 2005 City Showcase at the Congress of Cities in Charlotte, N.C., featured various youth programs ? including programs aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases; providing opportunities for the disabled; allowing students to read and learn before entering elementary school and providing opportunities for youth to learn about their community and the problems their cities face.

Programs such as these have supported and empowered youth to make healthy, self-respecting decisions on their own.

City of San Antonio
Project WORTH ? Working on Real Teen Health
Working on Real Teen Health (WORTH) is San Antonio?s inter-departmental teen pregnancy program that emphasizes youth development, abstinence and parent communication. The goal is to help youth make positive choices, avoid risky behaviors, and postpone sex and pregnancy.

The program has a variety of components including an education program for youth, parents, city workers and youth-serving professionals. It also has teen clinics that integrate abstinence messages with STD screening, examinations and birth control.

The public information campaign brings extensive media resources to the effort including donated air-time from radio and television stations. Project WORTH also produces an annual Bexar County Teen Pregnancy Fact Sheet, a detailed teen pregnancy report.

Details: Mario Martinez, (210) 299-5035 or e-mail mmartinez3@sanantonio.gov.

City of Alpharetta, Ga.
North Metro Miracle League Adapted Sports Complex
Alpharetta and the North Metro Miracle League?s Adapted Sports Complex provides children with disabilities the opportunity to play baseball. When the league decided to build the Adapted Sports Complex with a rubberized surface baseball field, handicapped accessible playground and large pavilion, Alpharetta contributed park land, acquired a grant to help build the multi-purpose facility and lent the league enough money for the timely completion of the entire project.

Details: Amanda Day, (678) 297-6018 or e-mail aday@alpharetta.ga.us.

City of Cambridge, Mass.
The Let?s Talk Campaign ?. Literacy and Love in Cambridge
The Let?s Talk Campaign ... Literacy and Love in Cambridge is designed to improve children?s vocabularies so that they will be better prepared to read and learn once they enter elementary school.

Staff and literacy ambassadors from the primary foreign language and cultural groups in the community meet with parents on maternity wards and in their homes to show parents how to incorporate language into everyday activities as well as distribute home-use materials designed for the campaign.

Parents and children also attend talk presentations, reading parties, storytelling events and parent-child activities, which reinforce the literacy message while building community connections.  All new parents giving birth in the city also receive a ?Born to Read? newborn packet to introduce them to the importance of early literacy and to provide them reading material.

Details: Lei-Anne Ellis, (617) 665-3827 or e-mail lellis@challiance.org.

City of Birmingham, Ala.
Mayor?s Office Division of Youth Services
The Mayor?s Office Division of Youth Services in Birmingham develops strategies to provide increased access to youth services, encourage academic excellence and promote safety through a four-pronged approach.

First, the Division of Youth Services (DYS) serves as the city?s clearinghouse of youth- related information to ensure that the public is aware of youth programs.

Second, DYS advocates youth inclusion and participation in civic and community involvement initiatives.

Third, DYS has a network of youth advocates, called the Youth First Dream Team that provides hundreds of programs, activities and events for the city?s youth.

Finally, DYS staff perform contract compliance reviews on youth service providers that are funded by the city.

Details: Cedric Sparks, Division of Youth Services executive director, (205) 320-0879 or e-mail dysyouth1st@ hotmail.com.

2006 City Showcase
The City Showcase is an annual exhibition of successful, creative programs from cities and towns across the country. This year, the showcase will be held in Reno, Nev., at the NLC?s annual Congress of Cities and Exposition, December 5-9.

More information about the City Showcase is available at www.nlc.org. Click on Resources for Cities and then Awards and Recognition.