by Cherie Duvall

The freshly erected sign reads, ?Welcome. We Are Building an Inclusive Community.? Its unveiling last week in Selma, Ala., is largely a reflection of the perseverance that one mayor exerted to get it there.

Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. unveiled the sign given to all cities that have joined NLC?s Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities ? an initiative to promote equal opportunity and fairness in cities ? during a July 25 ceremony in front of Selma City Hall. Long-time city colleague NLC President James Hunt, councilmember of Clarksburg, W.Va., was on hand to take part in the celebration.

During the ceremony, Perkins announced that the sign will be placed in a permanent spot in the city after a year of traveling to all eight city wards, spreading the message that the community is working toward a better future for its citizens.

Although the journey for Selma?s sign began in front of City Hall, the voyage for Selma to become an inclusive community began years ago.

Preparing for the Future
Two historical events ? the Civil War between the Union and Confederate states in the 1860s and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, which contained the Selma to Montgomery, Ala., marches for voting rights ? will forever hold a spotlight on Selma. However, tension that?s reflected in race relations, education and economic development has led many to believe that some stigma remains as an aftereffect of these major occurrences.

From the moment he took office in 2002, Perkins, the first black mayor of the city, has made it his mission to move forward in healing these wounds by developing a ?future Selma.?

?Selma has a prominent role to play,? Perkins explained. ?Our history has earned us a rightful place in [the inclusive communities] discussion. I think Selma still has a lot to give to the nation. What an honor to now have another role in the nation ? making a place for everyone in the community.?

In 2003, Perkins visited NLC and shared his vision for designing, developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy for improving race and human relations and improving the community through intrapersonal reconciliation and comprehensive community planning.

From this visit, an agreement was established that NLC would provide support to the mayor and to the city in their efforts to improve the quality of life in Selma. NLC worked with Selma to develop a strategy for the process, draft a report that describes the strategy, develop a list of other resources and organizations involved in race relations to contact, and determine ways that it can continue to follow-up as the city moves toward other phases of the efforts.

Though any organization would find that working with Selma is a unique opportunity to learn about how to resolve some of the challenges this uniquely historical city has faced, Perkins believes that most other cities bear similar challenges.

?I?m careful not to let Selma be the icon of racial problems ? not to brand Selma that way,? Perkins said. ?Selma is pretty much ?Any Town USA.? Many communities find ways to exclude certain people. It?s even done a lot of times subliminally. There?s room for improvement with all of us.?

Practicing Inclusiveness
With the determination of Perkins and other Selma city officials, many steps have been made thus far in building a comprehensive community.

One such effort is a ?renaissance dialogue.? In these ongoing discussions, a group of citizens come together to make preparations and come up with ideas for the city?s future.

The city is also making efforts to reach out to communities that can often be overlooked, such as the physically challenged, the growing Korean population and youth.

For example, after the inclusive communities sign ceremony, Perkins took Hunt to the Cahaba Center For Mental Health And Mental Retardation to recognize four gold medallists from the 2006 Special Olympics USA National Games. The Special Olympics, an international organization dedicated to empowering individuals with intellectual disabilities through sports training and competition, was held in Ames, Iowa, July 2-7.

Starting a youth town hall meeting is also in the works. Residents of all ages will be welcome to the meetings to listen to the youth perspective of what?s going on in the city.

Addressing the impact of racism and intolerance in their communities, the seven students from Selma High School, a predominately black school, and six students from Clarksburg?s Liberty High School, a predominately white school, who attended the Congressional City Conference in Washington, D.C., last March, still continue their dialogue by Internet.

In their plenary meeting at the conference, the students realized that they have more in common than they thought and share similar views on inclusiveness. The Selma students, five of whom attended the sign unveiling, are planning a weekend trip to visit their Clarksburg friends.

Further, Selma was one of the first five cities to join NLC?s inclusive communities partnership.

Perkins finds that the resources NLC provides for elected officials as well as the opportunity to network is a great foundation for the initiative.

?One of the beautiful things about NLC is it gives elected officials the opportunity to see that we?re not alone and that the same problems affect all communities in the same way,? noted Perkins. ?The difference is, cities are in different stages of developing ways to deal with them. The beauty of NLC is that officials can come together and talk about best practices and what did and didn?t work in their cities.?

Another Sign is Born
In conjunction with the NLC Board of Directors meeting in Roanoke, W.Va., July 20-22, leaders of the Harrison County Commission declared July 21 as ?Jim Hunt Day.?

Hunt took this day to post the fifth inclusive communities sign in his Harrison County hometown of Clarksburg.

The sign was posted just outside Clarksburg City Hall in the center of the downtown area. Nearly 100 city officials and guests from throughout the country, representing the NLC Board of Directors and NLC committees and constituency groups, joined mayors from around the region, city employees, community leaders, and members of the Clarksburg Youth Council for the event.

?This is a great day for me, for Clarksburg, and for the National League of Cities,? Hunt stated during the unveiling. ?This sign symbolizes a commitment in Clarksburg. I want to tell you about the difference this message is making here. It is turning around years of intolerance.?

In honor of their fellowship, Hunt invited Perkins, an NLC Board member, to the stage to be by his side and take part in the ceremony. Perkins said he was surprised and honored that Hunt invited him on stage.

?It is good to be here in Clarksburg to unveil this sign,? Perkins said while addressing the crowd. ?When Jim Hunt first started talking about his vision, we couldn?t see it. I am thankful that we are now followers and working together to build this vision of inclusive communities.?

Details: For more information on the partnership, visit www.nlc.org.