by Bill Barnes and Ednilson Quintanilla

Cities and towns continue to join NLC?s Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities at a steady pace, bringing the total number of cities and towns in the partnership to 120.

For the cities, the partnership represents a way to affirm and advance local efforts to promote fairness and citizen involvement.

NLC President James Hunt, councilmember, Clarksburg, W.Va., said he is ?proud and encouraged? by the number of participating cities. Hunt has been highlighting the theme of inclusiveness in speeches at state municipal league conferences across the nation.

After joining the inclusive communities partnership, a city can request a partnership road sign that reads, ?WELCOME. We are Building an Inclusive Community.? A recent ceremony in Rochester, Minn., gathered representatives from across the city to put up the NLC partnership sign.

?This was a wonderful showing of what it means to be inclusive,? said Marcia Marcoux, councilmember, Rochester, and member of the NLC Board of Directors.

Marcoux said the array of people at the ceremony, ?represents some of the programs involved in building our inclusive community.?

Activities taking place in the cities that have joined the partnership focus on a broad range of challenges for cities in becoming more inclusive. The following are some of the local activities occurring around the country.

? To advance its dialogue on race relations, Atlanta took back a piece of missing history this September by solemnly commemorating the centennial anniversary of Atlanta?s 1906 Race Riot. This violent episode started on the evening of Sept. 22, 1906, when a mob of more than 5,000 young white men marched into the city, assaulting blacks at random.

The Centennial Remembrance celebration, which was planned by the coalition to remember the race riot, included exhibits and discussions at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, a candlelight vigil, a march, speakers, walking tours and other events.

? When the City of University City, Mo., wanted to increase diversity in its police force 30 years ago, it started sponsoring qualified minority and female employees to attend college, offering them full-time employment after graduation from the academy. Previous participants of the sponsorship program include individuals now in leadership positions such as two sergeants, the deputy chief and the chief of police.

The University City Police Department?s efforts were so successful that after the first 15 years, the city expanded the program to include paramedics and firefighters. Other participants have moved on to further careers at state and federal agencies, guaranteeing the public continued service in government for many years to come.

? The City of Hermiston, Ore., seeks to build inclusiveness by empowering residents to participate in their communities. The city boasts an exceptionally active network of neighborhood watch groups, which provide a way for neighbors to interact, a police department committed to embracing diversity, an active Neighborhood Revitalization program, well-attended block parties and a project to educate long-time residents about new immigrant families.

Recognizing that Oregon?s demographics are changing, Hermiston recently invited residents to attend training to learn how to engage and communicate with immigrant families. Participants become familiar with issues involved in learning a new language and discuss concepts such as acculturation and assimilation to help them connect with newly arrived families.

Details: For more information on cities and towns that have joined the partnership and how a city can join, visit www.nlc.org and click on the Inclusive Communities link.