by Cyndy Liedtke Hogan

?I stand before you a changed person. No one could have accompanied me this year and not felt the change,? said now-NLC Immediate Past President James Hunt in a speech at the Congress of Cities in Reno, Nev. ?The change that I speak of is the Power of We. It is the power that recognizes that one can make two and two can make 10. Ten can make thousands and thousands can make history. We have indeed made history. We started with hope.?

During a general session at the conference, Hunt, a councilman from Clarksburg, W.Va., echoed the ?Power of We? theme he expressed throughout his year as NLC President.

Traveling to cities across the country, Hunt had the opportunity to meet many of the people working to make their communities more inclusive and find out how the Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities touched them in a personal way.

?I will never forget the day that I googled inclusive communities to see what was happening around the country and saw a picture of the City Council of Duncanville, Texas, riding in the Fourth of July parade with the Inclusive Communities Sign,? he said. ?I read the story of how Councilwoman Dorothy Burton championed the effort with Mayor David Green and I quote Dorothy?s words, ?This is our city. And it is going to take all of us, no matter our race, culture, religion, age, political persuasion or the part of town we live in ... to make it happen.??

Hunt described his emotions being present, along with Selma, Ala., Mayor James Perkins Jr., at the unveilings of Inclusive Communities signs just days apart in his hometown of Clarksburg and in Selma.

?We talked about the history of Selma and the impact that it has on the workings of government and I thought of it as I walked upon the Edmund Pettis Bridge and saw a small boat working its way up the Alabama River,? he said. ?Behind the boat was its wake, its history, if you will. And I asked myself; ?Does the wake determine the direction of the boat?? Or can a skilled captain guide his boat in the direction of hope? I believe that whatever our history, it is our duty to steer into the direction of hope and inclusiveness.?

Hunt talked about the personal stories he collected as President of NLC, including one from a Salvadoran waitress in Juneau, Alaska, who was inspired to learn English after she was slapped by an angry customer who couldn?t understand her.

In closing, Hunt thanked local officials for entrusting him to lead NLC.

?The National League of Cities is a model for the country,? he said. ?We come together from the far reaches of this country, from small towns to large cities, from poor villages to wealthy suburbs, from all religions, all races and all sexual orientations. We come as public servants; we check our political affiliations at the door and strive to learn how to be better at what we do. ... We are local government leaders.?

Hunt Receives Municipal Leader of the Year Award
Hunt?s work to create the Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities led American City & County Magazine to choose him for its highest honor, the Municipal Leader of the Year.

Bill Wolpin, the magazine?s editorial director, presented Hunt with the award during a general session at the Congress of Cities, describing him as a man with many gifts, among them the gift to be able to simplify the complicated.

In accepting the award, Hunt said, ?I?m so thrilled. What a wonderful close to a year.?

?I also want to say that this was a team effort. There is only one in the picture, but there are millions behind that,? he added.