NLC Report Describes the State of City Leadership for Children and Families in 2009

Building on the YEF Institute’s intensive work with hundreds of cities over the past decade, “The State of City Leadership for Children and Families” highlights the progress that cities have made and the potential for future action. The publication will be unveiled October 13 before more than 300 municipal leaders attending the 2009 National Summit on Your City’s Families in Boston. To download or order a copy of the full report, visit www.nlc.org/iyef.

“In describing the state of city leadership for children and families in 2009, this report highlights the broad range of innovations and trends gaining traction at the local level,” said Savannah, Ga., Mayor Otis Johnson, 2009 Chair of the YEF Council. “It also provides municipal leaders with a valuable new tool that will strengthen city efforts and accelerate the spread of promising strategies across the nation.”

At a time when children and families — and the cities in which they live — are struggling with economic distress, municipal leaders continue to experiment with bold new approaches to the nation’s most pressing problems. What follows is a snapshot of the new directions cities are taking in each area featured in the report.

Afterschool

Cities are at the forefront of the movement to expand high-quality afterschool opportunities. Providence, R.I., has developed a national model by organizing programs at neighborhood “AfterZones,” while St. Paul, Minn., has reduced transportation barriers and coordinated afterschool learning through its Circulator bus system. 

Other cities use afterschool to accomplish specific priorities. After School Matters in Chicago provides hands-on job experience through its apprenticeship model. Louisville leaders have unified 53 afterschool providers behind the Every 1 Reads partnership, which has helped cut the proportion of novice readers in half — from 18.6 percent to 9.4 percent — since 2003. Cities are turning attention toward programs for older youth, tracking programs’ impact on student outcomes, and building citywide afterschool learning systems.

Community Wellness

In response to surging childhood obesity rates, cities are promoting physical activity, encouraging healthy eating and making neighborhoods walkable. For instance, the Boston Schoolyard Initiative converts deteriorating schoolyards into green spaces for recreation and outdoor learning. Philadelphia has helped supermarkets open and offer fresh foods in underserved neighborhoods. New Haven, Conn., encouraged local sourcing of school meals, benefiting both children and local farmers. 

Other cities are developing comprehensive wellness plans, increasing the number of playgrounds, supporting community gardens and promoting healthy choices at restaurants. Recognizing the importance of health coverage to local wellness, San Francisco has launched a bold universal health care initiative that links more than 40,000 residents to a primary medical home at public and nonprofit health centers.

Early Childhood

As the proportion of households with two working parents has steadily increased, cities have expanded access to high-quality child care and promoted early learning. Recognizing that many low-income families rely on informal family, friend and neighbor (FFN) care, San Antonio’s FFN Training Institute has offered workshops for 3,600 caregivers. In Jacksonville, Fla., the Mayor’s Book Club has provided books to nearly 45,000 4-year-olds over the past five years. 

In Madison, Wis., the city offers child care subsidies that must be used at locally accredited providers, and Denver and San Francisco have also established universal pre-kindergarten programs. Emerging trends include providing new parents with “welcome baby” kits and promoting family-friendly workplace policies.

Education

Even when they do not control the schools, municipal leaders are increasingly promoting innovation and accountability in education. In Indianapolis, the city works with The Mind Trust to attract entrepreneurial education programs and incubate creative new approaches. Since 2002, St. Petersburg, Fla., has recruited nearly 100 corporate partners to provide mentors and other support, and offered incentives for academic success, including college scholarships for students with good grades and attendance, home loan forgiveness for teachers and bonuses for principals of improving schools. 

In 2007, New York City became the first city to issue school progress reports, and has built a data system to help parents, teachers and administrators analyze student and school performance. Recent trends include new college scholarship endowments, community schools that bring services into school buildings and support for alternative high schools.

Family Economic Success

Cities are helping financially struggling families secure jobs, receive public benefits, avoid predatory practices and build savings. Through Refund Express, San Antonio provides an alternative to high-cost tax refund anticipation loans. Boston’s Food and Fuel Campaign organizes community dinners to inform residents about food and energy assistance. 

The City of Caguas, P.R., has pioneered “children’s development accounts” that help children begin saving at birth. In Savannah, Ga., the city has built support for anti-poverty efforts by sponsoring simulations showing the challenges that residents face in becoming self-sufficient. Many cities are focused on connecting families with mainstream financial services, preventing foreclosures and providing financial education.

Local “Infrastructure”

From cross-agency planning entities to financing mechanisms, cities can enhance their effectiveness by building an “infrastructure” for children and families. Hartford, Conn., has overcome barriers to sharing data among schools and local agencies. New York City’s Center for Economic Opportunity has invested more than $150 million in more than 40 promising anti-poverty strategies. 

Since 1991, the San Francisco Children’s Fund has been the focal point of a multi-year planning cycle for children’s services. In Orlando, Fla., the Parramore Kidz Zone has connected 2,000 children in one neighborhood with a comprehensive network of services. Elsewhere, cities have developed children’s scorecards, partnered with nonprofit intermediaries, created youth master plans and formed departments for children and families.

Youth Civic Engagement

Often building on local youth councils, cities are making youth civic engagement authentic and sustainable. In 2006, Portland, Ore., involved thousands of youth in crafting a local “Children’s Bill of Rights” and used the document to inform local policy. The Hampton, Va., Youth Civic Engagement model provides youth with numerous volunteer, advisory and leadership roles in city government. 

Olathe, Kan., has several programs — an elementary school curriculum, Youth Congress, Teen Council, Youth Court and city internship program — that encourage youth engagement from the early grades through high school. Emerging trends include strategies to involve youth in the electoral process, and youth leadership in the design of teen centers and skate parks.

Youth in Transition

Cities have found innovative ways to support youth leaving the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, homeless youth, dropouts and teen parents. Boston’s Youth Options Unlimited provides transitional jobs to court-involved youth. Philadelphia’s Achieving Independence Center offers a range of housing, employment, education and social services to youth transitioning from foster care. 

Exciting new trends involve streamlining access to services (e.g., through “one-stop” centers and staff “service navigators”), and anti-truancy collaborations among police, schools and service providers that address the causes of student absenteeism.

Youth Violence Prevention

Shifting away from enforcement-only strategies, cities are developing balanced approaches that blend prevention, intervention and suppression. Under a public health lens, Minneapolis has galvanized the community behind a “Blueprint for Action” that has helped reduce violent juvenile crime by 37 percent since 2006. The San José, Calif., Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force shows how cities can update and sustain effective violence prevention plans. In San Bernardino, Calif., city-county partnerships have expanded access to services and reduced crime in a 20-block target neighborhood. 

Emerging trends include an emphasis on “street-level” outreach, reduction of barriers to work for people with criminal records, violent incident response teams and dedicated taxes for violence prevention.

Details: To download or order a copy of the report, visit www.nlc.org/iyef or contact Michael Karpman at (202) 626-3072 or karpman@nlc.org with questions.