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Special Reports and Strategy Guides
Family Economic Success
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Special Report: Helping Families Achieve Financial Stability (2008)
This Nation's Cities Weekly special report describes comprehensive municipal asset-building agendas that involves providing financial education, expanding opportunities to save and build assets, connecting families with mainstream financial services and protecting families against predatory lending and other wealth-stripping practices.
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Maximizing the Earned Income Tax Credit in Your Community: A Toolkit for Municipal Leaders (2007)
This Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) toolkit was created to help municipal leaders maximize the potential impact of the EITC by ensuring that eligible families have the information and assistance they need to claim these tax credits.
Based on the latest research and best practices from across the nation, this toolkit includes concrete ideas for action, city examples, roles for local elected officials, a sample timeline for activities, sample outreach campaign materials, and other national resources.
View the EITC Toolkit » |
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State and Local Support for Earned Income Tax Credit Outreach Campaigns (2006)
This report describes how state and local governments have strategically funded EITC outreach campaigns to help low-income families become more financially secure and bring additional federal dollars into local communities.
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Screening Tools to Help Families Access Public Benefits (2005)
One of the most important – and least expensive – ways municipal officials can help low-income working families is through outreach and enrollment campaigns to ensure that they have access to the public benefits for which they are eligible.
This report provides municipal officials with approaches and specific technology options for using screening tools to connect eligible residents to key state and federal benefits. Highlighted in the report are several local, state, and nationally franchised electronic screening tools utilized by city governments.
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Financing Transitional Jobs: A Strategic Guide to Federal Financing Sources (2003)
This report, produced in partnership with the Finance Project, explores federal funding sources and financing options for transitional jobs programs that serve populations often targeted by the programs: ex-offenders, homeless individuals, and youth.
The strategy brief is designed to help local leaders seeking funding to develop, sustain, or expand transitional jobs programs. The report outlines the cost structure of transitional jobs programs, describes these programs as a policy strategy, and provides information on federal funding sources.
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Special Report on Earned Income Tax Credit Outreach (2002)
This Nation's Cities Weekly special report highlights city efforts to improve local economic development by bringing federal EITC dollars into the local economy.
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Special Report on Food Stamp Outreach (2002)
This Nation's Cities Weekly special report provides insight to food stamp outreach strategies and action steps for municipal officials. Download the Report »
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Education and Afterschool
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Financial Strategies to Support Citywide Systems of Out-of-School Time Programs (2009)
This strategy guide, made possible by support from The Wallace Foundation, describes several options that city officials may consider for supporting and sustaining local programs.
These options include: creating dedicated, local funding streams; making better use of existing funding streams; maximizing state and federal funding sources; and strengthening collaborative efforts.
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Cities and Statewide Afterschool Networks Partnering to Support Afterschool (2009)
This guide, published with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, features examples of how municipal leaders are working with the 38 statewide afterschool networks to influence state afterschool funding and policies and to strengthen local programs.
It focuses on several areas in which cities and state networks can make a significant impact together: joint efforts to increase state funding and support; improving program quality; building public support for afterschool; and strengthening local partnerships.
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Special Report: A Place to Grow and Learn (2008)
This Nation's Cities Weekly report provides an overview of The Wallace Foundation's report on "A Place to Grow and Learn: A Citywide Approach to Building and Sustaining Out-of-School Time Opportunities."
The report describes six action elements that are essential to coordinating effective out-of-school time systems that make high-quality learning opportunities available to more children.
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Download the Full Wallace Foundation Report »
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Special Report: Municipal Leadership in Supporting High School Alternatives (2007)
This Nation's Cities Weekly special report examines the leadership of mayors, school superintendents, and program innovators who work together to expand alternatives and options for students who struggle in traditional high school settings.
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Special Report: Municipal Leadership in Education Yields Results (2004)
This report, featured in Nation's Cities Weekly, provides a summary of lessons learned from the Municipal Leadership in Education (MLE) technical assistance project and lessons learned from the six project cities.
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Assessing Local Afterschool Resources and Needs (2003)
This strategy guide outlines six clear steps that municipal leaders should consider when conducting a needs assessment of local afterschool programs: defining goals, focus, and scope of assessment efforts; developing multiple ways to gauge family needs; using survey and mapping techniques; exploring multiple uses of compiled data; looking for partners in survey design, data collection and analysis; and sustaining assessment efforts over time.
This brief strategy guide also provides examples of how some communities have successfully responded to this challenge.
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Early Childhood Development
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Early Childhood Needs and Resources Community Assessment Tool (2006)
This tool is designed to help local officials better understand the status of young children in their cities, as well as the existing local activities or initiatives that support successful early childhood development.
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Early Childhood Strategy Spotlights (2006)
Assessment and Strategic Planning »
Making Early Childhood a City Priority »
Expanding Access to Child Care »
Promoting Children's Health and Safety »
Supporting Parents of Young Children »
Strengthening Early Care and Education »
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Strategy Guide on Financing Early Care and Education (2003)
This strategy brief contains an overview of the major federal and state funding sources for early care and education, and a discussion of financing options and approaches that city leaders can employ when funding early childhood initiatives.
These options include tapping into direct funding, connecting families to financial help for early care and education, linking local early childhood service providers to funding opportunities, leveraging funding through partnerships, using existing city resources and investments, and investing local revenue.
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Little Kids, Big Plans Week Organizing Guide for Hosting a Community Forum (2003)
This guide was prepared for cities participating in Little Kids, Big Plans Week, which took place Oct. 19-25, 2003. However, the guide provides information that can be used in designing a community forum any time of year, and includes suggested steps, format options, and sample agendas and press releases.
Key steps include identifying outcomes for the event; choosing a format; deciding on a target audience; developing an agenda; forging strategic partnerships; and utilizing NLC assistance.
Download the Guide » |
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Disconnected Youth and Safety of Children and Youth
| Supporting Foster Youth Transitions to Adulthood Municipal Action Guide (2009)
Published with support from the Walter S. Johnson Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, this guide highlights strategies for helping young people successfully transition from the foster care system and improving access to housing, education, employment, health, and other services. The guide also highlights examples of housing, employment and education programs from Fremont, Calif., New York City, and San Francisco, as well as Philadephia's innovative Achieving Independence Center, a one-stop gateway to services for youth transitioning from foster care.
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Implementing a Citywide Gang Violence Reduction Strategy (2008)
This strategy paper highlights comprehensive, citywide gang prevention initiatives in San Jose, San Bernardino, and Santa Rosa, Calif. These strategies are derived from lessons emerging from the California Cities Gang Prevention Network.
The strategy paper shows how these three cities have addressed the essential elements of a local gang violence prevention action plan, and blended prevention, intervention, and enforcement strategies.
Download the Strategy Paper » |
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Leaving Young Workers Behind (2003)
This report presents conclusions from research on youth employment in the U.S. labor force conducted by Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies in 2003.
The report highlights several troubling reserach findings: how young Americans were hit hardest by the 2001-03 economic downturn, how over the long term young men are facing falling earnings, how joblessness and underemployment are widespread among young adults, how growing numbers of young immigrants pose additional challenges, and how fewer high school students are able to gain a foothold in the job market.
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Connecting Vulnerable Youth: A Municipal Leaders Guide (2003)
The YEF Institute, in cooperation with AED's Center for Youth Development and Policy Research, produced this publication to provide an in-depth look into the roles municipal leaders play in the lives of disconnected youth and to give an overview of effective approaches and promising strategies.
The report poses seven questions that municipal officials can ask in their communities to jumpstart local initiatives and offers promising examples from Albany, N.Y., Baltimore, and Sylacauga, Ala.
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Youth Participation in Local Government
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Building Effective Youth Councils (2007)
Produced by the Forum for Youth Investment in collaboration with the YEF Institute and the National Conference of State Legislatures, this report highlights six key tasks for creating an effective youth councils, examples of strong municipal youth councils, and sample city ordinances, applications, bylaws, release forms, research, and other resources.
The report includes information for youth councils in Boston, Des Moines, Grand Rapids, Hampton, Nashville, and San Francisco, including: which elected officials the councils advise, membership and structure, funding sources, and contact information.
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Promoting Youth Engagement Through Youth Councils: Tips for Getting Started (2007)
This article from the Florida League of Cities' Quality Cities magazine, includes a concise overview of steps cities and towns can take to form a youth council, and offers examples of several unique youth councils from large and small cities.
Recommended steps include: assessing young people's interest; defining the council's structure and responsibilities; encouraging a diverse group of young people to apply; working with youth to set the agenda; providing training for youth and adults; raising awareness of the council; and institutionalizing youth involvement.
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Youth Development in Cities and Towns: A Guide for State Municipal Leagues and Other State-Based Organizations (2002)
This report highlights strategic opportunities for state-based organizations to encourage and support the youth development efforts of municipal officials.
The report draws on a 1999 partnership between the YEF Institute and the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns to support local officials in Indiana as they set out to make their vision of positive youth development a reality. The report also draws from the experiences of other state municipal leagues across the country.
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Special Report on Youth Service (2002)
This Nation's Cities Weekly special report highlights city efforts to promote youth service and offers project ideas based on National Youth Service Day.
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Strengthening Families
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Municipal Leadership for Your City's Families (2002)
This report reflects on the experiences of cities and towns across the country that are working to put families first. The articles in the report are based on the content of the 2002 National Summit on Your City's Families, which was held in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 1-4, 2002.
This Summit attracted nearly 400 local elected officials, school board members, and youth and community leaders from across the country. The report takes ideas and strategies from the conference, and with perspective from several months later, gives information and strategies for today and tomorrow.
Download the Report » |
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