Through interactive educational programs and exhibits, and unique historical resources, the center provides experiences which inspire people of all ages to enhance their understanding of space related sciences, to recognize the value of technologies developed through the space program, and to engage in the exploration of Planet Earth and the universe beyond.

The center targets and encourages students, especially those from underrepresented groups, to discover science, technology, engineering, and math in exciting and innovative ways.

Veterans

In 2009, Downey implemented its Military Banner program to express appreciation to all local members enlisted in the armed forces. Donations poured-in to help with the purchase of banners for local veterans. Shortly afterwards, the city formed a veterans committee of local retired veterans and residents who are passionate about supporting servicemen and women. One of the first items on this committee’s agenda was the concept of a possible Veterans Memorial, which came into being November of 2012. To help local veterans find employment, the city partnered with RMI International, a security firm offering a vast array of security services from event staffing and parking enforcement to guarding of international dignitaries. Recently, RMI hired approximately 40 veterans, 10 of which were from Downey. Two of those Downey veterans are actually employed by the City of Downey and are currently working in the local downtown area.

Downtown Revitalization

In 2001, the City Council adopted the Downtown Plan, a staff-generated concept that placed an overlay zone on the eighty acres that comprise the central area of the City. The Downtown Plan sought to create a unique district that would attract people into the downtown area to shop, eat, and attend entertainment, cultural, and civic events. During the last few years since the adoption of the plan, the downtown area has experienced renewed interest from developers, Downey residents, prospective business owners, and visitors from outside the area. Strategies to revitalize include investing public dollars to facilitate construction of the Kirkorian Theater and a new parking structure, completing the Downey Avenue Street Improvement Project, and promoting façade improvement program/sign and awning programs.

During the recent recession, Birmingham began to explore innovative ways of improving economic conditions and the quality of life through public/private partnerships.

A land-swap between the City of Birmingham and the University of Alabama Birmingham paved the way for a $64 million project to build Regions Field for the Birmingham Barons, a minor league baseball team. A new, 19-acre Railroad Park downtown received an Open Space Award from the Urban Land Institute.

Other projects include a $400 million expansion for Children’s of Alabama, an international hospital, and a revival of the city’s historic Theater District. The Avondale neighborhood is reversing a declining trend with the help of a downtown economic development group, Avondale Brewery, residents, and federal stimulus funding.

Less than a mile away, the impoverished neighborhood of Woodlawn has seen development of a different kind—an $11 million investment from the YWCA of Central Alabama to build a six-family shelter and renovate 58 nearby apartments. YWCA has also brought a Family Resource Center and health, education, and employment services to the community…… 

Red Mountain Park

Birmingham’s Green Space and Livability Projects

In 2010, the University of Alabama Birmingham released a study estimating that the health savings of green spaces in Jefferson County surpassed $43 million. The year 2006 saw a new fundraising campaign to benefit three local private parks, spearheaded by the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and Region 2020. By 2008, $15 million had been successfully secured through private donations.

Red Mountain Park came to into being through one of the largest land swap agreements in Alabama history, and Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve expanded to serve more than 12,000 students per year with education programs. The Centers for Disease Control provided a substantial grant to the Fresh Water Land Trust (FWLT) to develop a greenway master plan for the area.

FWLT rose to the occasion, mustering more than 3,000 participants to provide input through 45 stakeholder meetings. Once the master plan was complete, FWLT worked with numerous local government agencies to seek $10 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program. TIGER funds will help create a regional multi-modal street network that is accessible and safe for all users, especially pedestrians and cyclists.

Birmingham’s Veteran’s Initiatives

The City of Birmingham has a rich history and appreciation for members of the armed services, and it is able to salute its veterans in three distinguished ways. The first is Birmingham’s National Veteran’s Day, a tradition stretching back to 1947, seven years before the U.S. Congress authorized the first official observance of the national holiday. In Birmingham, Veteran’s Day involves not only elaborate parades but also a host of events coordinated by the city and the National Veteran’s Day in Birmingham planning committee.

For example, every year a dinner is held in honor of the recipient of the city’s National Veteran’s Award, given to the veteran who made the greatest contribution to further the patriotic interest of veterans and veteran organizations. A second example is the Operation Lima Foxtrot initiative started by The Lakeshore Foundation in 2006. The comprehensive program was designed to help severely injured U.S. service men and women regain active, healthy, and independent lives. Since its inception, more than 1,800 armed forces members, veterans, and family members have traveled to greater Birmingham from 36 states to participate in Lakeshore’s residential sports and recreation camps, ongoing fitness and health promotion programs, and other transition services.

Finally, nestled in the foothills of Birmingham’s woodlands is the Alabama Veteran’s Memorial Park. The park includes a Memorial walkway that outlines historic events from the 20th and 21st centuries as well as recognizes Alabama’s military veterans. The three programs, though separate, collectively remind the citizens of Birmingham of the courage, dedication, and sacrifices veterans and their families have rendered to cause of freedom.

Link here to read Bob’s obituary in the New York Times. 

This year, the program is spotlighting community-wide initiatives that honor and benefit veterans and military families. Next year, the 65th anniversary of the program, the focus will be on communities that foster healthier lifestyles for their residents.

“All-America Cities set an example and a standard of excellence for local problem-solvers throughout the country,” said NCL President Gloria Rubio-Cortes. “This is an award that gives us hope, ideas and inspiration as we look for ways to address the difficult challenges we face as communities and as a nation.”

All-America City Awards recognize local action through community-based problem-solving and civic engagement efforts involving the public, private and nonprofit sectors. The designation gives the winning communities “bragging rights” than can help them recruit new businesses, increase jobs and obtain grants for community betterment projects in the future.

“AAC is more than an awards program,” noted NCL Interim Chair Liz Hollander. “It gives communities a unique opportunity to celebrate their successes, but also to take a clear-eyed look at their civic capacities.”

Once described by pollster George Gallup as a “Nobel Prize” for civic accomplishment, the awards have been given to more than 600 communities since its inception in 1949. Some have won it as many as five and six times. Not just cities, but neighborhoods, towns, counties and metropolitan regions can apply for the prestigious award.

To qualify for AAC, participants fill out applications listing three examples of successful community change. Applicants are enocuraged to use the National Civic League’s “Civic Index,” a widely used tool for assessing community strengths and weaknesses. In their applications, they describe their capacities for civic engagement, collaboration; inclusiveness and innovation.

NCL will produce a report based on the finalists’ projects to inform communities seeking to improve their current initiatives or establish new ones benefiting veterans and military families.   

Sponsors and partners of the 2013 All-America City Award include: The Piton Foundation;  Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation; PCL Construction Enterprises, Inc.; Southwest Airlines – The Official Airline of the All-America City Award;  Greenberg Traurig; Merrick & Company;  City of Aurora, Colorado;  BBVA Compass;  City of Dublin, California; El Pomar Foundation; FirstBank;  City of Lakewood, Colorado; Alameda Gateway;  RubinBrown;  U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans of Foreign Wars. The Kettering Foundation is a research partner. The Colorado National Guard is a partner.

The city has an idea about how to improve the vocabularies of preschool-age children throughout the city by measuring and rapidly increasing the number of words spoken in their households.

“I am thrilled that Providence has been selected as a Mayors Challenge winner,” said Mayor Taveras of Providence. “From day one, my administration has been focused on improving educational opportunities and promoting the health and welfare of children throughout our City. Not only does winning this prize demonstrate that Providence is dedicated to innovative thinking that can improve the lives of Providence residents, but it is truly an indication that the great ideas we generate in Providence have the power to positively affect the lives of people living all across the country.”

Providence won an All-America City Award last year for its efforts to get more kids reading proficiently by the end of third grade, thus joining the nationwide Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.

The National Civic League congratulates Providence for its innovative efforts to improve education for under-served students.

“Building a 19-mile highway in little more than three months was an astonishing feat all to itself. Considering it was designed, funded and constructed almost exclusively by Aztec residents, businesses and neighbors – without government support – the deed takes on legendary status.

In fact, Navajo Dam Road/State Road 173 was built with donated equipment, material, supplies, cash and labor. School boys and girls raised road fund money by staging plays. Civic groups and local businesses organized fund raisers not unlike the war bond rallies of the 1940s. And a dedicated committee headed by Bonnie Walls served meals, snow or shine, to workers each and every day the work was in progress.

Approximately 3,000 volunteers – nearly three-fourths of Aztec’s population in 1963 – participated in this dramatic undertaking. When it was completed, President Lyndon Johnson sent a cable of congratulations, Look Magazine featured the project in its pages, the accomplishment was written up in the U.S. Congressional Record and, in lasting tribute, Aztec was designated one of only 11 communities in 1963 to receive the National Civic League’s All-America City Award.

As originally envisioned, Navajo Dam Road has served as an outdoor-recreation gateway to millions of travelers and vacationers needing quick and easy access to hundreds of natural sandstone arches; panoramic high-desert scenery; ancestral Puebloan ruins; the hiking, camping, fishing and water sports amenities of Navajo Lake State Park, which contains New Mexico’s second-largest lake; and the Quality Waters of the lower San Juan River, a U.S. Top 10 Fly Fishing Destination.

“I hope everyone appreciates the meaning behind those green ‘All-America City 1963’ signs on the city’s outskirts,” said City Manager Joshua Ray. “If not, we most definitely should. The National Civic League’s award put an indelible red circle around one of the most important events in the history of Aztec. We should all be so proud of and thankful for the monumental efforts and sacrifices made 50 years ago by this great community.”

To mark the occasion, the City of Aztec is hosting a “Spirit of ’63 50^th Anniversary Celebration” at Tiger Park on Saturday, May 4, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The free event is scheduled to include an old fashioned ice cream social, entertainment, celebrities, dignitaries, and fun for the entire family.

The City of Aztec employs 129 people and serves a growing community of nearly 7,000 residents. Founded in 1890, Aztec is the San Juan County seat and is located in northwest New Mexico approximately 35 miles south of Durango, CO, and 180 miles north of Albuquerque. In addition to its expansive community parks and historic district, Aztec is renowned for its ancestral Puebloan ruins (Aztec Ruins National Monument is a UNESCO World Heritage Site), natural sandstone arches (more than 200 in the immediate area), mountain biking (30 miles of trails), trophy trout fly fishing (top 10-rated Quality Waters of the lower San Juan River), and water recreation (Navajo Lake and Animas River).”

For information about the City of Aztec, go online to www.aztecnm.gov.

“NCL has always been committed to grassroots problem solving and civic engagement at the local level,” noted NCL president Gloria Rubio Cortes.  “With the special focus we are trying to leverage our flagship awards program to raise awareness of and encourage action on specific challenges and needs in communities.”

Last year AAC spotlighted the critical issue of early childhood literacy. More than 120 communities and regions joined a national network of funders, schools, libraries and local governments pledging to get more students reading proficiently by the time they finish third grade. NCL has been applauded for its role valuable in facilitating the launch of a national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.

To qualify as a finalist for the All-America City Awards, each community must fill out an application listing three community improvement projects. In 2013, communities are encouraged—but not required—to list at least one project for veterans and military families.

NCL is asking interested communities to submit their applications by March 11, 2013 (link here to request an application).

More than 600 neighborhoods, towns, cities, counties and regions have won this award; some have won it 5 or 6 times.  The year-round program energizes communities to effectively address our nation’s most important issues.  It culminates in a three-day workshop-intensive competition at which ten winners are announced.

AAC gives communities a unique opportunity to map its assets and identify successes and challenges by providing NCL’s Civic Index guide and gives people a forum to transform themselves and their communities.

AAC, this year will produce, a best practices report to help communities improve their current initiatives or establish new ones benefiting veterans and military families.   It will be widely distributed with educational sessions. (NEW)

For more information visit www.ncl.org  or contact  Mike McGrath at 303-571-4343

NCL Board Officers: NCL’s Board and staff thank former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman for her four years of service as Board Chair.  Freedman remains on the Board.  Elizabeth Hollander, a senior fellow at the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service (Tufts University), has been elected interim Board Chair. Other elected officers are: Vice Chair, Bev Perry Executive Director of the Southwest Megaregion Alliance; Treasurer, Jack Van Sambeek of Bonita, California; Secretary, Charles Ozaki, city/county manger in Broomfield, Colorado; and Rancho Cordova California Mayor David Sander, at-large member of the executive committee. Other executive committee members are Christine Benero, President and CEO of Mile High United Way, and Hon. Sharon Metz, CEO of the Carrolton Missouri Chamber of Commerce.

The next issue of the National Civic Review (NCR) will focus on public libraries and their new roles in promoting civic engagement. Look for this special issue next week. Supported by the Urban Libraries Council, the issue features essays and articles showcasing groundbreaking library public engagement programs and the future of libraries as centers for democratic participation.

In December, NCL President Gloria Rubio-Cortes and NCL CIO Mike McGrath presented case study drafts in a panel on fiscal sustainability and local governments at the University of Southern California. Supported by the Haynes Foundation, the research project is in its second of three years. The research team, which includes Mark Pisano and Shui Yan Tang of USC and Richard Callahan of the University of San Francisco, met with experts and local public managers to go over the finings of their case studies (San Bernardino County, the cities of San Bernardino, Santa Anna and South Gate and the El Rancho Unified School District).  The case studies will be published in National Civic Review in 2013.  To make sure you get yours sign up as an NCL member.  NCR is a benefit of membership, or subscribe to NCR.

NCL gets a shout-out in the Denver Post’s one-year assessment of Mayor Michael Hancock.  Hancock was praised for his quiet, but effective leadership and willingness to tackle tough challenges. The article notes Hancock’s stint at the National Civic League where he studied the “inclusive leadership style” of the late, former NCL President, John Parr ( link here to read the full article).

Baltimore became one of the first cities to start using chronic absence data to drive policy and practice, and it has demonstrated several innovative approaches to improving attendance. A mid-Atlantic city with high poverty rates in much of its urban core, Baltimore has a wealth of chronic absence data. Maryland is one of the few states that require schools to report how many students are chronically absent, which the state defines as missing 20 or more days a year.

Baltimore is home to Johns Hopkins University, where researchers have linked chronic absence in middle school to dropout rates and, more recently, have shown the detrimental effects of absenteeism as early as prekindergarten.

Driven by data showing that 34 percent of middle school students and 44 percent of high school students were chronically absent, the mayor’s office collaborated with Open Society Institute–Baltimore and Baltimore City Public Schools to launch a citywide attendance work group that brought together city, school and community stakeholders.

After-school programs that receive money from the city must spell out how they are responding to chronic absence. City child welfare workers review attendance data for children in foster care to identify families that may need support since chronic absenteeism, especially in the early grades, can signal that a family is struggling. This project is helping to identify more than 700 children and families each month that are in need of assistance.

The school district has launched a public education campaign, Every Day Counts, which encourages students, parents and community members to focus on good attendance. Posters and videos allow students to explain why they go to school and how they make every day count.

“Every day, I like learning big new words in school,” says Aiyanna, an elementary school student. “I go to school every day to see my teacher,” says Liam, a kindergartner. The initiative also posts attendance messages on the district website, texts parents about attendance incentive programs and  creates an “every day” culture of attendance in Baltimore City.

Baltimore City Schools are tapping into the range of partnerships it has established across the city to support attendance improvement. School Every Day!, a City Schools initiative, works with volunteers from local faith-based organizations to connect families with the resources and support they need to overcome barriers to attendance.

– Gloria Rubio-Cortes, NCL President

Aurora, an ‘All-America City,’ Is Left to Search for Answers
New York Times

Throughout this growing city, which tumbles from the edge of Denver out onto … “Aurora All-America City” — a proud reminder of a national civic award for … link here to read the Times article…..