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All-America City Projects: Fort Worth, Texas

Stakeholders discussing homeless plan

Directions Home

Partner agencies are working together to make homelessness rare, short-term and non-recurring in Fort Worth by 2018. The Directions Home concept appears simple, but in practice it is a complex community collaboration between the public and private sectors, with employers, landlords and homeless service organizations coordinating with public sector services. Hundreds of professionals and volunteers are focused on reducing and shortening homelessness and funded by financial contributions from public agencies, as well as individuals, foundations and corporations. Before Directions Home the majority of  public funding spent on homelessness was devoted to sheltering and not on programs that would end homelessness. Now, an additional $30 million in private funding has been secured, as well as about $2.4 million annually, for local political entities to ensure Fort Worth focuses on providing a compassionate way out of homelessness. Directions Home involves steering homeless persons to permanent supportive housing, job opportunities and dealing with underlying medical issues.  Particular emphasis is on helping homeless children, who make up more than 25 percent of the homeless in Fort Worth.

May 18, 2011 | 0 comments | View Post

All-America City projects: Kenai, Alaska

Protecting the Health of the Kenai River

In 2008 the Kenai River was designated as a Category 5, or “impaired,” water body by the State of Alaska in accordance with the federal Clean Water Act. The Kenai River Working Group (KRWG) was formed to address the issue of water pollution. Tasked with finding agreement amongst diverse user groups, the KRWG united surrounding communities in an effort to protect the health of the river. The KRWG recognized that the Group needed to recommend a solution that would be acceptable to all user groups. The result was a joint resolution of the communities surrounding the river urging the state to adopt a regulation change banning 2-stroke motors from being used on the Kenai River, thereby reducing hydrocarbon discharge. A key part of the project was the Kenai River Motor Buy Back Program, which offered cash incentives to replace older outboards with models that would meet EPA standards. About 200 outboards were replaced in a single year. In July 26, 2010, the status of the Kenai River was changed to a Category 2, or “water that attains its designated uses.”

May 3, 2011 | 2 comments | View Post

Enter the All-America Stories Video Contest

Last year we started a new tradition, an “All-America Stories” video contest. People from the finalist communities made videos telling their stories of positive community change. We posted them on the Internet and readers of our AAC blog voted for their favorites. Members of the public were encouraged to vote for their favorite videos and the winner was announced Friday night at the All-America City Awards celebration.

We’re doing it again this year. To view two of last year’s top vote getters, link here.

This is a voluntary contest and will have no bearing on your “official” bid for the All-America City Award. It’s something we do for fun and to encourage the use of social networking/new media so we can spread the word about the All-America City Awards and your community successes.

Specs

Videos should be anywhere from three to five minutes long. They should tell the story of your community and/or the innovative community projects that were part of the AAC application you submitted. You could focus on one project or more. Or, you could tell an overview story about your community and how it tackled its challenges. We encourage creativity, good story-telling and effective use of the medium, recognizing that you are not professional videographers. We want you to have fun. Use whatever software you have at your disposal to make the videos—Windows Moviemaker or iMovie or any video-making software you prefer.

Delivering the video

Videos should be completed and sent to the National Civic League by Friday, June 3. You can deliver the edited video to us in the following ways:

  • Send us a file (preferably a Quicktime or WMV file) on a jump drive or disk.
  • Use a third party “large file sharing provider” such as YouSendit to e-mail the file.
  • Upload your video on You Tube or Vimeo and e-mail us a link to the video.

Voting Instructions

Encourage everyone you know to “vote” for their favorite video (hint, hint, your community’s video) by visiting the All-America City Award Facebook page. Use social media to spread the word. You can even use regular media (newspapers, TV news, etc) if they are willing.

Step 1: Voters should visit the AAC Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/All-America-City-Awards/277887828621) and click on “like” if they haven’t already done so.

Step 2: Click on the video icon on the left side of the screen and go to our Facebook Video page.

Step 3: Click on the video to watch it.

Step 4: Click on the word “like” that will be displayed beneath the video once it begins to play.

The video with the most “likes” will be declared the winner.

If you have any further questions, contact Mike McGrath at 303 571 4343.

April 27, 2011 | 0 comments | View Post

All-America City Award projects: Taylor Landing, Texas

Faced with an aging sewage treatment plant, residents of Taylor Landing mounted an all-volunteer community effort to build a new sewage treatment plant. The plant was completed in November of 2010, but during the permitting process for the plant, Hurricane Ike destroyed an extensive portion of the sewage treatment distribution pipe. The City of Taylor Landing qualified for, applied for and received a community development block grant from FEMA and the Texas Department of Rural Affairs to repair this pipe by a process known as “blasting.” A machine travels down the old pipe and breaks it up and removes it and then the new pipe is pushed through the hole, eliminating the need to excavate. The plant is now totally modernized and TCEQ compliant after a total investment of one million dollars. With no payroll and no employees, the newly incorporated city was able to accomplish these tasks only by calling on extensive volunteer help from the residents. All tasks were performed by volunteers, who retained, supervised, and approved of the work of the paid contractors, the civil engineer and accounting firm. The work represented an investment of approximately one million dollars and serves the community of one hundred homes and 228 residents.

April 23, 2011 | 4 comments | View Post

All-America City Award Projects: Cottonwood Heights, Utah

Emergency Preparedness

Cottonwood Heights is a statewide trail-blazer when it comes to the development and implementation of an emergency preparedness plan. The city was divided into six emergency planning districts and has volunteer leaders in place for each. The districts are sponsoring emergency preparedness events such as fairs, workshops, mock drills, etc. The citywide plan includes on-going CERT (Community Emergency Response Training) programs with a goal of having trained emergency response people on every block. An Emergency Operation Center has been installed in the muncipal buidling with all necessary equipment. Through the use of radios, all local officials and essential staff are prepared to be in contact with one another in the event of an emergency. A non-verbal communication system has also been implemented to facilitate initial triage for first-responders. This system is activated through the use of colored cards that convey to first-responders the status of residents of each household. Through a NETGuard grant from FEMA a mobile communication system has been installed in a large van (former Bookmobile). It is available to provide communication in the field as a complement to a field emergency operations center.

April 20, 2011 | 0 comments | View Post

All-America City Award projects: Beloit, Wisconsin

Fairbanks Flats

Constructed in 1920 by Fairbanks Morse, Beloit’s largest employer in those days, Fairbanks Flats served as segregated housing for the migrating African American workers during the labor shortages of World War I. Unfortunately, changing ownership and poor maintenance degraded the buildings to the point of inhabitation. Fairbanks Flats was facing demolition when a neighborhood group spoke up for a community-driven effort to restore the buildings. A community/city planning committee was soon formed to find potential developers. In 2006, Gorman & Company approached the city and agreed to restore Fairbanks Flats. Beloit donated Fairbanks Flats to Gorman and provided a $150,000 interest-free reconstruction grant. Additional support came from the state in the form of $2 million in low-income housing tax credits and by providing advanced technology and services to assist tenants with hearing disabilities. Throughout the process, Gorman employed a 33 percent minority workforce from the neighborhood. This allowed for valuable skills development and the development of relationships with contractors for future employment opportunities. Also, the rent-to-own feature implemented by Gorman provided the low- to moderate-income tenants with counseling and support in homeownership, and the eventual ability to purchase their units at a discounted price. Through the collaborative efforts of the city, state, community, and Gorman & Company, a significant piece of local history and culture was preserved, while developing the skills of residents. Fairbanks Flats is no longer a symbol of deterioration, but that of a common history and community.

Read more….

April 18, 2011 | 0 comments | View Post

All-America City Award Finalists Announced

The National Civic League has announced the finalists for the All-America City Awards, the annual competition for civic activists and community problem-solvers.  The 2011 awards event will be June 15-17 in Kansas City, Missouri.

“We’re very excited about this year’s participants, a very strong group of contenders with great civic projects to brag about,” said NCL President Gloria Rubio-Cortés.  “These communities have tackled everything from tsunami preparedness to environmental sustainability, education, gang violence and economic development.”

The list of 26 finalists includes large urban centers, midsized cities and smaller suburban and rural communities. Listed alphabetically by state are the 2011 finalists:

Kenai Alaska
Downey California
Dublin California
Huntington Park California
Torrance California
Yucaipa California
Lakewood Colorado
Belleville Illinois
South Bend Indiana
Marshalltown Iowa
Scott City Kansas
Dedham Massachusetts
Ann Arbor Michigan
Tupelo Mississippi
Dakota County Nebraska
Eden North Carolina
Fayetteville North Carolina
Buffalo New York
Cincinnati Ohio
Seaside Oregon
Lakeview Oregon
Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Fort Worth Texas
Taylor Landing Texas
Cottonwood Heights Utah
Beloit Wisconsin
April 11, 2011 | 0 comments | View Post

All-America City Finalists in the News

A smattering of the press coverage of the All-America City finalists below:

We announced the 26 finalists yesterday. It is a very diverse group of communities. Big cities such as Philadelphia and Cincinnati, mid-sized cities such as Ann Arbor and smaller suburban and rural cities such as Seaside, Oregon and Taylor Landing, Texas.

And one county–Dakota County, Nebraska.

Buffalo, New York
Eden and Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Torrance, California
Beloit, Wisconsin
Fort Worth, Texas
South Bend, Indiana
Seaside, Oregon
Dakota County, Nebraska
Tupelo, Mississippi
April 7, 2011 | 0 comments | View Post

Hotel Information for the 2011 All-America City Award

If you are a finalist for the 2011 All-America City Awards in Kansas City, you will want to find out about reserving hotel rooms for your delegation and other useful tidbits. Link here for more info.

April 6, 2011 | 0 comments | View Post

Guest Blogging on the State of the Re:Union website

I’ve been doing some guest blogging for the State of the Re:Union website. The latest in on Rancho Cordova’s City Hall.  State of the Re:Union is a public radio show that focuses on community and local culture. Click here to see the post.

Rancho Cordova was an All-America City Award winner in 2010. One of their three projects was their City Hall, where city government, the local chamber of commerce and an umbrella organization for nonprofit groups are all housed, a very concrete example of one of the main criteria for winning the award–cross sector collaboration.

While you’re checking out that post, its definitely worth navigating around the SOTRU website and listening to some of their audio, for instance, a piece they did on Des Moines, also an All-America City winner in 2010.

March 23, 2011 | 0 comments | View Post
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