In honor of today’s “Our Power, Our Census” national day of action, led by the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights/Census Counts, the National League of Cities’ census partner, we lay out the broad implications for municipalities of the 2020 Census, COVID-19, and civic empowerment. While the decennial census is always important for its
What’s your mayor talking about in 2019? Believe it or not, it’s likely e-scooters, marijuana and social media. Every year, mayors across the country give state of the city speeches that, much like the State of the Union address, highlight their priorities and vision for the year. At the National League of Cities, we release
Informed by a scan of youth engagement practices across the country and a recent informal survey of select member cities, the National League of Cities (NLC) offers local leaders a new set of resources designed to strengthen authentic youth civic engagement. In addition to these resources, NLC supports youth civic engagement through the Youth Delegate
This is a guest post by Polco, an NLC Savings and Solutions partner. Walk into any city or village hall around the country, and you will hear conversations about how to measure information regarding the community and the services provided. Not just objective data like police response times, but data that lets us know how our
This is a guest post by Cory Poris-Plasch, Vice President- Customer Success at POLCO Imagine a world where we could hear from not just the vocal few who seem to relish the opportunity to engage the city, but our average citizens, those who are busy with families and jobs but who don’t normally have the time
Have you ever had the experience of going through a lengthy process to develop a new plan or project only to have a few vocal community members publicly oppose the project at the last minute, claiming to speak on behalf of the wishes of the larger community? You know the outcome — Facebook and other
With our longstanding support of authentic youth civic engagement, the National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education, and Families is inspired by the recent wave of youth activism across the country. We are also disheartened that some youth among the student survivors of the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman High School in Parkland, Florida
This is the second in a series of blog posts highlighting “big ideas” reshaping America’s cities. Join the conversation on social media using the hashtag #CityIdeas. While Congress continues to be trapped in budget battles and partisan gridlock, tomorrow’s “Big Ideas for Cities” event is an opportunity for local leaders to showcase the city innovations
This post was written by Matt Leighninger, Executive Director, Deliberative Democracy Consortium. This is the second post in a blog series highlighting communities that were profiled in the new Knight Foundation and NLC joint report, Bright Spots in Community Engagement. The report showcases 14 U.S. communities that are building greater civic participation and engagement from
When Alderperson Scott Resnick of Madison, Wisconsin ran for local elected office in 2011 at the age of 24, he knocked on nearly every door in his district – which encompasses parts of the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus and surrounding neighborhoods. As he was greeted by residents, some would mistakenly ask, “Are you running for
