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Advocacy Executive Director's Reports Building strong communities for youth and families
Sometimes local leaders must feel as though every waking moment is consumed by the fiscal distress and budget problems that face their community and the cities and towns of Massachusetts, and this can be very frustrating.
Yes, fixing the fiscal crisis is of paramount importance, because our local and state economy is linked to the services and activities of our cities and towns. And until we win full reinvestment in, and empowerment of, our communities, the state’s economy will continue to underperform, and Massachusetts will be unable to reach its full potential in employment, job growth, and business investment, and young families will continue to migrate to other parts of the nation in search of quality education, public safety and public works services, as well as affordable housing, and strong cultural and recreation amenities.
This is why municipal leaders are devoting their time and attention to serving as fiscal stewards of their community, closing their own budget gaps as best they can, and supporting a strong agenda to bring fiscal stability to every community.
Yet local officials run for office, volunteer, or devote their public administration careers to the cause of local government to do much more than simply balance a budget or make the numbers line up.
In Massachusetts, and across the country, municipal leaders step forward because they want to make a positive difference in the quality of life for their cities and towns. They want to take action to fix things at home and build a strong and vibrant future for their neighborhoods, communities and fellow residents.
The underside of all of the focus on fiscal and budget issues is that we can lose sight of the amazing work that is going on at the local level to build stronger communities and a stronger America – work that is addressing the central issues that concern our nation and our world: environmental sustainability, public safety, public health, poverty, global warming, just to name a few of the areas where officials are “thinking globally and acting locally.”
Let’s look at a wonderful example of a new effort that has been launched by municipal leaders, both here and across the country through the National League of Cities to address the core issue of strengthening families and improving the lives of children and youth. If you are part of this effort, congratulations. If not, take a look and get involved!
Several years ago, spurred by his interest and efforts in Boston to work with and improve the lives of at-risk youth, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino chaired an NLC task force to explore ways that the NLC and municipal officials could develop and sustain programs to address the critical issue of connecting with and serving the young people of all of our communities.
That effort led to the creation of the National League of Cities’ Institute for Youth, Education and Families, a special entity within the NLC to help municipal leaders take action on behalf of children, youth and families. The NLC launched the YEF Institute in 2000 in recognition of the unique and influential roles that mayors, selectmen, councillors, managers, and other local leaders can play in strengthening families and improving outcomes for children and youth.
The YEF Institute focuses on the core program areas of education and after-school programs, youth development, early care and education, safety of children and youth, and family economic success. The institute has grown into a national resource, providing guidance and assistance to municipal officials, compiling and disseminating information on promising strategies and best practices, building networks of local officials working on similar issues and concerns, and conducting research on the key challenges facing municipalities in these core program areas. It collaborates with a broad range of national partners and works with the nation’s 49 state municipal leagues (including the MMA) to reach local officials in as many as 19,000 cities and towns across America.
The YEF Institute and the NLC have now joined with America’s Promise – The Alliance for Youth, the country’s largest nonprofit alliance focused on positive youth development, to develop a national model, or “Community Platform,” to strengthen families and improve outcomes for children and youth.
The platform presents a framework that can be used by all communities to guide and assess local progress on behalf of young people and their families. So far, 84 communities in 31 states have adopted the platform. They are working across their cities and towns to implement the practices and action steps. Fall River was the first community in Massachusetts to join this effort, and we anticipate many more will embrace the platform as the word gets out.
The platform outlines 21 action steps that make a difference, covering the important challenges of early childhood development, youth development, education and after-school programs, health and safety, youth in transition, family economic success, and related neighborhood and community needs.
To learn more, and to download the platform and learn how to join the effort, visit the YEF Institute’s Web site at www.nlc.org/iyef.
We know that cities and towns throughout Massachusetts are doing much now, unheralded and without media attention or great recognition, through human services departments, schools, recreation programs and partnerships with local nonprofits, to identify, serve and protect the young people of their communities. This is just one example of enormously valuable leadership-level service to our hometowns and to the entire commonwealth.
Yes, communities will continue to address their budget woes. But above all, municipal leaders will continue to serve, reach out, innovate, and make a difference.
Why? Because local government in action is both a cause and a calling.
Advocacy Executive Director's Reports Building strong communities for youth and families
Building strong communities for youth and families
Sometimes local leaders must feel as though every waking moment is consumed by the fiscal distress and budget problems that face their community and the cities and towns of Massachusetts, and this can be very frustrating.
Yes, fixing the fiscal crisis is of paramount importance, because our local and state economy is linked to the services and activities of our cities and towns. And until we win full reinvestment in, and empowerment of, our communities, the state’s economy will continue to underperform, and Massachusetts will be unable to reach its full potential in employment, job growth, and business investment, and young families will continue to migrate to other parts of the nation in search of quality education, public safety and public works services, as well as affordable housing, and strong cultural and recreation amenities.
This is why municipal leaders are devoting their time and attention to serving as fiscal stewards of their community, closing their own budget gaps as best they can, and supporting a strong agenda to bring fiscal stability to every community.
Yet local officials run for office, volunteer, or devote their public administration careers to the cause of local government to do much more than simply balance a budget or make the numbers line up.
In Massachusetts, and across the country, municipal leaders step forward because they want to make a positive difference in the quality of life for their cities and towns. They want to take action to fix things at home and build a strong and vibrant future for their neighborhoods, communities and fellow residents.
The underside of all of the focus on fiscal and budget issues is that we can lose sight of the amazing work that is going on at the local level to build stronger communities and a stronger America – work that is addressing the central issues that concern our nation and our world: environmental sustainability, public safety, public health, poverty, global warming, just to name a few of the areas where officials are “thinking globally and acting locally.”
Let’s look at a wonderful example of a new effort that has been launched by municipal leaders, both here and across the country through the National League of Cities to address the core issue of strengthening families and improving the lives of children and youth. If you are part of this effort, congratulations. If not, take a look and get involved!
Several years ago, spurred by his interest and efforts in Boston to work with and improve the lives of at-risk youth, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino chaired an NLC task force to explore ways that the NLC and municipal officials could develop and sustain programs to address the critical issue of connecting with and serving the young people of all of our communities.
That effort led to the creation of the National League of Cities’ Institute for Youth, Education and Families, a special entity within the NLC to help municipal leaders take action on behalf of children, youth and families. The NLC launched the YEF Institute in 2000 in recognition of the unique and influential roles that mayors, selectmen, councillors, managers, and other local leaders can play in strengthening families and improving outcomes for children and youth.
The YEF Institute focuses on the core program areas of education and after-school programs, youth development, early care and education, safety of children and youth, and family economic success. The institute has grown into a national resource, providing guidance and assistance to municipal officials, compiling and disseminating information on promising strategies and best practices, building networks of local officials working on similar issues and concerns, and conducting research on the key challenges facing municipalities in these core program areas. It collaborates with a broad range of national partners and works with the nation’s 49 state municipal leagues (including the MMA) to reach local officials in as many as 19,000 cities and towns across America.
The YEF Institute and the NLC have now joined with America’s Promise – The Alliance for Youth, the country’s largest nonprofit alliance focused on positive youth development, to develop a national model, or “Community Platform,” to strengthen families and improve outcomes for children and youth.
The platform presents a framework that can be used by all communities to guide and assess local progress on behalf of young people and their families. So far, 84 communities in 31 states have adopted the platform. They are working across their cities and towns to implement the practices and action steps. Fall River was the first community in Massachusetts to join this effort, and we anticipate many more will embrace the platform as the word gets out.
The platform outlines 21 action steps that make a difference, covering the important challenges of early childhood development, youth development, education and after-school programs, health and safety, youth in transition, family economic success, and related neighborhood and community needs.
To learn more, and to download the platform and learn how to join the effort, visit the YEF Institute’s Web site at www.nlc.org/iyef.
We know that cities and towns throughout Massachusetts are doing much now, unheralded and without media attention or great recognition, through human services departments, schools, recreation programs and partnerships with local nonprofits, to identify, serve and protect the young people of their communities. This is just one example of enormously valuable leadership-level service to our hometowns and to the entire commonwealth.
Yes, communities will continue to address their budget woes. But above all, municipal leaders will continue to serve, reach out, innovate, and make a difference.
Why? Because local government in action is both a cause and a calling.
Written by MMA Executive Director Geoff Beckwith
