Missouri City, Texas
Looking for a fun way to tell kids about the complexities of local government service delivery and the role a city, town, or county manager plays in that process while encouraging young students to pursue a career in public service?
When invited to talk to 4th and 5th graders at Briargate Elementary School during career day about his role as chief administrative officer, rather than give a speech, Missouri City, Texas (MCTX) City Manager Anthony Snipes took a different approach: visual story telling. To make it happen, Mr. Snipes looked to the city’s Communications Department, creators of the award-winning MCTX “Kid’s Corner” video series.
“The MCTX ‘Kids’ Corner’ videos are an easy-to-understand animated series produced in partnership with local young people who share their questions about municipal operations with staff,” explains MCTX Communications Director Stacie Walker. “The series’ main character, Lou Lou, and her friends identify city officials and staff members who can educate and engage the young people by responding to their questions.” The Kid’s Corner series won a 2016 Communication Silver Award of Distinction for Online Video and a 2017 TAMI (Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers) Award of Honor for Regular Program, Population < 85,000.
Working with Missouri City Television, Mr. Snipes created a “Kids Corner: City Management” video of just under three minutes in which he succinctly highlights a range of city operations, including: the city budget and number of employees, public safety, transportation, parks and recreation, and other services and amenities that enhance the quality of life within the community. At Mr. Snipes’ invitation, Lou Lou and her friends then hop on their recreation-center bikes and take a trip to city hall, where the credo is “Together we excel!”
While at city hall, Mr. Snipes explains how he’s responsible for supervising 14 directors, including the police and fire chiefs, and works for seven direct bosses, including the mayor and six city council members who provide strategic and policy direction. He also talks about his 75,000 MCTX “citizen bosses” that include folks just like the young people who are watching the video. Mr. Snipes takes the opportunity to share his hope that when the kids are considering a career path, they consider a career in public service.
The video closes with the city manager making a pitch for several family-friendly city events taking place that year, including “Snow Fest,” “Community Night Out,” “Tricks and Treats in the Park,” and the city’s annual Fourth of July Celebration. Kid viewers are encouraged to submit questions directly to Mr. Snipes or to contact Lou Lou at AskMCTXKidsCorner@missouricitytx.gov.
By developing the “Kid’s Corner: City Management” video, City Manager Anthony Snipes and the MCTX Communications Department transformed what could be the rather mundane topic of city service delivery and operations into a fun, fact-filled educational experience for young viewers.
Meet the Manager
Anthony J. Snipes
City ManagerLas Vegas, Nevada
This success story was originally published as a 2018 All-America City Award project description and is reprinted courtesy of the National Civic League. Learn more about the award program here.
City by Design provides residents, stakeholders, staff, and elected officials with a collective vision and plans for a future filled with income equality and economic mobility. Las Vegas is also bridging the digital divide to reach innovative digital inclusion with free community Wi-Fi. Connect Home, a recent city project with the local housing authority, provided free Wi-Fi, technology, and training to public housing and Section 8 residents.
Three project examples showing how this community leverages civic engagement, collaboration, inclusiveness and innovation to successfully address local issues:
1. The Harbor
The Harbor is a Juvenile Assessment Center located in Las Vegas that addresses disproportionate minority contact as it diverts youth, primarily youth of color, from the juvenile justice system. A multi-agency collaboration, The Harbor includes staff and supervision from the Clark County Department of Juvenile Justice Services, the City of Las Vegas, the Department of Family Services, Clark County School District, and many other organizations.
Through collaboration, these agencies provide safe haven for vulnerable teens and their families. The program ensures that it is responsive to its participants’ needs by including them in decision-making processes and having youth serve on the Executive Steering Committee. The Harbor helps mitigate barriers to services by not charging families or requiring insurance and by allowing undocumented families to receive services.
The Harbor provides assessments and services to get young people back on track after experiencing troubles with drugs and alcohol, truancy, mental health, etc. The program addresses current as well as ongoing needs for each and every youth. Youth can enter The Harbor through law enforcement as an alternative to Department of Juvenile Justice Services booking, through community outreach, or through an agency referral.
Since its inception, The Harbor has assisted over 3,000 youth and families. Of these 3,000 youth, only 115 have escalated to Juvenile Justice Services. This represents a success rate of approximately 96 percent. The Harbor is also part of the Las Vegas My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, which is a partnership of community organizations focused on community engagement, educational equity, and law enforcement.
2. Our Stories
In 2010, The Westside School Alumni Foundation (WSAF) was founded to preserve the historic Westside School site, educate the public on its history and value, and to encourage the development of the vacant school as a cultural destination. The Westside School, which opened in 1923, was the first Las Vegas school to open its doors to African American and Native American students. Today, the school site stands as a testament to Las Vegas’ ongoing efforts to facilitate racial healing and community dialogue.
One of the first major projects for the WSAF was the development of a book. The book detailed the history of the school and surrounding neighborhood as told by the people who lived it. Photos, artifacts, and personal memorabilia were collected to provide context and insight. Billed as a major community event, the book launch was a huge success and all proceeds of book sales were directly returned to the community through educational stipends and youth scholarships.
In 2016, the city passed a community development plan intent on revitalizing the Westside School community. The community was highly engaged in the visioning process and encouraged to attend meetings and contribute ideas. The resulting plans from this process were incorporated into the Las Vegas 2035 Downton Master Plan, making it an official city council-approved document to be incorporated into future development.
3. ReInvent Schools Las Vegas
ReInvent Schools Las Vegas (RSLV) is a collaboration that brings together government, local businesses, private and non-profit organizations, and the community to address educational equity across the school district. As the fifth largest school district in the county, the Clark County School District, which includes the City of Las Vegas, faces many difficult challenges. Most children at RSLV schools reside within a food desert. In southern Nevada alone, it is reported that 36.8 percent of children are overweight or obese.
To reduce the number of students who are overweight or obese, RSLV is working with Create a Change Now, a partnership focused on the new Healthy School, Healthy Life Program. The program has five components:
- Garden clubs,
- Chefs in schools,
- Let’s Move fitness programs/yoga,
- Pop-Up Produce, and
- Nutrition lessons.
All of these programs use different strategies to help students and their families develop healthy relationships with food and nutrition, while learning essential information about health and wellbeing.
Health and wellness is only one of RSLV’s initiatives. They have also partnered with AmeriCorps to battle truancy and provide literacy interventions. Most recently, the City of Las Vegas joined youth and adults of RSLV and with community members in funding and producing an All-America City float in the 36th Annual Las Vegas Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade.
Additional Resources
Meet the Manager
Scott D. Adams, ICMA-CM
City Manager- Director of the Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission in New Orleans, Louisiana
- Director of Planning and Economic Development with the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Executive Director of the New Orleans Regional Medical Center, Inc.
- Executive Vice President of the Greater Norfolk (Virginia) Corporation
- Executive Director of the Jacksonville (Florida) Downtown Development Authority
- Assistant Executive Director of the Center City Commission in Memphis, Tennessee
- Planning and development positions in his hometown of Jackson, Michigan
San Antonio, Texas
This success story was originally published as a 2018 All-America City Award project description and is reprinted courtesy of the National Civic League. Learn more about the award program here.
The San Antonio Office of Equity, in partnership with SA2020, applied an equity impact assessment to seven high-impact City initiatives, including street maintenance, civic engagement to inform the city’s budget, and boards and commissions. One assessment resulted in new outreach strategies, such as SA Speak Up, which reduced the gap between white and Latino respondents by attracting 200 people to its first Spanish-language Community Night, a family-friendly event held in a park with food, activities, and health screenings.
Three project examples showing how this community leverages civic engagement, collaboration, inclusiveness and innovation to successfully address local issues:
1. Enroll SA
As part of San Antonio’s visioning project, SA2020, residents identified healthy lifestyles as an important part of life in the city. Although 75 percent of Bexar County residents under age 65 had health insurance in 2010, the community set the goal of increasing the number of insured people to 85 percent by 2020.
In 2013, a collaborative working group of every major local hospital, the County, the City, and multiple community-based organizations, began working together to determine the best way to increase enrollment in health insurance throughout the community.
“EnrollSA, Get Bexar Covered,” an outreach campaign and website, were launched in February 2014. The coalition worked to educate the public about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including eligibility and deadlines, and provided individual enrollment assistance during large, public events and through appointments citywide.
During each ACA enrollment period, the coalition used data and community partnerships to boost the number of people enrolled. The coalition targeted zip codes with the greatest needs. Examples of partnerships included: Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, a public service organization of mostly African-American women, called people who needed help, and Univision had a phone bank with volunteer Spanish speakers to boost Latinx enrollment. The coalition also used an existing 211 phone service to connect individuals to navigators.
In 2016, 81.6% of residents under 65 had health insurance. Members of the EnrollSA coalition are still working collaboratively to assist residents not only during open enrollment periods, but year-round – continuing their role in ensuring 85% of San Antonians under age 65 are insured
2. San Antonio Teen Pregnancy Collaborative
Teen pregnancy has been a major problem in Bexar County, with 2010 rates among the highest in the United States. That distinction didn’t sit well, so the San Antonio Teen Pregnancy Prevention Collaborative (SATPPC) was formed to reduce the teen birth rate among females ages 15 to 19.
The SATPPC included an impressive list of cross-sector organizations, including:
- Public entities,
- Community-based organizations, as well as
- Faith-based and secular institutions.
While the numbers still show that Bexar County has one of the highest rates, the collaborative has reduced teen pregnancy steadily since it began its work.
The collaborative has been hitting its targets before the group’s self-imposed deadlines. In 2012, for example, the teen pregnancy rate was down 15 percent, its 2020 goal. By 2014, the rate fell by 25 percent, its revised 2020 goal. So far, the teen pregnancy rate is on track to meet its latest target—a 50 percent cut—by 2020. Between 2010 to 2015, the rates have fallen for ages 15 to 19 among Latina teens, from 65.4 per 1,000 to 39.0, and among African American teens, from 45.6 per 1,000 to 25.3.
This collaborative identified a need to shore up evidence-based programs that focus on behavioral risk factors and to address other determinants of teen behaviors such as the level of parents’ education, access to medically-accurate information, and teens’ knowledge of factual medically-based information.
The collaborative also identified five intervention areas:
- Community mobilization,
- Stakeholder education,
- Evidence-based programs,
- Youth support and development, and
- Quality adolescent health care.
3. Upgrade
Launched in April 2017, Upgrade is managed by the non-profit San Antonio Education Partnership, in collaboration with several organizations including the city, the county, SA2020, the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, and SA Works, an industry-led strategic workforce development organization aligning education providers with private sector demand to promote economic mobility.
The program targets adults who want to finish their degrees. Upgrade’s advisers work with individuals and employers seeking to upskill their employees by
- helping them explore options for the right college and program;
- providing guidance about financial aid, college transfers, and transcript evaluation; and
- connecting potential students to community resources such as childcare and financial planning.
In the first eight months, 641 adults have inquired, with 512 completing the intake form. Of those who inquired, 69% identify as Latino/a, 7% as African American, 9% as White, 4% as multi-racial, and 11% did not identify.
Upgrade is part of a 22-city network supporting adult learners; San Antonio is the first in Texas. Upgrade stems from the work of SA2020’s Talent Pipeline Task Force, which addressed workforce and attainment through a coalition of employers, workforce development leaders, chambers of commerce, and postsecondary education and social service providers.
The task force developed a plan to better connect education and training to three industries:
- Healthcare and Biosciences;
- Information Technology and Cybersecurity; and
- Advanced Manufacturing, with a specific focus on Transportation Manufacturing, or Automotive and Aerospace.
The task force believed focusing on adult learners could shift economic and educational outcomes.
Additional Resources
Meet the Manager
