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:

1. Garden clubs,
2. Chefs in schools,
3. Let’s Move fitness programs/yoga,
4. Pop-Up Produce, and
5. 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

• Las Vegas, Nevada, 2018 AAC Award video presentation
• 2018 AAC Award presentation photo gallery

Meet the Manager

Scott D. Adams, ICMA-CM

City Manager

Scott Adams serves as Las Vegas city manager and previously served as a deputy city manager overseeing the departments of Economic and Urban Development, Community Services, Cultural Affairs and Parks and Recreation. Scott has also held the position of chief urban redevelopment officer and director of the Office of Business Development (renamed the Economic and Urban Development Department) for five years. Prior to his service with the city, Mr. Adams held numerous positions in the field of urban economic development, including:

• 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

A 1977 urban planning graduate of Michigan State University, Scott was given the American Institute of Planners Award as the top graduate. He is a certified manager with the International City/County Management Association, a member of the International Economic Development Council and the Urban Land Institute. and a past member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. Excerpted with minor editing from the Las Vegas, Nevada website: https://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/Government/Departments/City-Managers-Office/City-Manager

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 city of Decatur’s typical strategic planning processes involve house dinners, community roundtables, and diverse steering committees. The city’s commitment to equity shows in its Better Together program and its Community Action Plan for Equity, Inclusion and Engagement, which is designed to make Decatur a more welcoming, inclusive and equitable place to live, work and visit. City government is in the process of assessing its departments, and training managers and volunteers to bring racial equity into the workplace on a regular and ongoing basis.

Three project examples showing how Decatur leverages civic engagement, collaboration, inclusiveness and innovation to successfully address local issues:

1. Better Together

Decatur’s Better Together Initiative was a year-long, community-wide visioning process designed “to cultivate a more just, welcoming, inclusive, equitable and compassionate experience for all who live, visit or work here.” Through the initiative, approximately 800 residents worked under the guidance of a Leadership Circle to put together a Community Action Plan for Inclusion, Equity and Engagement that outlines 60 action items for individuals, organizations and local government.

The Leadership Circle, much like a steering committee, was made up of 19 individuals who came from diverse backgrounds. The committee set three goals for the Better Together Initiative: An Equitable and Inclusive City; Racially-Just Community Policing; and Diverse and Affordable Housing. Throughout the process, extra efforts were made to engage immigrants, young people, seniors, lower-income residents, people of color and others who are often underrepresented.

Once the action plan was completed, a diverse 15-member advisory committee was appointed to oversee implementation. Activities to date include:

• Creation of a community asset map,
• A Welcoming America Interactive reception for immigrants,
• A community conversation focused on “Who Is Decatur” and
• Discussions on how to improve policing, community development and other functions in ways that respect differences and create equitable outcomes.

2.  Community Relations Officers Who Enforce the Law
In 2015, the Decatur Police Department began an effort to reform the way they do policing, dovetailing this work with the Better Together Initiative and work to improve racial equity. The process, which involved extensive community outreach and guidance, has led to community policing being embedded in the Decatur Police department’s culture to the point that Decatur Police now refer to themselves as “Community Relations Officers Who Enforce the Law.”

As a result of complaints and community concerns, Decatur Police Chief Mike Booker hired an outside consultant. The consultant organized 24 focus groups of 10-15 residents each to hear perspectives on the department from the community, with special attention to resident groups that had concerns about the police. The focus groups, which included police officers, helped craft a three-year strategic plan for the department that focused on improving the responsiveness of the police to the community.

Implementation of the department’s strategic plan includes the use of social media platforms, including Nextdoor.com and Facebook, as a means of staying in touch with the community. Training is another focus area, with new programs to train police officers in working with people of color, the mentally ill, families in crisis and the general public in a manner that shows understanding and respect. Training programs for the community are also included, with a Citizens Police Academy, self-defense classes, kids’ programs and other activities aimed at improving mutual respect and understanding between residents and the department.

3.  I Am Decatur
I Am Decatur is a collection of thirty-two portraits and stories from a variety of community residents that represents the diverse backgrounds and lifestyles of people in the community. The collection is the brainchild of Decatur resident and photographer Beate Sass, who was dismayed at the divisions caused by the 2016 presidential elections and worked with local grassroots organizations to create what she calls “a celebration of our differences and of our shared humanity.”

The city embraced I Am Decatur as part of its Better Together Initiative and displayed the photos during its annual Welcoming America reception in September 2017, which included a conversation among about 50 people designed to bridge differences. The exhibit also served as a backdrop for a “We Are Decatur” Sunday Supper Community Conversation organized by the Better Together Advisory Board to create an opportunity for the community to gather for conversations across differences. Over 150 residents attended the gathering, which has led to the creation of a conversations toolkit for hosting smaller neighborhood gatherings.

Sponsors of the photo collection are now working with local business and tourism associations to display the exhibit in storefronts and other public locations. In addition to the photos, Beate Sass has collected stories from dozens of residents, with those stories being catalogued on a website, all as part of an effort to bridge differences and build connections among the city’s different populations.

Additional Resources

• Decatur, GA, 2018 AAC Award video presentation
• 2018 AAC Award presentation photo gallery

Meet the Manager

Peggy Merriss

City Manager

The Decatur City Commission hires a full-time professional administrator, the city manager, who supervises and manages the daily operations of the city. Decatur's current city manager is Peggy Merriss, who has worked for the city since 1983. She served for six years as personnel director, four years as assistant city manager, and has been in her current position of city manager since 1993. She received a BA in political science from Converse College and a master's degree in public administration from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Excerpted from the Decatur, Georgia, website: http://www.decaturga.com/city-government/city-departments/city-manager-s-office

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.

Charlotte has undertaken several racial equity processes designed to improve community service delivery, including the ongoing use of a racial equity lens for city programs. This has resulted in strategic capital investments in targeted neighborhoods. Following a report revealing economic inequity in the city and a police shooting in late 2016, the city engaged thousands of residents in one-on-one conversations and community meetings to collect ideas on how to improve equity and address racial bias community-wide.

Three project examples demonstrate how this community leverages civic engagement, collaboration, inclusiveness and innovation to successfully address local issues:

1.  Project P.I.E.C.E Workforce Development Collaboration
The Partnership for Inclusive Employment and Career Excellence (PIECE) Workforce Development Collaboration program was started by Charlotte’s Economic Development department as an outgrowth of community conversations about economic inequity in the city. In 2016 a joint study by Harvard University and the University of California at Berkeley found that a person born into poverty in Charlotte has a lower chance of ascending the economic ladder than in any of the 49 other cities included in the study.

PIECE is a collaboration among the city, local businesses, and nonprofit organizations to provide construction-industry training and employment to economically challenged segments of the Charlotte community. Through neighborhood-level outreach, the PIECE program has identified hard-to-employ populations and provide them with the needed training to enter long-term employment as a skilled worker in the construction industry. Participants include people with criminal backgrounds, periods of chronic unemployment and low skill levels. Particular attention was spent on recruiting youth and people of color.

By working with Goodwill Industries and other nonprofits, PIECE trained 154 individuals in 2017 and employed 117. More than 50 businesses have signed on as partners with PIECE to assist with

• Curriculum development,
• Mock interviews,
• Mentoring, and
• Placement.

2.  LEVEL UP Youth Program
LEVEL UP was started in 2017 to assist Charlotte teens by preventing crime, promoting health, and reducing academic summer regression. The initiative is a collaboration of the city, the YMCA, and an assortment of other nonprofit organizations. It was begun as a result of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Opportunity Task Force’s “Leading on Opportunity” report, which recommended a variety of services to address teen crime, health and academic success.

The LEVEL UP program hosts activities at branch YMCA sites in low-income areas on weekend evenings and during the summer, during which volunteers from several youth nonprofits provide mentoring services, classes, and recreational activities. Additional opportunities include interacting with police officers, tutoring, and becoming part of longer-term mentoring and educational programs.

During 2017, LEVEL UP provided services to just over 1,000 teens and utilized 330 volunteers. A large majority of the teens were low-income African-Americans, and a majority were boys between the ages of 14-18. The program is gearing up for 2018 and has a goal of enrolling 1,500 teens and garnering 400 volunteers. The number of sites and activities will be expanded as well. Goals have been set for the teens to perform better in school, enroll in higher education, and show improvements in self-confidence.

3.  Smart District/North End Infrastructure
Charlotte is working to bring greater prosperity to its North End neighborhood, which is mostly African-American and low-income, through an innovative community engagement strategy aimed at connecting the area’s residents to technology and job opportunities that will improve their well-being. Residents’ ideas will be sought in four areas:

• Smart Homes,
• Healthy Communities,
• Job training for jobs in technology, and a
• “Build your own project” category aimed at miscellaneous innovations.

Many residents in the North End do not have access to the same infrastructure or amenities as other residents in other parts of the city. This project, dubbed the North End Smart District, is aimed at improving the health and economic well-being of people in the area by facilitating resident-driven initiatives to improve access to technology and to adopt environmentally sustainable practices.

A companion project will improve the physical infrastructure of the North End to make it more attractive as a location for high technology employers and as a place to live. The Applied Innovation Corridor Project partners with academic institutions to bring new businesses to the area. Extension of light rail and redevelopment of a housing district will make the area more accessible and attractive, while maintaining affordability for the existing population.

Additional Resources

• Charlotte, North Carolina, 2018 AAC Award video presentation
• 2018 AAC Award presentation photo gallery

Meet the Manager

Marcus D. Jones

City Manager

Marcus Jones began his role as city manager of Charlotte on Dec. 1, 2016. Before moving to Charlotte, Marcus served as the city manager of ​Norfolk, Virginia, a role he began in February 2011 after serving the city from 2004-2009 as the director of budget and grants management and as an assistant city manager. As the city manager of the second largest city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, he helped Norfolk build on its competitive advantages as the urban core of a region of more than 1.7 million people. Marcus has 23 years of public service experience, which includes serving as a deputy secretary of finance for two governors in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In each case, he played a major role in protecting the Commonwealth’s coveted AAA bond rating and streamlining government operations. He has experience managing complex budgets ranging from $1.2 billion (local) to $50 billion (state). While serving with the state government, Marcus gained a strong reputation for his ability to negotiate complex financial and legislative issues across party lines. Marcus earned his bachelor's degree in public administration from James Madison University and an MPA from Virginia Commonwealth University.  Excerpted from the Charlotte, N.C., website: http://charlottenc.gov/CityManager/AboutUs/Pages/City-Manager-Marcus-D-Jones.aspx

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:

1. Community mobilization,
2. Stakeholder education,
3. Evidence-based programs,
4. Youth support and development, and
5. 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

• San Antonio, TX, 2018 AAC Award video presentation
• 2018 AAC Award presentation photo gallery

Meet the Manager

Sheryl L. Sculley

City Manager

Sheryl Sculley is the city manager of San Antonio, Texas, the chief executive officer of the municipal corporation of 12,000 employees, an annual operating and capital budget of $2.7 billion, assets of $24 billion, and a city population of 1.5 million residents. With more than 30 years of executive management experience, Sculley was recruited to lead the municipal corporation of the city of San Antonio in 2005. Sheryl was recruited more than a decade ago to San Antonio to overhaul an underperforming city organization. During her tenure, she has replaced the city’s executive staff with some of the nation’s best management talent; increased financial reserves from 3% to 10% of the annual budget; completed more than $2 billion in infrastructure improvements; reduced the property tax rate four times; streamlined city business systems and eliminated 1,600 civilian positions; improved customer service; and elevated the professionalism of city management. One of Sculley’s primary responsibilities is financial management of the City of San Antonio. She has successfully balanced 12 city budgets while elevating the financial standing of the city. The city’s general obligation (G.O.) bond rating by Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch rating services is AAA, a first for the City of San Antonio in 2008 under Sculley’s leadership. Of the top ten largest cities in the U.S., only San Antonio has a G.O. bond rating of AAA from all three major rating agencies. The AAA ratings have been reaffirmed for eight consecutive years. Excerpted from the San Antonio, Texas, website: https://www.sanantonio.gov/Manager/sculleybio

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.

Women and people of color are among the municipal leaders throughout Kershaw County. In all plans, projects and services, Kershaw County strives to accurately reflect residents and businesses. When the county school district accepted construction bids for three new schools, special consideration was given to general contractors committed to giving local businesses a legitimate opportunity to bid on the work and a job fair was held to reach local subcontractors. Transparency and accessibility are goals, from hiring practices that endeavor to ensure all communities are aware of vacancies, to ensuring residents are better informed about when and where public forums and official meetings are held.

Three project examples show how this community leverages civic engagement, collaboration, inclusiveness and innovation to successfully address local issues:

1.  Health and Wellness

Community Medical Clinic (CMC) launched a program called LiveWell Kershaw, a population-based care approach to improving health outcomes in Kershaw County.

In collaboration with the University of South Carolina and the state health and human services department, LiveWell Kershaw began with a county-wide health assessment and followed with a health improvement plan. Eat Smart/Move More Kershaw County and the KershawHealth hospital system provided start-up funding. From data gathered, LiveWell Kershaw discovered a health crisis in an underpopulated rural region with six major zip codes and 21% living below poverty.

LiveWell Kershaw employed three strategies to improve the health outcomes of residents in this area:

1. A school-based health center that provided individual counseling, mentoring parent sessions, consultations and support groups. A nurse practitioner and certified medical assistant saw middle and high school students at the high school four days a week.
2. Satellite health care locations, identified based on a high number of emergency room visits, were created to provide personal coaching, medical treatment, mental health counseling and enrollment in other social assistance programs.
3. Training about population health and health equity has been added within the staff and in the county. Training has included quarterly staff and board training, community meetings, and a county-wide population health summit with over 100 attendees.

One of the most significant and impactful programs is the health equity bus tours, which focus on community health statistics, patient challenges and successes, and health care service expansion.

2. Children and Education
A successful program that emerged from a five-year Safe Schools/Healthy Students multi-million-dollar grant and continues to thrive is the Jackson Teen Center. Residents raised money and collected furnishings for the center, which opened in the summer of 2014. The World Venture Foundation funded a new gym floor, with other community partners purchasing bleachers, new basketball goals, and paint for the facility. Unique programs offered are music production and “Job Readiness for Teens” (JRT) program, an after-school and summer employability skills training program.

Kershaw County seeks to develop future leaders through Junior Leadership Kershaw County, a partnership with the Kershaw Chamber of Commerce, KCSD, and Camden Military Academy. Up to 32 high school students are selected for this program, which offers hands-on leadership opportunities.

Another challenge that the community addressed is recreational needs of families with special needs children, who make up 11.2% of the student population; they had to travel more than 35 miles to an accessible playground. Through focus groups, surveys, and public meetings, the rendering of a state-of-the-art playground was developed. Volunteers led the project, raised $300,000 and built the ADA-accessible playground in 14 months. It is the first ADA compliant playground in Kershaw County and one of only 15 in an 11-county region.

These community leaders have now created a formal non-profit organization, PLAY (Place of Learning for Active Youth) Foundation. The foundation is building a Farmers’ Market Pavilion with a community garden and educational space in downtown Camden.

3.  Vision
In early 2015, the Kershaw County Council envisioned a plan capable of uniting citizens and preparing the county for the future. Out of that discussion arose VisionKershaw 2030, which was developed through a comprehensive visioning process that collected information from county residents, community leaders and business owners.

The public engagement process lasted several months and included over 32 outreach events held at volunteer fire stations, churches, government buildings and schools. Staff offered workshops to a diverse cross section of organizations, including the local NAACP chapter and youth leaders. Materials were available in Spanish, and staff answered questions during the annual multi-cultural festival. Of the attendees, over 60% were female, approximately 15% were minorities, and every age demographic was represented. Surveys were also distributed at events and via a dedicated website.

The vision has eight core goals:

1. Economic growth
2. Land use
3. County services
4. Infrastructure and transportation
5. Education
6. Recreation
7. Culture and health.

Since its creation, all local municipalities have adopted VisionKershaw 2030. Kershaw County Council annually discusses aligning the budget with the vision plan. Numerous private enterprises and public entities reference the vision in planning and budgets.

A list of accomplishments would include:

• Improved existing recreation;
• Planning for a new permanent downtown farmers market;
• Reestablishment of the county’s Human Relations Board;
• Completion of a detailed pedestrian, bike and greenway plan, finishing the first connector trail;
• Passing a $129 million school board facility bond referendum and penny sales tax just two years after it failed;
• Starting a mobile food pantry to serve food deserts; and
• Expanding the number of EMS stations in under-served areas.

Additional Resources

• Kershaw County, SC, 2018 AAC Award video presentation
• 2018 AAC Award presentation photo gallery

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.

Stockton’s efforts to build a culture of engagement have resulted in community-based programs and systems that are healing decades of trauma for individuals and communities, empowering students who have been historically marginalized and providing new pathways to higher education.

The Stockton City Council recently approved a Diversity Audit study looking at city procurement and employment diversity to identify gaps as well as next steps. The Office of the Mayor commissioned the first “Report on the Status of Women in Stockton” to identify gaps in gender equity in the city. Additionally, all police officers are trained in procedural justice and implicit bias, and the police chief has hosted over 70 reconciliation sessions and use of force listening tours, listening to various community members speak about harms done to them by the police department and ways the department can rebuild community trust.

A new culture of engagement—beyond the official boards and commissions—has started to take hold, and much of the new civic engagement has come from South Stockton, the part of town that arguably suffered the most from the prejudice of past policy. Efforts to have South Stockton designated as a Promise Zone by HUD included bi-weekly community meetings with attendance by more than 40 different nonprofits and government agencies; these meetings created a platform for community members to speak directly with anyone from police officers to school district personnel. Many nonprofits have begun to see community engagement as an opportunity to improve their services.

Three project examples showing how this community leverages civic engagement, collaboration, inclusiveness and innovation to successfully address local issues

1. Healing South Stockton
The neighborhood of South Stockton has suffered trauma and chronic stress caused by decades of neglect in education, economic investment, job opportunities, healthy food choices, and others. While groups have worked to address these specific issues, there has not been a coordinated effort to address trauma collectively—until now. Healing South Stockton (HSS), is a collaborative focused on connecting with residents who have experienced trauma and linking them to culturally appropriate behavioral health services and community supports.

HSS began by working with organizations, schools and faith-based groups to engage residents in focus groups about what they feel contributes to trauma in Stockton and what kind of support is needed, beyond existing services. Based on input from community members and a collective of partners, HSS is mapping the assets of the community—partners, programs, and physical resources—around trauma and social supports. The Stockton Trauma Recovery Center (STRC), run by Fathers and Families of San Joaquin (FFSJ), is working to create a referral system to reduce violence and promote culturally-relevant treatment of trauma. Since 2015, STRC has enrolled over 500 non-duplicated clients into the program and educated more than 1,000 individuals on the benefits and the process involved in acquiring trauma recovery services.

Healing South Stockton has also funded organizations in targeted areas to hire local residents to become “trust builders,” who reach out to residents to share resources, plan community events, and connect people to dedicated neighborhood case managers for additional needs.

2. Us History
In Stockton, like many cities, the legacies, histories, contributions and cultures of people of color have frequently been forgotten and marginalized. To combat this problem, in 2016, the Little Manila Rising started the ethnic studies-based “Us History” after school program. The goal was: “Putting ‘us’ back into U.S. History.” The program met once a week through the 2016-2017 school year and focused on Mexican American, African American, and Filipino American histories and cultures.

The program included discussions of the Chicano Movement, Black Feminist Theory, redlining, and issues facing the undocumented community, among other topics. In April 2017, the Stockton school district discussed adopting Ethnic Studies as an elective. “Us History” students attended the meeting and spoke about what Ethnic Studies meant to them and what it could mean for their community if it was part of their school’s curriculum.

One student said, “In Us History, we were more than educated. We were empowered by our legacy and the legacy of others.” By the end of the night, the motion passed by a 7-0 vote.

However, the district was unable to provide training to teachers, raising concerns that the effort might fail from lack of support. Teachers from “Us History” stepped up to help develop the curriculum. With adoption of Ethnic Studies at the district level, the after-school program serves as more of an incubator, creating space to create an example for new Ethnic Studies teachers and providing no-cost training, since the district cannot.

3.  Stockton Scholars
Higher education has for centuries served as both a gateway to the middle class and a vehicle for socioeconomic mobility. Launched in 2018, Stockton Scholars, is a research-informed, collective impact strategy anchored by, but not limited to, a city-wide college scholarship, modeled after successful Promise Programs in Long Beach, Pittsburgh, and Oakland.

The goal is to triple the number of Stockton students who enter and complete college or university over the next decade. Launched with a $20 million donation from the California Community Foundation, Stockton Scholars makes a simple commitment: if you want to pursue higher education, tuition and fees will not be a barrier. The initial donation provides a scholarship to every Stockton Unified School District graduate for the classes of 2019-2026.

Stockton Scholars recognizes that money is not the sole impediment to degree attainment; as such, the scholarship will be supplemented with the following wraparound services and programmatic initiatives:

• Approximately 90% of high school seniors who complete Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms attend college after high school, compared to just 55% of those who do not. To ensure all available federal dollars are accessed, Stockton Scholars will aim for 100% FAFSA completion by 2023.
• Code HS and the Office of the Mayor are launching Code Stockton, an initiative providing all high schools with an “Introduction to Computer Science” course.
• The Reinvent Stockton Foundation will provide the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 595 with a $10,000 grant to establish a toolbox fund, providing students pursuing an apprenticeship with money to purchase tools and supplies.

Additional Resources

• Stockton 2018 AAC Award video presentation
• 2018 AAC Award presentation photo gallery

Meet the Manager

Kurt Wilson

City Manager

Kurt Wilson joined the city of Stockton as deputy city manager in 2012, less than 10 weeks after the city filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. On January 28, 2014, Wilson was appointed city manager after serving just three months as interim city manager. Following a successful end to the city's bankruptcy, Kurt looks forward to a renewed focus on economic development, the institutionalization of public safety enhancement, and implementation of permanent financial control measures to ensure the city never returns to the dark days of the recent past. In addition to a private sector and nonprofit background, Kurt brings more than two decades of public sector experience serving in both elected and senior staff capacities for four cities and two state agencies. He holds two masters’ degrees, one in business administration and the other in education administration, with a variety of post-graduate and professional certifications, including project management, labor relations, human resource management, real estate, leadership, and licensing as an emergency medical technician. Additionally, Kurt was a founding member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and continues to donate time to provide medical services on rare occasions. Excerpted from the Stockton, California, website: http://www.stocktongov.com/government/departments/manager/manager.html

Well-managed private- and public-sector organizations generally use some type of foundational management framework. More than a decade ago, the city of Southlake, Texas (pop. 29,000) adopted the balanced scorecard system as its foundational framework.

This framework enabled the city to realize benefits from improved city council ownership, buy-in and support from boards and commission members, fully integrated and cascading objectives from corporate to employee levels, and increased employee engagement.

Each year, staff, in partnership with the council, evaluates the system for refinement opportunities to ensure a continuous hyper-focus on customers—residents, business owners, and visitors. This year, Southlake is taking that refinement one step further by implementing a new Southlake-specific model rooted in the balanced scorecard approach.

Executing Complex Strategies

Southlake Performance Excellence (SPx) is a distinctive model created by the city’s staff to assess, formulate, communicate, and execute complex strategies within all levels of the organization, both internally and externally. The goals of SPx are to:

• Align and coordinate efforts citywide—strategic and tactical level. Combine a collection of ongoing activities and processes that are then used to systematically coordinate and align resources and actions with the city’s mission, vision, and strategy.
• Become more strategically agile. Create a flexible framework where operations, systems, and processes are developed that lets staff members sense, create, and respond quickly and confidently to the needs of residents, business owners, and visitors. In a strategically agile organization, staff members understand their connection to the mission and vision and then feel empowered to make decisions and to perform their work.
• Ensure Southlake remains radically focused on its customers. Enhance the staff’s focus on the voice of its residents, businessowners, and visitors, which acts as a strategic management guidepost and ensures that the city stays committed to exceeding people’s expectations.
• Improve the city’s strategic cadence. Ensure that the communication flow of the performance excellence framework continues throughout all levels of the city.
• Use predictive modeling and analysis. Use statistical analysis, where specific data signals are monitored and evaluated in real time, to enable the city to anticipate and respond more quickly on potential future conditions. The model’s innovation and smart cities initiatives are designed to fill this role.
• Enhance a continuous process improvement program. Use Lean Six Sigma methodology and toolsets to evaluate and improve under-performing, yet key, accountability metrics.
• Enhance strategic performance development programs. Focus on strengths-based management and leadership through the lens of employee engagement elements and a performance development environment to allow management to partner with employees at all levels of the organization to achieve high standards of success.
• Enable innovation and foster future readiness. Encourage and support creative, even unorthodox, thinking while also giving employees a platform to manage their ideas into reality. As part of the SPx initiative, the city is focusing on improving its efforts toward one of its core values—innovation. In early 2018, Southlake hired a chief strategic performance and innovation officer to oversee the creation and implementation of its innovation strategy.

Strategy Before Implementation

The desire to jump into the innovation deep end without first considering the strategy for doing so can result in chasing the proverbial shinny penny only to find the chase costs time, effort, money, and potentially customers’ trust.

As a strategically led organization, Southlake is taking the time to develop a well-thought-out innovation strategy that will include a smart cities readiness assessment. The plan will also consider improvements to existing technology, as well as a systematic evaluation of such new systems as blockchain and various smart cities technologies.

Blockchain technologies. Blockchain technology records an ongoing history of related transactions; for example, ownership titles of property. As blockchain infrastructure software technologies continue to evolve, Southlake will be reviewing potential opportunities for providing secure, easy-to-use services to customers. While some uncertainty exists around future viability, particularly with cryptocurrency—for example, the exchange of bitcoins—the consideration of this technology will be included in the overall innovation strategy.

Future blockchain-connected enhancements to services might encompass currency, bonds, building permits, court records, voting procedures, and accounting transparency in tracking account transactions, contracts, human resource records, recreation center membership cards and locker keys, and police weapons unlock codes.

Smart city technologies. Numerous vendors are engaging with communities around the nation to enable smart city technologies. As part of its innovation strategy, Southlake is evaluating new technologies from the perspective of achieving higher-quality services coupled with reducing cost and is currently engaged in discussions with vendors in these areas:

• Intelligent transportation systems
• Economic health monitoring via cellular data
• Improved public Wi-Fi connectivity
• Improved emergency response times
• Smart parking
• Public lighting
• Safety monitoring systems

With the development and implementation of SPx and a supportive innovation strategy, 2018 represents a year of evolution for the city’s management approach, which is designed to increase operational agility, promote stronger connections to the strategy, and enhance future-readiness.

The continued quality and success of the community does not happen without the diligent effort of a committed team of residents, businesses, community leaders, and staff. Years of consistent planning and strategic thinking has brought Southlake where it is today. SPx continues that tradition.

This Life, Well Run success story was written by Alison Ortowski, assistant city manager, and Dale Dean, chief strategic performance and innovation officer, both of Southlake, Texas. The story originally appeared in the June 2018 issue of ICMA’s PM (Public Management) magazine.