Local News and Candidates: Rising or Falling?

Local News and Candidates: Rising or Falling?

Do staff reductions at local newspapers result in fewer people running for mayor? Yes, according to a recent study of eleven California cities reported in NiemanLab and presented at Cleveland State University. It's understandable: a key ingredient of civic capital is authentic communication, as outlined in our Civic Index, and declines in local media coverage can certainly lead to fewer people getting engaged. But wait! Twice as many people get their news online as from newspapers and three times as many get it from tv. Maybe local news is just changing shape. After all, Chicago's mayoral race this year attracted the most candidates ever, even though the Chicago Tribune trimmed an inch from the paper's width!

President, National Civic League

Meet the 20 Finalists of the

All-America City Awards!

This year's All-America City Finalists have strong civic capital, an intentional focus on equity and projects including community-wide weight loss challenges, substance abuse coalitions, community-policing initiatives, downtown revitalization efforts and more. Learn more about each community and the efforts that led them to being named 2019 All-America City finalists. Read more.

Opioids, Suicide and
Local Solutions

"It's hard not to be discouraged. But I'm on the road a lot and what brings me hope is the innovation that's coming up from local communities. We see communities rising to the challenge, and that's what gives me hope" - Benjamin J. Miller, Psy.D., Well Being Trust. Hear more from Ben Miller in this NYT article and learn what one county is doing to combat the opioid epidemic. Read more.

Leadership Report: Before, During and After a Crisis

Crises can happen anytime, anywhere. Prepare your community for disaster with this new ICMA report, which captures the ideas, feelings, and stories of the professional managers who were involved in different crises. By analyzing their leadership skills and techniques, professional managers can adopt promising practices.

Anniversary Feature:

125 Examples of

Civic Capital

In honor of the League's 125th Anniversary, we will be using our newsletter to highlight 125 community initiatives that use civic capital to solve problems and build equitable, thriving communities. These cities and counties have been recognized for engaging community members in collaborative efforts to improve education, health care, economic prosperity and the general quality of life. Today, examples 41-50.

Webinar: Equitable and Collaborative Economic Development

Join the League for a webinar on May 23rd to learn about two communities' collaborative and equitable economic development projects. Ubax Gardheere, Equity Strategies Manager at the City of Seattle, will speak about Seattle's approach to equitable development. Kevin Mitchell, Town Engineer in the Town of Mount Pleasant, SC, will talk about the town's collaborative Shem Creek Revitalization project. Register here.