With the mentorship and support of long-time Partners colleague William K. Reilly, Partners has developed the City Resilient Awards Program to embody a new civic movement: Prosperous, Sustainable, and Fair.
The awards program will replace Partners' once-a-decade recognition of America's Most Livable Community, last given in 2004. Partners defines resilience to encompass a diverse range of elements, including a strong economy with equal opportunity, high quality public education, affordable health services, accessible public transportation, and the capacity to persevere through environmental, economic, and social hardships. Furthermore, a resilient city is an inclusive one: all residents should be involved in the process of creating a more prosperous city, giving voice to the full range of ideas and perspectives of the population.
In the City Resilient program prospectus, Partners outlines this vision:
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 Partners for Livable Communities (Partners), in partnership with the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) and with funding from Lumina Foundation, releases Business at the Table: The Employer Drive for Higher Education Attainment. This collection of case studies was created during the Business at the Table initiative to develop strategies for improving U.S. higher education attainment (degrees and credentials) through chamber of commerce and business involvement.
This compendium of case studies provides business and chamber leaders the perspective to further Lumina’s Goal 2025: to increase the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025. Included are programs led by chambers of commerce, two-year and four-year colleges and universities, and national and local higher education achievement programs. Interviews were conducted with the CEO or director of each program, providing personal accounts of trials and victories on the road to success. Case studies explore the history of the program or organization, key players, geographic context, specific place-based economic challenges that were overcome, and the short and long-term goals that have been achieved.
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Partners for Livable Communities (Partners) releases Arts Organizations and Public Health, a guide to creating partnerships between art and health organizations. This primer was designed for the arts organization that wishes to initiate programming focused on local health issues, or create partnerships with health groups in order to best meet the needs of the community. Arts Organizations and Public Health identifies best practices of diverse arts organizations from around the United States to inform this work. The best practices can be used as references, and are cited throughout the publication to correlate with text.
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A Report from Partners for Livable Communities
Funded by MetLife Foundation
Stories for Change, a report by Partners for Livable Communities funded by MetLife Foundation, offers leadership examples that expand the arts to new audiences. This compendium of nearly 50 best practices showcases the notable strategies that increase access to arts and culture for older adult and immigrant populations.
Change, which describes the innovative programs of arts organizations in six major American cities. It shows that arts and culture are as essential to sustaining communities as bricks and mortar.
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More than a decade since the release the innovative original, Partners for Livable Communities announces the release of the second edition of its Community Empowerment Manual. Expanded and reorganized by former staff member, Carly Grimm, the new edition builds on the tried-and-true approaches to community development showcased in the original, and invigorates the document with new case studies and a new section that helps readers better understand the challenges to livability—aging population, deteriorating infrastructure, and declining local economies—that exist in American communities.
The first edition of the manual was published in 1999, and was the culmination of four years of work and collaboration with communities across the United States and Europe, with support from Bank of America, the Healy foundation, and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. It was met with great success and featured in Governing Magazine.
The new edition could not come at a better time, as more communities are facing fiscal constraints. To maximize assets over the next decade, communities will need to be more self-sufficient, and the Community Empowerment Manual, with its focus on making the most of community resources, is a valuable tool for pursing livability from a local level.
More than just a primer on livability, the Community Empowerment Manual is a workbook for community development that educates readers about leadership strategies, effective collaboration, creating regional partnerships, and developing and realizing a vision. The Community Empowerment Manual is a valuable guide for:
- Citizens—both those currently engaged and those frustrated by lack of action
- Local government officials
- Community organizers
- Civic leaders
- Non-profits and NGOs
- Business organizations
- Social agencies
- Educational and cultural institutions
Download the Community Empowerment Manual, 2nd Ed
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