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Partners board member and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker was recognized by First Lady Michelle Obama at an event at the White House on Wednesday for his efforts to end chronic homelessness among veterans in Salt Lake City. Mayor Becker was present with the First Lady as she announced a new initiative, the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness, with 77 mayors, four governors, and four county officials on board as of the annoucement.

The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Partners trustee and former Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, putting him in charge of the Economic Development Administration (EDA).

The mission of the EDA is "to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting innovation and competitiveness, preparing American regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy." The EDA has a number of tools that it brings to bear in carry out its mission, including "technical assistance, post-disaster recovery assistance, trade adjustment support, strategic planning and research and evaluation capacity".

Williams has served as a member of the Partners for Livable Communities board of trustees for five years, since 2009. Williams rose as to political prominence in 2005 with his election as the first African-American mayor of Youngstown, Ohio.

The efforts of the City Leaders Institute team in Memphis, Tennessee were featured in the latest publication of Bridges, a quarterly journal of the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

The Plough Foundation and their program associate, Katie Midgley, have been leading the way to prepare Memphis for the increase in the number and share of older adults in the population. After researching the availability and quality of existing services as well as commissioning a survey of 500 older adults within the county, Plough identified home modifications supportive of the ability to age in place as its top priority within its aging agenda.

Memphis is participating in Partners for Livable Communities and MetLife Foundation’s City Leaders Institute on Aging in Place. The program is in its second year and has worked in fifteen communities across the country.

The Memphis team is working to develop a resource for older adults in Shelby County that will determine an individual’s home modification needs, direct the individual to services that can perform the modifications, and provide funding for those older adults unable to afford the modificiations needed to allow them to remain in their home for as long as possible.

Read more about the efforts in Memphis and the City Leaders Institute: The Graying of America: Preparing for What Comes Next (Bridges Fall 2013).

Learn more about the City Leaders Institute.

Check out the Plough Foundation website.

Columnist Neal Pierce reports on the success of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, the new federal collaboration of DOT, EPA, and HUD that has awarded a series of grants to communities "for roads and housing and environmental protection."