Mayors play a crucial role in helping people attain the education and skills necessary to enter the workforce and climb the economic ladder. While many American cities are thriving today, they are also home to rising levels of economic inequality, driven in part by the difficulty non-college-educated workers face in securing family-sustaining…

Playful Learning Landscapes seeks to transform everyday spaces into playful learning opportunities to maximize "the other 80 percent" of time that children spend outside school. It lies at the intersection of the growing Child Friendly City movement and a global development agenda that calls for access to high-quality early childhood…

The paper explores the processes by which two Australian rural communities established Community Learning Plans (CLPs). It acknowledges the role of CLPs as contributors to social and economic change through influencing employment rates, income equity, social cohesion and reduction in poverty. In addressing the research question: What factors…

Taking an interpretive approach to evidence-based policy, this article illustrates the rhetorical and situated uses of evidence in two case studies of local cultural policy. Broadly defined as policy-relevant knowledge, evidence is selectively used by council officers in the development, delivery, and evaluation of arts programmes at two…

This article describes the thinking behind and the implementation of the Design Your Own Park (DYOP) Competition, a collaborative project of a university, a city, and a fund-raising organization to empower neighborhoods and restore outdoor play citywide in Binghamton, New York. The city makes vacant lots and other neglected spaces available for…

In Japan, environmental education partnerships among citizens, businesses and local government increased since new legislation was introduced in 2003, but there was little evidence of cross-sector collaboration until recently. Nagoya Open University of the Environment is a highly innovative, multi-sectoral citizen learning system founded in 2005…

Article described the efforts of Apeldoorn to assist in the evolution of a new methodology of local administration, viz, that of democratic integrated planning, i.e., "...to provide local authorities with certain means to help them to rationalize their cultural policy". (Author/RK)

The organizational dimension of participation is relevant to planning organizations as well as to service organizations. In this case the organizational output is not direct services but the production of specific plans and proposals. The objective of group participation is to establish plans which call for maximum benefits for a particular…

As the first in a series, this reexamination of a 1954 personnel study focuses on trends in job evaluation procedures since the early 1950's, specifically dealing with municipalities. The six topical units discussed in this monograph are: (1) a history of job evaluation in municipalities, (2) methods used in securing the cooperation of supervisors…

To meet the manpower needs of local governments, the model developed for this project redirects national and technical education toward new careers programs. Designed by task forces of professional personnel, the model utilizes existing local government resources, including funds for new career activities. Accomplishments of the project include:…

This first issue in P/PV's "In Brief" series focuses on the Amachi program, which partners faith-based organizations with public agencies and nonprofit service providers to identify the children of prisoners and match them with caring adult volunteers. "Amachi In Brief" touches on the program's development and recruiting…

This report expands upon a policy resolution passed unanimously at the 53rd Annual Conference of Mayors in 1985. The first part of the report, a policy statement, points out the magnitude of the adult illiteracy problem and of some of the issues involved, and briefly indicates how various segments of society can contribute to a solution. The…

The document reports on comprehensive law enforcement assistance (LEA) programs which have motivated state and local governments toward signficant actions, strengthening the fabric of our criminal justice system. LEA activities include 27 grants which have financed state crime evaluation and planning commissions; 34 to police departments to…

This report makes recommendations to enhance the delivery of Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) services to small-city youth. It draws on the data base created by National League of Cities Youth Employment activities which provided a profile of the small city in CETA youth program operations, identified kinds of problems that affect…

This manual is intended for municipal managers, union representatives, and others interested in establishing workforce literacy programs (WFLPs). Content is based on the experience of five Canadian municipalities where WFLPs were established. Chapter 1 addresses the challenge for municipalities to manage change in the workplace and provides a…