Thank you to all applicants for our 2019 Engaged Cities Award. We are also grateful for our network of peer organizations, friends, and mayors who played an essential role in spreading the word about the award.      

Bologna was a winner of our inaugural Engaged Cities Award in part for lifting regulations on residents who wanted to improve public spaces. We collaborated with city staff to better understand how those plans - from turning an old market into a concert venue and community hub to converting an abandoned building into a co-working space - became a reality. Our new case study explores the collaboration between city staff and citizens that created new community hubs across the city.    

Before he was Executive Assistant to Mayor Randall Woodfin, Ryan Jackson served two years as a Cities of Service AmeriCorps VISTA member in Birmingham. For our most recent entry in the Where Are They Now? series, we spoke with Ryan about his experience engaging community members in Birmingham, and how that experience led him to city hall. 

"Voting is up. Volunteering is down." Our Executive Director Myung Lee recently wrote an op-ed alongside Marc Ott, Executive Director of International City/County Management Association in The Hill. The pair highlights a curious trend: while more voters are heading to the polls, volunteerism has dropped. They offer an outline for increasing volunteer engagement.   
 

Love Your Block Mini-grant Launches

Resources and Funding Opportunities

• The Ways to Wellbeing program in the City of York connects residents with people and experiences that promote wellbeing. Learn about the program here.
• The National Recreation and Park Association announced it will distribute grants, funded by the Walmart Foundation, to government agencies and/or nonprofit organizations that support nutrition efforts, including improving access to healthy foods in diverse communities. Applications are due March 6.

Where was Cities of Service in January?