News

DENVER, Colorado (July 2, 2012) – Roanoke is among 14 communities recognized as All-American cities by the National Civic League for 2012. The cities, counties, and regions were recognized for their ambitious plans to ensure that more children are proficient readers by the end of third grade.

The National League of Cities has named Roanoke an All-America City six times. Roanoke has been named to the annual list more times than any other city. Cleveland, Ohio, the runner-up, has made the list five times.

The 2012 All-America Cities are

• Roanoke, Virginia
• Baltimore, Maryland
• Dubuque, Iowa
• Providence, Rhode Island
• Louisville, Kentucky
• Marshalltown, Iowa
• Pittsfield, Massachusetts
• Quad Cities, Iowa and Illinois
• San Antonio, Texas
• San Francisco, California
• Seattle and the South King County Cities, Washington
• Southern Pines, North Carolina
• Springfield, Massachusetts
• Tahoe/Truckee, California

The award is given to each year to recognize outstanding examples of community problem solving, civic engagement and collaboration between the public, profit and nonprofit sectors. This year the award had a special focus: applicants were asked to develop comprehensive plans to bridge the reading gap between at-risk students and other learners. The awardees named today were among 124 communities that met in Denver to launch a network dedicated to improving early literacy and bridging the performance gap among young readers nationwide.
 
The conference/awards celebration emerged from a partnership between the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, the National Civic League, the National League of Cities, U.S. Conference of Mayors and United Way Worldwide.

“This partnership has been an amazing experience for our All-America City Awards,” said Gloria Rubio-Cortes, president of the National Civic League. “We were overwhelmed by the quality, passion and thoughtfulness of all the action plans submitted by over one hundred cities, towns and regions.  There is a real and deep commitment to ensuring that our children are prepared to succeed.”

The 124 communities who are already part of the campaign are adopting a collective impact strategy, engaging their full community around the goal of supporting low-income children from birth through third grade. Their plans involve schools but acknowledge that they alone cannot address the myriad problems that keep children from learning to read. The strategies include ensuring that children arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed, attend school regularly and keep learning through the summer months.