By Josie Hathway
August 5, 2002

At the Special Leadership Strategy Meeting in Boston on July 25, Conference President Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino led an interactive discussion with mayors and the Annie E. Casey Foundation Director of Family Economic Success, Bob Giloth. The outcome was to determine priorities in the joint partnership with Casey.

This partnership is part of Mayor Menino's aggressive agenda to address the fundamental concerns of America's working families. "We have committed ourselves as an organization to work with the Annie E. Casey Foundation to make sure that mayors have the information and tools to make a difference in the lives of working families," said Menino. Giloth concurred, saying that joint efforts will help develop and promote the needs of America's working families and our best ideas for addressing them. Through the partnership with Casey, the Conference will collect and disseminate best practices, develop a position paper on family economic success and provide expertise based on their work with individual cities across the country.

The Casey Approach

Bob Giloth presented Casey's approach to family economic success, "Real economic success for families will be achieved when families have opportunities in an ongoing way to build a foundation of economic security that leads to family self'sufficiency. This is a long-term commitment to help families create durable connections to the mainstream economy. It can only be achieved through more effective and mutually reinforcing strategies and investments in workforce development, family economic supports, and community investment in neighborhood economic development."

Focus Areas: EITC Campaigns, Predatory Lending, Workforce Development and School Readiness

Through the mayors- lively exchange with Giloth, several areas for the Casey partnership emerged — strong mayoral involvement in Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) campaigns, predatory lending, workforce development and school readiness.

Numerous cities have been innovative in their EITC campaigns including Boston, Chicago, Denver, Des Moines, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Providence, Louisville and Los Angeles. Mayor Menino noted that there was an 18 percent increase in the number of Bostonians participating in EITC, which put up to $4,000 more each in the pockets of Boston's working families. Several mayors indicated that education is needed to guide families in effective ways to spend their money and to avoid predatory lending.

Workforce development also emerged as a priority due to the need for skills training and pathways to careers for working families, in light of the recent cuts in workforce training including the elimination of $400 million from the FY 02 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, over $800 million in cuts for workforce programs in the President's FY 03 Budget, and the lack of an education and training component in the upcoming welfare reform reauthorization.

School readiness also emerged as a major issue. Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer discussed the Robert Wood Johnson grant program in Trenton called "Children's Futures" which supports the philosophy that the most critical stage of development for a child is from pre-natal to age three and that support during this time will result in a child's successful performance in school. The program provides resources for families who are supporting a child's needs from 0 — 3. Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Obendorf discussed a program in her city which provides for a package to be delivered to single parents at the hospital after giving birth. The package includes information on all local facilities including health care, food, shelter, and clothing.

Several mayors also discussed the significant demographic changes in their cities and how important English as a Second Language (ESL) training is for many working families in cities. Arlington Heights (IL) Mayor Arlene J. Mulder described how there are 46 different languages spoken by the children in her schools.

Next Steps in Casey Foundation Partnership

In conclusion, Menino outlined the next steps for the Casey partnership, which include a meeting to exchange best practices which will take place at the Fall Leadership Meeting in Santa Barbara. There will also be a meeting next spring where mayors can bring their staff to focus on applying the necessary tools to address working family issues.