Encore Designation - 100 Best Communities for Young People

Local Delegates Attend the 100 Best Communities Celebration

Education Leaders, Youth Advocates, Policymakers, “American Idol” Winner Fantasia, and Gen. Colin Powell Addressed Issues Effecting the Nation’s Young People and Honor Innovative Practices

For the third year in a row, Marquette and Alger counties were awarded the 100 Best Communities for Young People honor from America’s Promise Alliance. As a result, Amy Quinn of Great Lakes Center for Youth Development and Debi Fulcher from Alger County Parks and Recreation traveled to Washington, D.C. this fall to attend the America’s Promise Alliance 100 Best Communities for Young People National Forum and Celebration. The forum included representatives from all of the 2008 100 Best Communities for Young People, those cities and towns identified as great places for children to live and grow up.

“The 100 Best National Forum is a very special event because it allows us to honor those communities that exemplify what it means to care for and support our young people,” said Marguerite W. Kondracke, president and CEO of America’s Promise Alliance. “These tireless advocates are on the front lines every day, teaching our children, keeping them safe, and making sure they stay in school. By bringing them together, we can celebrate and learn from their outstanding work and inspire each other to do even more.”
The forum, held at the J.W. Marriott Hotel, included discussions about America’s Promise Alliance’s campaign to reduce the nation’s high school dropout rate and participate in networking sessions and educational workshops on issues important to children and youth advocates. Session topics included strategies for keeping kids in schools, funding resources and supports, healthcare, and public policy. Sessions highlighted some of the innovative and successful programs underway in 100 Best communities.

“This was an incredible opportunity to experience the learning sessions along with celebrating our accomplishments,” said Quinn. “It was rewarding to be able to represent our area and Great Lakes Center for Youth Development knowing our award was the result of the efforts of so many people.”

The two-day forum culminated with the Alliance’s Founding Chairman General Colin L. Powell welcoming all the winning communities at an evening celebration held in their honor at Washington’s Union Station titled “Journey Across America.” Guests were treated to performances by American Idol winner and Grammy-nominated platinum recording artist Fantasia, and the Howard Gospel Choir. The evening also featured performances from Washington, D.C. area youth, including the nationally renowned Ballou High School Majestic Marching Knights; Kangaroo Kids, a precision jump rope team from Howard County, MD, and Christian Stewart of Waldorf, MD, the 11-year old winner of the Washington National’s “Star Spangled Sing Off” contest, who sang the national anthem.

First held in 2005, 100 Best is a bi-annual competition held by the Alliance to recognize the outstanding efforts of cities and towns—large and small, rural and urban—to make young people a top priority. To view a complete list of the 2008 winners or learn more about the competition, visit: www.americaspromise.org/100best.

Marquette, Alger Counties Named One of the Nation’s 100 Best Communities for Young People for Third Time

January 24, 2008
Marquette/Alger Counties, MI— America’s Promise Alliance , the nation’s largest alliance dedicated to children and youth, in partnership with Capital One, today announced that Marquette and Alger counties have been named a winner of its 2008 100 Best Communities for Young People competition.
This is the third time in a row the two-county region has been awarded the designation.
read the entire news release...

Pryce Hadley of Marquette addressed the Marquette County Board of Commissioners on February 6, regarding the encore designation of Marquette and Alger counties as one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People by America’s Promise. Hadley is a youth board member of the Great Lakes Center for Youth Development. He shared with the commissioners what some local teens have to say about why the region is a great place for young people to live and grow into caring and competent adults. (GLCYD photo)

Marquette and Alger Counties Named One of 100 Best Communities for Young People for 2007

January 23, 2007
MARQUETTE - America's Promise - The Alliance for Youth is pleased to announce that Marquette and Alger counties has retained its designation in a national competition to identify the 100 Best Communities for Young People for 2007.
The region was first recognized as an exceptional area for young people in 2005.
read the entire news release...

Don't Miss The Celebration In your Community!

For a complete list of the selected communities, visit www.americaspromise.org.

Selection Criteria

The criteria for selection of the 2007 100 Best Communities for Young People are based upon research conducted by National Academies of Science, Search Institute, Academy for Educational Development and Child Trends.

The criteria are divided into three sections:

Community support of children and youth¹

• Providing awareness of the needs of children and youth and solution in a holistic resource approach
• Providing public and private resources for children and youth in a coordinated way
• Providing opportunities for youth leadership and voice in the community decision-making process
• Providing quality, outcome-based programming for children and youth
• Gathering and using data to make decisions around policy, resource provision and programming for children and youth
• Providing a wide range of programs for children and youth for each of the resources children and youth need to thrive

Resources Children and youth receive/the Five Promises ²

• Caring Adults
• Safe Places
• Healthy Start
• Effective Education
• Opportunities to Help Others

Children and youth outcomes

• High school completion rate
• Educational attainment/achievement
• Psychological health
• Physical health
• Healthy behaviors
• Self-sufficiency
• Civic engagement

Other important factors in determining the 100 Best include:

• Engaging committed partners and individuals from all sectors, and enabling them to collaborate more effectively toward shared goals and plans
• Raising awareness of kids' needs, using relevant data, and driving people to act and advocate to make kids a top priority

To ensure that the 100 Best Communities for Young People reflect the broad diversity of America life, communities will be segmented according to:

• Population size (measured in ranges)
• Poverty rate (as measured by census)

We have also ensured that the 100 Best list includes adequate representation of communities based on:

• Region of the country
• Population density (as measured by "urbancity" indicators of the Census)
• Ethnicity rates (as measured by census)

2005 Information is still available.