The 100 Best Communities for Young People competition honors outstanding efforts on behalf of young people by multiple sectors of communities. In cities, suburbs, small towns and counties across the country, this annual competition is leading communities to assess their efforts, work more effectively together for young people, and share best practices. Each week one of the 2007 100 Best Communities will be highlighted in the America’s Promise Bulletin and on our web site. 
LAMONI, IOWA
By Cynthia Hobgood
Lamoni is a small rural town in southern Iowa, with a population of just 3,000. While this community is small in size, it has come together across sectors in a big way to help serve the area’s youth.
Embracing the Five Promises philosophy whole-heartedly, the theme of the town’s 4th of July Parade was “Lamoni’s Promise” with a brigade of red wagons each displaying information on the promises, pulled by children, youth, parents, and adults.
The Lamoni SAFE Coalition provides an organizational structure to connect youth serving organizations and agencies and link each with the Five Promises. Sites of promise within the community are being established as each business, club, or organization identifies the way they pull their weight by offering one or more of the five promises.
Collaboration with organizations and agencies on a broader scale include interagency meetings, a countywide group that brings together all organization and agencies who work with youth to meet monthly and discuss activities, opportunities, and issues relating to youth. The goal is to eliminate duplication of services and promote sharing of opportunities to a wider area.
Youth leaders are actively involved in community organizations and are included in decision-making so that they have a real influence including the newly created Mayor’s Youth Commission. The Lamoni School Board added two youth members who will participate in discussions at meetings. Local churches also have youth commissions that meet regularly with adult advisors to plan and implement youth activities.
But Lamoni is not without challenges when serving its youth. Lamoni is located in Decatur County which as the lowest per capita income in the state of Iowa while also being the home to Graceland University. The mix provides for a very large disparity between families in the community. The community has addressed these needs through parenting classes, leadership opportunities for all, service learning, and collaborations with multiple organizations and agencies.
Some of the initiatives in Lamoni that led to its selection as one of 100 Best Communities for Young People include:
Lamoni SAFE Coalition: Working under the umbrella of Lamoni’s Promise, the SAFE Coalition provides the connecting link for all youth serving partners in the community. The SAFE Coalition was established in 1998 and consists of 16 stakeholders or action groups including youth, faith community, media, health care, adult/family, business/labor, minority groups, community action agencies, education/schools, government, justice, public safety/law enforcement, senior citizens, social/civic organizations, agriculture, and prevention specialist. The city and SAFE Coalition provide a Youth Center as a safe, caring, drug-free place for youth.
Mayor’s Youth Commission: In its first year, the commission included a project for young people to learn about the commissions in city government and plan a community celebration to honor volunteers.
Dekko Youth Pods: The Dekko Foundation gives leadership and philanthropic experience to youth through the giving of time, talent, and treasure. These youth are awarded $15,000 to use to restore their county, communities, and schools.
HawkI: An insurance program that is offered for children who do not have family health insurance. The Community Health Center and Behavioral Health Center are both working to meet the needs of the uninsured and underinsured.
Lamoni Police Department Mentoring Program for at-risk youth provides a mentoring program for at-risk youth.
Service Leadership: A program for all students that is designed to help students attain the nine areas of service reported to the state of Iowa – community education, school volunteerism, school partnerships, intergenerational learning, public safety, human needs, environmental, civic responsibility, and risky behavior.
Lamoni is seeing progress in its work to improve the lives of its young people, indicated in part by school performance. The percentage of students proficient in reading has increased in 8th grade from 64% in 2002 to 84% in 2005; 11th reading proficiency increased from 80% to 86%. 8th math proficiency has increased from 75% in 2002 to 84% in 2005; 11th math proficiency increased from 76% to 80%.
A small town populated with many caring adults, Lamoni has earned its status one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People, serving as an example for many small, rural towns across the United States.
MASON CITY, IOWA
By Cynthia Hobgood
With a youth task force at the center of its efforts to provide a quality environment for young people, Mason City, Iowa it’s not hard to see why was named one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People in 2007.
Mason City has a long-standing cultural and historical heritage, with a standard of art and music excellence that has fostered a strong work ethic and goal-oriented attitude in its youth. Mason City is home to several structures designed by noted architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as other Prairie-style architecture, and the restored boyhood home of Meredith Wilson, a well-known musician and composer. These rare historical landmarks draw people from all over the world and expose youth to opportunities of historical significance.
The Mason City Youth Task Force (YTF) has involved a broad spectrum of the community since 1994, including schools, law enforcement, local and State government, faith and business communities, and local youth-serving organizations and agencies, as well as parents and youth. Leadership is provided by an Executive Committee of eight adults and four youth.
Mason County has moved from an environment of “doing for” our kids to “doing with” them and as a result, Mason City youth increasingly report that they feel valued in their community. The YTF partners with the schools to coordinate Youth Action Teams at all three Mason City high schools that take on service projects such as lobbying at the State level for Keg Registration legislation, conducting community inventories for resources and risks, sponsoring a shadowing project each year culminating in a community youth forum. Youth also volunteer with adults on coalition Promise Teams to work on community strategies. The Mason City Recreation Department and the local children's theatre have appointed non-voting youth representatives to their governance boards. In 2000, YTF member even ran for Mayor as a high school senior, finishing a close second in the race.
Some of the initiatives that led to this community’s recognition as a 2007 100 Best community include:
Youth Leadership Training: sponsored annually by the Chamber of Commerce engages 20 high school juniors and co-facilitates, with the Youth Task Force, a 15-week youth leadership program with various businesses and organizations donating services as presenters.
YTF Mentoring Program: A partnership between the local schools and the YTF, involving adults mentoring students in school or in the community. Local businesses and agencies allow their staff to take an hour a week from their work to mentor. This program has grown from 20 to 42 matches in the past 3 years.
Peer Mentoring Programs: Partnerships with the YTF, the recreation department, Headstart, and child care centers, have expanded to provide 50 local youth volunteers peer mentoring experiences.
One of the biggest challenges Mason City recently faced was the existing tolerant views on underage drinking, which resulted in a high level of adolescent alcohol use. 100 percent of focus group participants felt availability, acceptance and peer pressure were top factors to youth alcohol use and 73 percent of 11th-graders believed alcohol was easy to obtain. The YTF and community partners worked to address this social norm. Alcohol use reduction strategies for youth included implementation of prevention curriculums at school, production of a brochure on how Iowa licenses are affected by underage alcohol use, and an inventory of safe, drug-free community places for youth to gather was distributed. As a result of these efforts, students reported that 30-day alcohol use decreased 70% from 1996-2005.
While already doing good work for and with youth in the community, Mason City continues to plan new programs. The school district has a Comprehensive School Improvement Plan, and the county health department has recently updated their comprehensive plan which includes youth objectives. The YTF Community Youth Development Plan is focusing on young peoples’ development in all sectors of the community.
POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY, IOWA
By Cynthia Hobgood
The largest county in Iowa, Pottawattamie contains communities diverse in size with a total of fourteen incorporated municipalities with populations ranging from 128 to 59,347. The county, just under 1,000 square miles, recognizes the diversity of its communities and has made great efforts to tailor strategies to each community based on their unique resources and challenges.
Promise Partners, Pottawattamie County Alliance for Youth, has developed the infrastructure to leverage the collective power of youth serving agencies, public and private sectors, business, faith, civic, elected officials, health, education, parents and youth to increase the success of fulfilling all Five Promises to every age child and youth in the community. Since adopting the America’s Promise framework, Promise Partners has strategically developed strategies tailored to each community in the county around each of the Promises.
The county’s vision is that every child, beginning at birth will be healthy and successful. The community plan for early childhood includes the following funding priorities provide parent education, health services, and support provide access to quality, comprehensive and affordable early childhood education programs and provide access to quality and affordable child care for children.
Some of the initiatives in Pottawattamie County that led to its selection as one of 100 Best Communities for Young People include:
Youth Leadership Institute: Developed in partnership with the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce and modeled after the Chamber Adult Leadership series. A youth board is being established for Promise Partners. Youth will be charged with developing an RFP process for each community in the county to provide safe activities during non-school hours reviewing and scoring the applications, make the funding decisions, and reviewing end results.
Career Vision: The purpose of this initiative is to form a multi-high school post-secondary educational partnership of career academies throughout the county. Designed from an analysis of regional occupational trend data, the primary goal of Career Vision is to ensure that students are college ready, career ready, responsible citizens prepared for the demands and dynamics of global, high tech knowledge work economy and the next job market.
Drop-In Assessment Center: Developed to help fight the high school dropout rate, this center is a place where kids can come to learn at night and additional emphasis on transitioning students from middle school to high school.
Leadership and Resiliency Program: This evidence-based program in two of the consolidated rural school districts targets youth ages 14-19 that enhance internal strengths and resilience, while preventing involvement in risky behaviors. The program components include weekly resiliency groups, alternative adventure activities such as ropes courses, and community service in which participants are active in a number of community- and school-focused projects.
A Youth Leadership Institute was developed in partnership with the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce and modeled after the Chamber Adult Leadership series. A youth board is being established for the Promise Partners. Youth will be charged with developing an RFP process for each community in the county to provide safe activities during non-school hours reviewing and scoring the applications, make the funding decisions, and reviewing end results.
Future looks even brighter for the youth of Pottawattamie County. Promise Partners, Pottawattamie Alliance for Youth has adopted America's Promise framework to develop a comprehensive plan for youth. Current plan priorities include providing parent education, health services, and support for all children ages through age five.
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