Ten Named as Winning Communities in 1998 All-America City Award Competition
Allstate Insurance Company and the National Civic League have selected the ten winning communities in the 1998 All-America City Award competition. Now in its forty-ninth year, the All-America City Award annually honors ten communities who best exemplify grassroots problem solving.
The 1998 All-America City winning communities are:
- Riverside, California
- Santa Maria, California
- New Haven, Connecticut
- DeKalb County, Georgia
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
- Chelsea, Massachusetts
- Rochester, New York
- Saranac Lake Village, New York
- Toledo, Ohio
- Tacoma, Washington
"Each of the ten 1998 All-America Cities represents the success that can be achieved when communities join together and cooperatively work to tackle a variety of challenges," says Chris Gates, president of the National Civic League.
"The sense of community pride and hope that was represented here in Mobile is truly inspiring," notes Allstate chairman and CEO Jerry Choate. "Allstate is proud to have the opportunity to honor the communities that we have served for over 65 years in their extraordinary efforts to build stronger, safer places to live and work."
Thirty finalist communities were named April 20 in Denver. Each finalist community sent teams of local officials, neighborhood activists, business leaders and community volunteers to the Mobile Convention Center to compete in hearings before the All-America City Jury. Each finalist city presented its community's successes and answered questions posed by the Jury. The ten winning communities were announced this past weekend at an awards ceremony.
Ranging in population from about 5,400 to 600,000, the ten 1998 All-America Cities demonstrated how by working together, communities can tackle issues such as homelessness, crime, poverty and racial intolerance and achieve measurable results.
The following communities also competed in the 1998 All-America City Award competition: Scottsdale, Arizona; Little Rock, Arkansas; Bakersfield, California; Sterling, Colorado; Delray Beach, Florida; Naperville, Illinois; Shreveport, Louisiana; Montgomery County, Maryland; Lowell, Massachusetts; Moorhead, Minnesota; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Rio Rancho, New Mexico; Columbus, Ohio; Piqua, Ohio; East Providence, Rhode Island; Providence, Rhode Island; Bryan, Texas; Waco, Texas; Longview, Washington; Green Bay Area, Wisconsin.
The All-America City Award was created by the National Civic League in 1949, and is the oldest and most respected civic recognition program in the nation. Sponsored by the Allstate Insurance Company since 1989, the All-America City Award was originally established to recognize local government reform and efforts to support public education. In recent years the focus of the All-America City Award has shifted to encourage broader community initiatives such as economic development, health and social service projects and efforts to improve race relations. In 1997, on the heels of the President's Summit for America's Youth, Allstate and the National Civic League asked all applicants to include at least one community-wide youth initiative.
The 1998 All-America Cities were chosen based upon their ability to demonstrate collaboration, grassroots involvement and consensus-based decision making among the public, private and non-profit sectors to achieve community-wide goals.
Since 1949, nearly 500 communities have been named "All-America Cities." Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the All-America City Award. The awards ceremony, to be held in historic Philadelphia, will celebrate the program's long heritage of recognizing America's outstanding communities.
Last year's winners were Fremont, California; Hillside Neighborhood in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Aberdeen, Maryland; St. Joseph, Missouri; Bronx County, New York; Asheville, North Carolina; Statesville, North Carolina; Bismarck, North Dakota; Aiken, South Carolina; and Texas City, Texas.
The National Civic League is a national non-profit organization that vigorously promotes the active involvement of citizens in the governing of their communities. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, the National Civic League's mission is to transform democratic institutions by strengthening citizen democracy.
Allstate has been the sole sponsor of the All-America City Award since 1989, emphasizing the company's commitment to supporting communities across the nation in their efforts to make their neighborhoods better places to live and do business.