City Cultural Diversity Awards

Celebrating Cities Achieving Excellence in Community Engagement

The City Cultural Diversity Awards honor community leadership in developing creative and effective programs that bring residents together.

Established by the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials in 1995, these awards encourage community involvement in local, government-sponsored activities that strive to include residents of all backgrounds in our municipalities.

Today, the awards are hosted jointly by all of the NLC Constituency Groups, celebrating cities that demonstrate quality and innovation in cultural diversity.

Award Details

Program Qualifications

The City Cultural Diversity Awards recognizes a municipality in each of four population tiers:

• 50,000 and under population
• 50,001 – 200,000 population
• 200,001 – 500,000 population
• 500,000 or more population

A program must demonstrate:

1. It has enhanced the quality of life of your community for the improvement of equal opportunity and for the provision of greater access to city hall and government services by multiracial and multicultural populations.
2. It has increased resident participation in government and local activities by all segments of the community.
3. Cultural diversity is an ongoing and recognized effort in your municipality.

Programs may cover government-generated or community-based efforts in your municipality, and each program should ensure that its staff is diverse or exemplifies diversity.

Application

The application must focus on one municipal program and one specific population tier. Additional programs must be submitted separately with an additional application form and entry fee. Previous award-winning programs cannot be reentered. However, a municipality may re-apply and submit a different program.

The application consists of six parts:

1. Background Information
2. Project Details
3. Project Contact Information
4. An executive summary that should highlight your city’s program
5. Responses to three core questions about your city’s cultural diversity program
6. Exhibit materials (optional)

Only National League of Cities current member cities are eligible to apply.

Fees

An application fee of $100.00 is required to apply for the award program. These fees are for the expressed purpose of implementing the awards program and are non-refundable.

Make checks payable to “National League of Cities.”

Upon filling out the application form, NLC will provide an email confirmation and an invoice with instructions on where to mail your check.

Winning Municipalities

All award recipients will be chosen by an independent panel of judges made up of representatives from each of the constituency groups.

The top finalist municipalities will be notified of their status prior to the NLC Congressional City Conference (CCC). The awards are presented at the Celebrate Diversity Breakfast at CCC. Complimentary tickets to the Celebrate Diversity Breakfast will be provided to the winning municipality. Any travel costs associated with attending CCC are the responsibility of the winning municipality.