Promoting Responsible Fatherhood

Every father taking responsibility for their child’s 

intellectual, emotional and financial well-being.

June 2012

Strong Cities, Strong Communities 

Initiative

1st Annual Report

White House Council on 

Strong Cities, Strong Communities

April 2013
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

2

Letter from the Executive Director

Dear Director Muñoz and Secretary Donovan, 

I am pleased to present you with the first Annual Report of the White House Council on 

Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2 Council). As you know, the Obama Administration 

launched the Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) Initiative in 2011 as a unique 

partnership between the federal government and mayors of chronically distressed cities that 

have faced significant long-term challenges in developing and implementing their economic 

strategies.

Largely due to your vision and support, SC2 is part of the Administration’s effort to make 

historic investments to build ladders of opportunity for those working hard to make it to the 

middle class. Through SC2 and other signature initiatives, the Administration is continuing 

to partner with communities that were hardest-hit by the recession to assist them as they 

get back on their feet. The recession, following decades of global economic change, 

created a fragile fiscal and economic environment for many American cities and their 

residents. Many continue to grapple with a host of issues, including a shrinking ability to 

maintain fiscal solvency and provide core services, an increasing need for services as 

individuals have dealt with an economic downturn, and an inability to respond to economic 

shocks by remaking or diversifying their economies, all of which accelerated trends in 

population loss and revenue decline. 

During the past year and a half, SC2 piloted a strategy to provide direct support for distressed 

cities through interagency SC2 Community Solutions Teams (SC2 teams) of federal 

employees who partner with city leadership to provide tailored technical assistance and 

planning resources for economic development. When completed, the SC2 teams will have 

spent two years working alongside mayors to help them implement their economic 

development visions, make more effective and efficient use of taxpayer-funded federal 

resources, and build strategic partnerships between government and industry to create jobs 

and revitalize communities. 

Seven cities currently receive intensive technical assistance from SC2 teams: Chester, PA; 

Cleveland, OH; Detroit, MI; Fresno, CA; Memphis, TN; New Orleans, LA; and Youngstown, 

OH. Three additional cities have been named as recipients of the SC2 Economic Visioning 

Challenge: Greensboro, NC; Hartford, CT; and Las Vegas, NV; the Challenge will help 

these communities develop a comprehensive economic development strategy. 

The interagency SC2 teams are uniquely positioned to help municipal leaders navigate the 

federal system. They work together with their counterparts across agencies at the local and 

federal levels to better collaborate on issues that require comprehensive solutions. In doing 

so, SC2 has provided technical assistance and capacity building that have enabled 

communities to more effectively use more than $345 million in existing federal funds. As this 

report demonstrates, at a time when we must accomplish more with every dollar, SC2’s 
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

3

impact means that taxpayer dollars are now being put to more effective use to support better

housing, transit, economic development, public health, and public safety outcomes. Although 

SC2 has been up and running for less than 2 years, a bipartisan group of mayors has 

commended the Administration1for adopting this new model that emphasizes local priorities 

and enables cities to utilize federal resources to best meet their needs.

SC2’s work on the ground in communities has surfaced initial policy lessons and 

innovations that the Administration will disseminate as it develops and refines strategies to 

help cities meet their needs. The lessons discussed in this report highlight successes and 

innovations in job creation and economic development, improved alignment of federal 

programs, stronger partnerships with philanthropy, and best practices in cultivating a highly 

skilled and motivated federal workforce. 

This is an exciting time for the SC2 Initiative. SC2 will continue to support the President’s 

agenda to create jobs and strengthen the middle class. Working with local leadership, the 

President is proposing to align a number of his signature revitalization initiatives from the 

U.S. Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Health and 

Human Services, Justice, and Agriculture to ensure that federal programs and resources 

are focused intensely on 20 communities hardest hit by the recession.2 As these Promise 

Zones are designated, the SC2 Council will support this effort by helping local leaders 

navigate federal programs, cut red tape, and use federal resources more effectively. In 

addition, in the coming months, the Administration will solicit mayors for their interest to be 

part of a second round of SC2 cities and select an administrator for the SC2 National 

Resource Network—a one-stop portal for communities seeking expertise to address their 

challenges. 

Thank you for your ongoing leadership and dedication to the communities that have already 

benefited from this new model of collaboration. 

Sincerely, 

Mark Linton

Executive Director

White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities

 

1 See U.S. Conference of Mayors Resolution no.93. pp.247-8

2 See White House Fact Sheets: “The President’s Plan to Ensure Hard Work Leads to a Decent Living” and “Building Ladders of Opportunity”
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

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Reading this Report

This report serves to update the Co-Chairs and the public of the White House Council on 

Strong Cities, Strong Communities on the work of the SC2 Initiative. 

Each section, outlined below, relates to SC2’s work improving the way the federal 

government engages with and supports local communities to build local capacity to 

implement their economic development plans to achieve local goals. 

The report ends with the next steps for the SC2 Initiative, which includes supporting the 

President’s proposal to create Promise Zones to help communities hardest hit by the 

recession get back on their feet.

 Overview of the SC2 Initiative

 Accomplishments in the Seven Pilot Cities 

 Policy Lessons and Innovations 

 Next Steps for the SC2 Initiative 
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

5

Overview of the 

SC2 Initiative

"I want to underscore how important I think this effort is, Strong Cities, Strong 

Communities. It is one that takes tremendous ingenuity, and a determination to cut red 

tape and do government business better... We are living in a time when there will be 

limited resources. That is just a fact. Budgets are tight at the state level, at the local level, 

and at the federal level. And yet the need continues to be enormous. So the question is how 

to consistently get more bang for our buck."

President Barack Obama, March 15, 2012

Many American towns, cities, and regions are working to rebuild their economies in the 

aftermath of losing many of their traditional economic drivers over the past four decades. 

A key challenge and opportunity is to help distressed towns, cities, and regions rebuild 

and revitalize their economies.3 The Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) Initiative is 

dedicated to partnering with local leaders to support them as they face this challenge. 

Too many American communities across the country are economically distressed due to 

shifts in the national and global economy, often resulting in job loss, population decline, 

and increased concentrated poverty.4 The recession exacerbated these trends and 

created a difficult fiscal and economic reality for many American cities. As a result, local 

leaders are now working to respond to the increasing need for services even as they 

address their government’s shrinking capacity to provide these services and work to 

revitalize and diversify their economies. 

Budgetary pressures at the local, state and federal levels only make it more difficult to 

solve the challenges created by economic decline. With less funding available, cities are 

forced to perform equal, if not greater, functions to serve the public. Addressing these 

challenges requires identifying innovative approaches to accomplish more with less. Thus, 

these challenging times create an opportunity to better coordinate and design federal 

programs to provide catalytic support to these communities and to streamline regulations 

that can be unnecessarily burdensome for cities to navigate.5 Similarly, federal technical 

assistance and capacity-building programs across federal agencies can achieve greater 

impact in communities when they are well coordinated and aligned.

 

3 See paper by Jennifer S. Vey, “Restoring Prosperity: The State Role in Revitalizing America’s Older Industrial Cities,” 

Washington: Brookings Institution.

4 See paper by Radhika Fox, Sarah Treuhaft, and Regan Douglass, “Shared Prosperity, Stronger Regions: An Agenda for 

Rebuilding America’s Older Core Cities,” funded by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, The John S. 

and James L. Knight Foundation, Surdna Foundation, and The William Penn Foundation. 

5

For example, a recent Government Accountability Office report highlighted examples of federal programs that can be better aligned or coordinated. See GAO’s report, “2012 Annual Report: Opportunities to Reduce Duplication, Overlap and 

Fragmentation, Achieve Savings, and Enhance Revenue.”
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

6

Recognizing this reality, the Administration

pioneered an initiative to transform how the 

federal government partners with 

economically distressed communities, 

while learning valuable lessons with 

national applicability. 

The SC2 Initiative was launched to pilot a 

new model of federal-local collaboration to 

improve how the federal government 

invests in and offers technical assistance to 

support locally driven economic 

development and job creation goals, while 

helping to coordinate funds at the local, 

state, and federal level. In doing so, SC2 

helps cities cut through red-tape and 

ensure taxpayer dollars are invested as effectively as possible.

On March 15, 2012, the President signed an Executive Order creating the White House 

Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2 Council).

6

 The SC2 Council leads the 

implementation of the various components of the SC2 Initiative, facilitates greater 

alignment between agencies to ensure communities have access to comprehensive, 

localized technical assistance and planning resources, and provides policy 

recommendations to the President and his Administration based on lessons learned 

through work on the ground in communities. 

Philosophy and Goals of the SC2 Initiative

By partnering with a city to review its capacity, existing tools, and goals, an engaged 

federal government can help ensure that ongoing investments are made efficiently and in 

a manner that supports enduring economic growth in cities and regions. One primary way 

the federal government invests in communities – from states and large cities to small 

towns and neighborhoods – is through formula funding and competitive grants. The

impact of these federal dollars on a community inherently depends on the ability of that 

community to effectively leverage these resources. To add to the complexity of the 

challenge, when deciding how to invest resources to best serve the public, communities 

must weigh their present needs against outcomes and changing trends they anticipate.7 

 

6

The SC2 Council is co-chaired by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the Assistant to the President for 

Domestic Policy. Other members of the council include Secretaries from the majority of domestic federal agencies and key 

members of the President’s cabinet.

7

For example, with demand for both freight and passenger transportation expected to more than double by 2050, the Administration’s goal is to support the U.S. economy by fostering smart, strategic investments that will strengthen the nation’s 

infrastructure, serve the traveling public and facilitate freight movement. To this end, cities with existing infrastructure and 

available labor can tap into Administration strategies for achieving maximum economic returns on policies and investments.

President Barack Obama, speaking at the White House SC2 

Annual Convening on March 15th, 2012. Source: HUD photo 

by Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

7

"SC2 is not a new program—it’s a new 

way. The frustration for all cities is that 

government needs to work better, whatever 

our party. SC2 has helped to breakdown 

stovepipes between federal agencies.”

- New Orleans Mayor Mitchell J. Landrieu

The SC2 Initiative was launched out of the recognition that the federal government is most 

effective at partnering with local communities when it is able to adapt to and better support 

the priorities and needs of each unique place. If the goal is to support the locally driven 

economic visions of towns, cities, and regions, the federal government must build a 

deeper understanding of on-the-ground realities within various local communities and 

tailor policies and programs accordingly. SC2 opens up meaningful lines of 

communication and direct partnership between the federal government and economically 

distressed communities. This two-way communication assists cities to more effectively tap 

into existing federal resources and create the groundwork for the federal government to 

identify best practices and design better-informed, evidence-based policies by working 

directly with community leaders. 

The overall goals of the SC2 Initiative are to:

 Improve the relationship between local and federal governments

 Provide coordination and support across federal programs 

 Partner for economic growth

 Enhance local capacity

 Encourage regional collaboration

The SC2 Initiative has and will continue to accomplish these goals by helping 

communities make more effective and efficient use of federal support. SC2 helps local 

leadership create the time and space, as well as access the expertise, to evaluate their 

city and region’s assets, identify their competitive advantage, and build local visions to 

strengthen, or rebuild, their economies. 

Components of the SC2 Initiative

The SC2 Council leads four current components of the SC2 Initiative that were developed 

to address the comprehensive economic needs of distressed communities. Together, 

these components reflect a combination of short and long-term engagement strategies 

that provide distressed communities with federal technical assistance, capacity support, 

and comprehensive planning to help them achieve their long-term economic goals. The 

four components are as follows:

 The deployment of federal interagency SC2 teams;

 An Economic Visioning Challenge 

prize competition to produce bottomup; comprehensive economic 

development plans in other pilot 

locations; 

 The establishment of the National Resource Network (SC2 Network), a one-stop 

portal for communities to access technical assistance; and

 The placement of philanthropically funded fellows in these pilot locations.
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

8

In addition to assisting specific pilot locations, the initiative seeks to identify and develop 

broader policy lessons that can improve federal program delivery and be disseminated to 

many other communities around the country. 

Deployment of SC2 teams

As part of its long-term engagement strategy to better support distressed communities, 

interagency, federal SC2 teams have been deployed to work closely with city leadership

for up to 24 months to support job creation and the city’s economic development priorities. 

The SC2 teams improve coordination among federal agencies, programs, and 

investments in an effort to better leverage existing resources and identify new

opportunities, including philanthropic partnerships and investments, in pilot locations. 

They provide needed technical advice and expertise, while taking a solutions-oriented 

approach that has received plaudits from local officials and national organizations alike. 

By focusing on each community’s priorities, SC2 teams have helped with planning efforts 

for downtown revitalization, assistance on transportation planning, delivery of national 

expertise on public health and public safety issues, and the resolution of regulatory 

barriers affecting the use of federal funds, among other areas. Just as importantly, SC2 

team members have been called on to provide quick-turnaround assistance and guidance 

as local issues arise. The SC2 teams have been on the ground since September 20118

and, in most cases, will remain into the summer of 2013. The following cities are pilot 

locations: 

 Chester, PA

 Cleveland, OH

 Detroit, MI

 Fresno, CA

 Memphis, TN

 New Orleans, LA

 Youngstown, OH

These cities were selected for the pilot by considering a number of criteria related to 

economic distress, including unemployment, population decline, fiscal distress, 

operational capacity, and local mayoral support and participation in the SC2 Initiative.

Fellowship Program 

To supplement the work of the SC2 teams, the SC2 fellowship program is designed to 

help local governments rebuild their capacity by training and placing highly motivated 

early- to mid-career professionals into 2-year fellowships to work in the mayor’s offices or 

local government agencies in the SC2 pilot cities. Fellows work on a broad range of 

strategic projects identified by each pilot city. The fellowship program aims to have 

fellows remain in their pilot city after their formal 2-year commitment is complete to 

 

8 One exception is the Youngstown SC2 Team, which deployed in November 2012. 
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

9

"SC2 has been helpful in advancing our 

neighborhood development, land banking, 

workforce training, and small business 

innovation initiatives. It has been a fresh 

approach by the federal government to work in 

partnership with local government. While we 

set policies at the local level, SC2 has been 

instrumental in helping us to implement the 

policies by streamlining the red tape."

- Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson

provide local capacity support, either as a staff member of the city or as part of an 

organization that closely partners with the city to deliver core services. 

Developed by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the 

fellowship program is an important component of SC2’s long-term capacity-building efforts 

because it directly provides human capital. The program was designed in broad 

recognition that distressed cities need highly skilled professionals with technical expertise 

to help revitalize their local economies. These cities, however, often have difficulty 

attracting, recruiting, and retaining skilled employees given their local resource and 

capacity constraints. Through a competitive process, HUD selected the German Marshall

Fund (GMF) Partnership9in 2011 to manage and implement the fellowship program, 

which was funded by a gift from the Rockefeller Foundation. The fellowship program 

placed fellows in each of the seven SC2 pilot cities to take on strategic responsibilities and 

be immersed in the core operations of the city, engage in peer-to-peer learning 

opportunities and become active leaders in their city, and be intensely engaged and 

committed to redeveloping the city with the hope that fellows remain working in the city

after the program ends.

Since September 2012, these fellows have worked in their city on a broad range of 

strategic projects that include the following: 

 Helping to implement the coverageexpansion policy recommendations of 

the City of New Orleans Health 

Department‘s Greater New Orleans 

Primary Care Safety Net Access Plan, 

with the goal of ensuring all residents 

of New Orleans have access to health 

care. 

 Serving as the coordinator and data 

manager for the Memphis’s 

Performance Management System to analyze city trends and help advance the 

mayor’s priority to improve local governance.

 Serving as a Special Projects Coordinator for Cleveland’s Department of 

Economic Development to create and implement a communication strategy and 

oversee special events and projects.

 

9

The GMF Partnership is comprised of GMF, Cleveland State University, and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State 

University, with GMF serving as the lead entity.
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

10

SC2 Economic Visioning Challenge 

One key strategy for helping distressed communities achieve their economic goals is for 

the federal government to support the development of local or regional comprehensive 

plans that can provide communities a roadmap to 

economic stability and growth. There-fore, in 

addition to supporting the seven current pilot sites 

with SC2 teams, there was broad recognition by 

the Administration that many other communities 

lacked a comprehensive plan to reach their job 

creation and economic development goals. In 

partnership with the White House and the SC2 

Initiative, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s 

Economic Development Administration (EDA) 

designed the SC2 Economic Visioning Challenge. 

The Visioning Challenge recently awarded three $1 

million grants for economically distressed 

communities to produce comprehensive economic 

development strategies that are sourced through 

local prize competitions. This program aligns with 

the Administration’s commitment to use prizes and challenges to promote innovation.10

The winning communities were announced in September 2012: 

 Greensboro, North Carolina 

 Hartford, Connecticut 

 Las Vegas, Nevada 

EDA partners with these communities to provide technical assistance as they design the 

prize competitions. All cities receiving these SC2 Visioning Challenge awards will also be 

eligible to receive an Operational Efficiency Assessment through the SC2 National 

Resource Network (see next section). These assessments are critical to helping 

communities identify key operational issues that, once addressed, will free up resources 

and create more efficient governance.

National Resource Network 

The National Resource Network (SC2 Network) will apply the SC2 model of customized 

federal technical assistance to a much larger number of local governments. Unlike the 

SC2 teams and SC2 fellowship program that were developed for longer term 

engagements, the SC2 Network is a program that will supply communities with targeted 

technical assistance for up to 12 months. The SC2 Network—recognizing that there are 

 

10 The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy launched an initiative to encourage and support Grand Challenges as a strategy to foster innovation. Grand Challenges are an important element of President Obama’s Strategy for 

American Innovation.

"The hard work of strengthening 

American communities and our economy 

happens at the local level, and the Strong 

Cities, Strong Communities competition 

demonstrates the Obama 

Administration's commitment to 

improving cities and regions all across 

America. By challenging and 

encouraging experts in the field to come 

up with economic development plans for 

their individual cities, this grant program 

will support growth and create jobs in 

communities around the country."

- Acting Secretary, U.S. Department 

of Commerce Rebecca Blank
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

11

some cities that could be helped with less-intensive engagements—provides flexibility 

within the initiative to supply a greater number of places with minimal, moderate or 

significant technical assistance. The SC2 Network will: 

 Provide a single portal for economically distressed communities to access a wide 

array of short-term technical assistance (both operational and programmatic);

 Develop a one-stop clearinghouse of federal, state, and local technical assistance 

programs that will be used to directly connect distressed communities to programs 

that are tailored to address their economic challenges;

 Deliver more intensive technical assistance to a limited number of economically 

distressed communities to support local priorities, such as improving the 

municipality’s credit rating, developing an economic development strategy, or 

updating workforce strategies to support small business development; 

 Disseminate best practices, innovative solutions, and policy lessons across a 

range of leaders that can help shape or inform economic development, strategic 

planning, and program efforts; and

 Establish local resource networks and new public-private partnerships that will 

bring together cross-sector leadership and leverage existing community assets to 

help strengthen communities.

HUD set aside $10 million for the initial launch of the SC2 Network and will select one 

administrator for the SC2 Network by the summer of 2013. Based on its direct work with 

communities, the administrator will work closely with the SC2 Council to provide important 

data and feedback to the Administration about ongoing trends, barriers, and opportunities 

related to federal policy and technical assistance. 
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

12

Accomplishments 

in the Seven Pilot Cities

“...there are communities in this country where no matter how hard you work, it’s 

virtually impossible to get ahead. Factory towns decimated from years of plants packing 

up. Inescapable pockets of poverty, urban and rural, where young adults are still fighting 

for their first job. America is not a place where chance of birth or circumstance should 

decide our destiny. And that is why we need to build new ladders of opportunity into the 

middle class for all who are willing to climb them.”

 -President Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, February 12, 2013

During the past year and a half, SC2 provided direct support to distressed cities that 

helped build the capacity and knowledge to cut through red tape and make the most of 

federal resources. To date, SC2 has provided technical assistance and capacity building 

that have enabled communities to more effectively use more than $345 million in existing 

federal funds. In addition, SC2 teams have developed more than 160 new cross-sector 

partnerships and more than 700 small businesses and other organizations have received 

technical assistance from SC2 in support of local economic development goals.

At the genesis of SC2, the potential impact of the initiative was uncertain. A little more 

than 1 year later, a bipartisan group of mayors sponsored and passed a resolution at the 

U.S. Conference of Mayors calling on the 

Administration to expand the SC2 

Initiative.

11

 In addition, according to a

survey that asked all current and former 

federal SC2 team members for input on 

their experiences working on the Initiative, 

nearly 95 percent feel that their teams’ 

efforts were effective.

12

 They largely 

attribute this success to improved 

collaboration and on-the-ground 

implementation. This new local-federal

partnership has allowed for more effective 

use of federal resources and a deeper 

understanding of the unique challenges and 

 

11 See the US Conference of Mayors Resolution No. 93: 247-248. 

12 See pg 30 of the Enhance the Skills of Federal Employees section of this report for more results from the survey. 

“The Strong Cities, Strong Communities 

initiative is making a real impact as Fresno 

moves forward on our economic 

development and community revitalization 

vision. The SC2 team has been a terrific 

partner in contributing to the development 

of ‘ground-up’ solutions tailored to our 

needs, refining lasting partnerships with 

key local and regional stakeholders, and 

working to remove roadblocks 

accompanying federal programs that 

directly affect our city.”

- Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

13

opportunities of each individual city. The 

SC2 fellowship program has also helped 

further rebuild local government capacity 

by training and placing highly motivated 

early-to mid-career professionals in the

mayors’ offices or relevant local 

government agencies. 

The U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services (HHS), with support 

from several agencies, is leading a 

process to assess the overall work of the 

SC2 teams, how their activities have been 

implemented, the experience of SC2 

participants and local partners, and what

pilot participants have learned that can be

used to enhance future

program implementation.13 

SC2 Impact 

Improve the relationship between local and federal governments

SC2 teams are building bridges between local and federal governments. The teams have 

provided technical assistance to the pilot cities, which has enabled them to more 

effectively use federal funds already committed to those cities and to access new federal 

and private resources. In some cases, these efforts have ensured that taxpayer dollars 

already invested in the community had an even greater impact. 

 In New Orleans, through technical assistance from HUD, SC2 helped accelerate 

the launch of a $52 million homebuyer assistance and neighborhood 

redevelopment initiative. SC2’s assistance reduced a significant amount of red 

tape, and helped get the funding out into the community; to date, more than 220 

first-time homebuyers have closed on homes through the initiative.

 In Detroit, with the help of the SC2 team, the Detroit Housing Commission was 

able to access $6.5 million from HUD to demolish Frederick Douglass Homes, a 

public housing development spread over 18.5 acres that is a long-standing symbol 

of blight and a haven for serious crime in the city. Demolition of this property will 

start later this year. The SC2 team also worked with the city and DOJ to 

repurpose funds under an existing Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) 

grant, which was originally designated for new hires, to retain approximately 108 

 

13 For more information on the HHS evaluation, see the Next Steps for SC2 section of this report.

Mayors from SC2 pilot cities speak on a panel moderated by 

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. Pictured from left to right: 

Secretary Donovan, Mayor John Linder (Chester), Mayor A.C. 

Wharton Jr. (Memphis), Mayor Ashley Swearengin (Fresno), 

Mayor Dave Bing (Detroit), and Mayor Mitchell J. Landrieu 

(New Orleans). White House SC2 Annual Convening, March 

15, 2012. Source: HUD photo by Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

14

officers that were in jeopardy of being laid off and help the city keep their 

streets safe.

 In Fresno, SC2 is supporting the city's goal to reconnect an 18-square-block street 

grid downtown near the proposed site of the high-speed rail station and the Fulton 

Pedestrian Mall—Fresno's historic Main Street. SC2 provided technical assistance 

and is facilitating environmental review coordination between the city of Fresno 

and the California Transportation Department. In August 2012, the U.S. 

Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that it will provide $1 million for 

the preconstruction phase for the environmental review and planning of this 

project, which will promote transit-oriented development in Fresno’s downtown. 

 In Youngstown, the SC2 team worked with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)

to establish a Diagnostic Center to improve public safety by using data to gauge 

the scope of community challenges, recognize trends, establish baselines, and 

determine data‐driven strategies to increase 

public safety.14

 In New Orleans, working with the New 

Orleans Health Department (NOHD) and a 

variety of State and local partners, the SC2 

team, through the Department of Health and 

Human Services (HHS) SAMHSA, helped 

lead the development of the city’s behavioral 

health strategic framework. The framework 

outlines a path forward for addressing the 

behavioral health needs of area residents and 

represents the first comprehensive plan of its 

kind, in addition to establishing a Behavioral 

Health Interagency Council that will help

successfully implement the plan. This newly 

established collaborative effort to improve 

system-wide service delivery has already 

helped create a 26% reduction in the number 

of emergency room patients awaiting mental 

 

14The mission of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is to increase public safety and improve the fair administration of 

justice through leadership and programs nationwide. To advance that mission, OJP launched the Diagnostic Center in the 

spring of 2012. In its first year of operation, the Diagnostic Center assisted more than a dozen communities, working with 

community leaders to implement evidence‐based strategies to improve public safety and criminal justice outcomes. The 

Diagnostic Center’s defining characteristic is its approach of first assembling and analyzing data from the community, which

includes identifying stakeholders, gauging the scope of community challenges, recognizing trends, establishing baselines, 

and determining which data points can be moved by implementation of data‐driven strategies. The Diagnostic Center promotes the integration and translation of data on what works into criminal justice and public safety solutions, working in coordination with partners and programs from across the DOJ to leverage available resources in communities where they are 

needed most.

“When it comes to addressing the 

persistent needs and challenges facing 

our nation's distressed cities and 

communities, we cannot prosecute –

or incarcerate – our way out of these 

problems. We must focus on 

prevention, intervention, community 

engagement, and other strategies that 

help people gain access to housing, 

health care, legal services, as well as 

educational and employment 

opportunities. By expanding federal 

and local partnerships through the 

Strong Cities, Strong Communities 

Initiative, we are providing 

unprecedented support for locallydriven visions for success – while 

building stronger, healthier, and safer 

communities nationwide.” 

 - Attorney General of the United 

States Eric H. Holder, Jr.
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

15

“The honor of being selected for SC2 has 

brought Memphis into the center of the 

national conversation about cities –

helping us to find solutions for long‐

standing problems, bringing our team a 

burst of energy and expertise, and 

cutting through red tape to improve our 

relationship with the federal 

government.” 

- Memphis Mayor A C Wharton, Jr.

health care since April 2012.15

 In Memphis, the city started a process to connect and revitalize their riverfront, 

designating it as the anchor and catalyst for economic development. Central to 

this revitalization was the purchase of the American Queen Riverboat. The 

combination of a complicated financing package and difficulty engaging key staff 

was threatening completion of the deal within the required timeframe. The DOT 

members of the SC2 team, with help from U.S. Representative Steve Cohen—who 

was able to secure an extension to complete the financing package—worked 

alongside stakeholders to solve the problem in the final days before closing the 

transaction. To this end, DOT Deputy Secretary John D. Porcari visited with 

Mayor A C Wharton Jr., and personally liaised between DOT’s Maritime 

Administration and the city of Memphis to ensure the final deal was delivered.

Provide coordination and support among federal programs 

 By dedicating interagency teams that work closely with local government, SC2 has

increased coordination and collaboration across federal agencies and programs. 

The federal teams work alongside mayors and across city agencies and in doing 

so, breakdown silos on the local and federal levels. 

 In New Orleans, SC2 helped establish a permanent supportive housing voucher 

for ex-offenders in collaboration with the 

City, the State of Louisiana, HUD, HHS 

Substance Abuse and Mental Health 

Services Administration (HHSSAMHSA)16 and DOJ. By providing exoffenders with a better opportunity to find 

a place to live than before the program 

started, and helping them reintegrate into 

their communities, they are more likely to 

transition successfully into society and 

find a stable job.17 This leads to the city 

winning economically and socially, and Federal agencies being able to better 

leverage their existing investments for greater impact.

 

15In addition, as part of the behavioral health effort in New Orleans, with SC2 support the city has developed a comprehensive Behavioral Health Resource Guide, which is the first of its kind in the city and had been an important tool for connecting 

individuals and families to the help they need. For example, a social worker based out of the Tulane Medical Center Emergency Room routinely uses the Guide to make referrals to clients who come to the hospital for help. Because the guide 

contains information on insurance/Medicaid and services, the social worker is able to connect clients directly with providers 

who can best meet their behavioral health care and financial needs.

16 See http://www.samhsa.gov/

17 According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), “In order to reduce their chances of committing new crimes, ex-offenders must be provided with an assortment of support services, ranging from education to accessible housing. Providing these individuals with an array of critical support services prepares them for reentry into society 

and helps them restore their lives.” For more information, see ONDCP’s “Preventing Recidivism by Supporting Reentry and 

Recovery” in Chapter 4 of the 2011 National Drug Control Strategy.
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

16

 In Memphis, SC2 has worked with the city and Shelby County to align the efforts 

of the U.S. Attorney General's Defending Childhood Initiative, the National Forum 

on Youth Violence Prevention, and local law enforcement initiatives. The 

alignment has enabled the city and county to better leverage resources and create 

a cohesive message improving the overall impact of the initiatives’ efforts to 

reduce juvenile victimization and crime in Memphis. 

 In New Orleans, SC2 helped prevent substantial reductions in service delivery in 

the city’s community health clinic system. The team facilitated conversations 

among government officials at the federal, state, and city levels that extended the 

timeframe for submitting claims for reimbursement. This effort kept funding flowing 

to the clinics, kept them from drastically reducing services or closing down 

operations, and enabled them to continue to serve their communities. The SC2 

team also collaborated on a longer term project to adjust how part of the $97.5 

million was being invested in the system; these changes will better meet the 

community’s needs and support the system’s financial stability.

Partner for economic growth 

SC2 efforts are connecting economic development strategies with public and private 

investments in infrastructure, planning, and redevelopment. As a result of the SC2 

Initiative, 160 new cross-sector partnerships have been developed, involving philanthropic 

and nonprofit partners, businesses and other local anchor institutions working with 

municipal and federal staff.

 In Detroit, SC2 worked with the city and the 

M-1 Rail investors to facilitate partnerships 

and lay the groundwork for a light rail system 

along the Woodward Corridor. M-1 Rail is 

supported by a consortium of Detroit-area 

corporate business ventures, foundations, 

and public and private institutions that are 

committing more than $100 million in funding 

to build and operate a 3.3-mile modern 

streetcar system on Woodward Avenue, the 

region’s primary north-south thoroughfare. DOT has also pledged $25 million 

towards construction of the project. The light rail will link downtown Detroit, the 

region’s largest employment center, with the rapidly developing Midtown and New 

Center neighborhoods to the north. 

 In Cleveland, through an SC2 partnership with the Manufacturing Advocacy and 

Growth Network (MAGNET), National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

(NASA) scientists and engineers are providing up to 400 hours of hands-on 

technical assistance to 9 medium-to-small manufacturing companies to help them 

create a product or solve a production problem. This will benefit the community 

through increased sales, business expansions, and new jobs. In addition, through 

“Through this collaboration and open 

communication, we’ve learned about 

new resources and new opportunities 

for our city from the Departments of 

Transportation, HUD, Justice, Energy 

and EPA and other agencies on the 

SC2 team, all working together to 

transform the city of Detroit.”

- Detroit Mayor Dave Bing 
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

17

NASA’s Strategic Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering

(SPACE) initiative and a partnership with Case Western Reserve University, new 

curriculum and postsecondary credentials and degrees will be created for 

emerging industries, such as additive manufacturing.18

 In New Orleans, the Loyola Avenue-Union Passenger Terminal Streetcar Line 

opened after years of development. It has four new stations and travels through 

the city’s business district and near the French Quarter and the Superdome. The 

line connects directly with Amtrak and intercity bus and streetcar service. The DOT 

members of the SC2 team provided extensive technical assistance and engaged 

in intensive, ongoing follow-up conversations. With $45 million invested through 

DOT’s Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER)

program, SC2 support helped ensure that the streetcar line expansion was 

completed in time for use during the 2013 Super Bowl. In addition, the private 

sector contributed most of nearly $2.7 billion to build and renovate properties along 

or near the streetcar corridor, including hotels, offices and sports facilities 

damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

 In Fresno, SC2 provided an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) technical 

assistance contract to the city to support the city’s downtown revitalization efforts. 

EPA funded, administered, and delivered a report on opportunities for Fresno with 

policy options to attract and generate jobs and investment downtown, leveraging 

the physical and infrastructure improvements the city is planning while more 

deeply engaging with local anchor institutions.19 SC2 is working with the mayor’s 

office to implement the report’s recommendations.

 In Chester, the SC2 team helped facilitate an investment by a Philadelphia-based 

food bank, Philabundance, to provide residents with low-cost, nutritious food in a 

supermarket-style food bank, which will help attract investment and growth in the 

community. The $4.5 million project broke ground in late September 2012 and will 

provide the first new grocery store in the City in over a decade.

20 Financing from 

two Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs)—the Nonprofit Finance 

Fund and The Reinvestment Fund (TRF)—was critical to helping Philabundance 

move forward. TRF was recently awarded a Treasury Department CDFI Fund 

Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) Financial Assistance (FA) grant, a CDFI 

Program FA grant, and a New Markets Tax Credit allocation. 

 

18 This strategy is validated by economic research underscoring that the trajectory of the 21st century economy is 

knowledge based—from the technology and innovation sectors to high-tech manufacturing to the education and medical 

sectors. See Enrico Moretti. 2012. The New Geography of Jobs. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 8, 215. 

19 For more information on the role of anchor institutions, see Steve Dubb and Ted Howard’s “Leveraging Anchor Institutions 

for Local Job Creation and Wealth Building,” and the CEO for Cities report, “The Role of Colleges and Universities in Urban 

Economic Development.”

20 For more information on Fare & Square, the new grocery store in Chester, see the Philabundance website.
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

18

“One of the most inspiring 

privileges of being granted SC2 

status in the city of Chester, is the 

kinetic energy of self-governing in 

conjunction with capacity building 

and overarching sustainability 

plans.”

- Chester Mayor John Linder

Enhance local capacity

The SC2 teams and the 17 fellows are bolstering local government capacity through their 

long-term, on-the-ground engagements with the cities. The teams provide support on a 

wide-range of projects to help cities cut through red tape to access federal funding, 

receive more targeted technical assistance, and develop partnerships across government 

and across sectors. 

 In Fresno, SC2 provided technical assistance to develop a strategy to expand 

neighborhood revitalization efforts to additional neighborhoods and helped bring 

together 13 public-sector, non-profit, and philanthropic partners to collaborate on 

the strategy. In August 2012, the DOJ announced that the city would receive 

support to initiate revitalization efforts in Fresno’s Southwest and El Dorado Park 

neighborhoods. An interagency program among DOJ, U.S. Department of 

Education, and HUD is building capacity in these distressed neighborhoods 

through intensive training and technical assistance to community partners. The 

engagement, which will last for at least 20 months, will help these neighborhoods 

design and begin pursuing results-driven, sustainable revitalization plans. 

 In Youngstown, as part of the pilot phase of the SC2 National Resource Network, 

HUD commissioned a contractor to review the regulations that complicate effective 

demolition activities in a city with a serious vacancy problem. The resulting reports 

will suggest regulatory changes at the local, state, and federal levels that will 

strengthen the city’s capacity to better target demolition activities and more rapidly 

use existing resources. 

 In Detroit, SC2 team members, along with local partners and outside 

organizations including Code for America and the Knight Foundation, supported 

the city’s efforts to launch a new texting initiative, “Text My Bus,” in early 

September 2012. The service will provide more reliable information on 

transportation schedules for Detroit residents with cell phone access in support of 

the mayor’s Youth Violence Prevention Initiative and Safe Routes to School 

efforts.

 In Chester, the SC2 team provided technical 

support to the city as it applied for a 

Transportation, Community and System 

Preservation grant from DOT. The city was 

awarded $1 million to support planning, land 

use, and green building assessment activities 

related to developing the transportation center 

and the historic central business district.

 In Memphis, local SC2 team members worked with the U.S. General Services 

Administration to revise and reissue a bid to procure space for a new court building 
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

19

"USDA recognizes that the health of 

America's rural communities is connected 

to the health of America's cities. SC2 has 

allowed USDA to partner with agencies 

across the federal government to ensure 

that rural communities in the San Joaquin 

Valley of California are at the table and can 

benefit from the efforts to revitalize the city 

of Fresno. USDA has worked with smaller 

communities in the region to promote 

access to rural broadband, plan for 

opening markets for agriculture products 

in Fresno, and ensure that agriculture --

a significant portion of the regional 

economy -- are represented in Fresno's 

revitalization. SC2 is a great complement 

to USDA's Strike Force initiative, 

which aims to more efficiently deliver and 

leverage federal resources in rural 

communities." 

-Secretary, U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Tom Vilsack 

downtown that supported the mayor’s focus on downtown revitalization. Initially, 

language for the bid had prevented downtown buildings from being eligible.

Encourage regional collaboration

New connections were formed between SC2 pilot sites and regional partners, including 

the anchor institutions, transit, agricultural and natural resources communities. 

 In Fresno, the city is working to 

establish stronger connections to the 

regional economy in which it is anchored 

in the largely agricultural region of the

San Joaquin Valley. The SC2 team 

including the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA), the EDA, and the 

U.S. Department of Energy is supporting 

this regional connection in two ways: (1)

providing technical assistance through 

$95,000 from EDA to study expanding 

Fresno’s value-added food sector by 

developing an existing industrial area 

into a food processing cluster to 

generate higher paying jobs21; and (2) 

supporting high-tech innovation in both 

agriculture production and the 

production of technologies used to 

support the agriculture economy through 

extension of broadband in the San 

Joaquin Valley.22 

 In Detroit, the SC2 team was central in developing Michigan’s new Regional 

Transit Authority (RTA). Before establishing the RTA, Southeast Michigan was 

America’s largest metropolitan area without a regional transportation authority 

despite numerous attempts. Legislation had been introduced 23 times since the 

1970s without any success. SC2 team members from DOT provided technical 

assistance to the Michigan Governor’s Office on the RTA legislation and the 

various aspects of creating a new transit organization, including establishing a 

 

21 Agricultural production in the San Joaquin Valley has a value of $30.2 billion in 2011, and Fresno County is the largest 

agriculture-producing county in the United States, with a farm gate of $6.9 billion in 2011. Agriculture, however, receives 

only 10.1 percent of the average food dollar, while food processing and packaging receive 25 percent. Expansion of the 

value-added food processing sector in Fresno will allow the Fresno economy to capture more of the food dollar created by 

the region’s agriculture, and it will create additional jobs.

22 Agriculture and technology are two of California’s core economic drivers. Early on, California agriculture adopted technology for meeting its needs to increase production and yield, improve efficiency in irrigation, open the potential of agriculture-based carbon trading and renewable energy production, and improve food safety with real-time-in-the-field diagnostics. 

Adoption of agriculture technology depends on a robust in-the-field infrastructure to transmit data, including through rural 

wireless broadband. 
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

20

resource group of regional transit agency executives from across the United States

to provide advice on regional transit advocacy, implementation, and operation. 

After the RTA is fully funded, the authority will build a regional Bus Rapid Transit 

(BRT) system, and SC2 is working with the National Bus Rapid Transit Institute to 

introduce state and local officials to BRT technologies and services.

 In New Orleans, supporting the efforts of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District

of Louisiana, SC2, through HHS SAMHSA, worked with local stakeholders and 

community members to help develop a regional framework to address substance 

abuse. SC2 collaborated to create a needs assessment that revealed the impact of 

substance abuse in the region and where there are gaps in services. The needs 

assessment serves as the foundation of a multi-part plan to develop the larger 

substance abuse strategy.
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

21

Policy Lessons and Innovations

Through its work on the ground in communities, SC2 is in a unique position to elevate 

innovations, best practices, and barriers that can inform federal policy. The work of SC2 

teams in pilot cities has demonstrated that areas exist in which programs can be better 

aligned, the regulatory climate can be more supportive, and new or reformed programs 

can better help distressed communities meet their needs. SC2 teams are helping each 

pilot city to think more creatively about how programs could better work together to help 

achieve local goals, and they are learning lessons and testing new approaches that have 

national applicability. 

Create Jobs by Connecting Workforce to Economic Drivers

In addition to working with industry to spur growth and economic recovery, economic 

shifts often require communities to support retraining programs for workers to help them 

compete for new jobs. In distressed communities, it is critical to connect the workforce 

needs of local and regional economic drivers to the skill sets that are developed in public 

education, post-secondary education, and job training programs at all levels. SC2 teams 

are testing strategies that address the various gaps and mismatches that constrain the 

alignment of workforce supply and demand. These constraints may include skills gaps in 

which new job opportunities in emerging economies do not match with the skills of the 

workers; information gaps between prospective workers, who do not know about 

opportunities, and employers, who do not know about available workers; and location 

mismatches with job growth 

occurring in areas that are 

difficult for many prospective 

workers to access because 

of transportation barriers or 

move to because of family 

and community ties.

23

 

For example, in Cleveland, 

the U.S. Departments of 

Labor (DOL) and Education 

are working together with 

the Cleveland/Cuyahoga 

Workforce Investment 

Board, and K-12 educators 

to improve worker 

readiness, connect learning 

opportunities to jobs, help 

 

23 For more information on workforce development, see the Surdna Foundation’s report “Building Pathways to Employment 

in America’s Cities through Integrated Workforce and Community Development.” 

President Barack Obama greets workers at a steel plant in Youngstown, 

Ohio. Source: Official White House photo by Pete Souza
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

22

potential employers better define the skill sets they will need, and help educators create 

ways to train students for those skills. Specifically, a DOL SC2 team member facilitated 

the creation of workforce initiatives that are resulting in practical, action-oriented strategies 

to achieve better alignment between job training and education programs and the skills 

that employers seek. These strategies, developed collaboratively across industry sectors, 

will provide more than 1,000 students access to reliable, comprehensive career 

information and training for middle-skills jobs that pay good wages in driver industries. In 

addition, this effort led to the creation of a Veterans Employment Transition Team and the 

pursuit of resources to strengthen the local United Way 211 Line to improve employment 

assistance for hundreds of veterans. 

Promote Strategies for Enduring Economic Growth

Time and space for comprehensive economic planning 

Local and regional economic development requires tools and resources that will enable

communities to diagnose their economic and community conditions and develop a 

strategy for economic recovery. Many communities that are able to successfully revitalize 

their economies do so, in part, because they have had the time and space to take stock of 

their assets and work toward remaking and diversifying their economies.24 SC2’s work 

during the past year has demonstrated that distressed cities do not often have the

capacity to easily or efficiently do this without additional expertise to develop their 

strategies.25 Without this capacity, the city may be forced to carry out a poorly run

process that inadvertently reduces community buy-in and dampens investments to 

execute the plan. In contrast, SC2 teams have witnessed the difference good planning 

processes can make on the ground when they meaningfully involve and reflect the 

priorities of the community.

For example, in Fresno, where the downtown currently operates at 5 percent of its 

economic capacity,26 Mayor Ashley Swearengin has made downtown revitalization a 

priority. As a result, the SC2 team facilitated the provision of expertise and capacitybuilding assistance from a contractor that outlined a strategy for attracting existing 

 

24 There are many examples of communities that turn themselves around by using an asset-based approach to develop 

comprehensive revitalization strategies. For example, case studies developed by Smart Growth America for EPA contract 

number EP-W-11-011 show the following: a) In Dubuque, Iowa, a citizen led effort to reinvest in Main Street, reconnect to 

the Mississippi, redevelop brownfields, and prioritize sustainability helped create “Masterpiece of the Mississippi.” As a result, the city is one of only 26 metropolitan areas out of 363 that have completely recovered jobs that were lost during the 

recession; b) Bend, Oregon is a former timber town that learned from past mistakes and the collapse of the housing market 

to refocus economic development efforts on attracting small businesses and entrepreneurs. Bend was named the most 

entrepreneurial city in the Nation by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2012. For more information, also see Hamm, Giselle and 

Norman Walzer. 2010 (April-June). “Community Visioning Programs: Processes and Outcomes” (Guest Editors’ Introduction), Community Development 42: 2: 152–155.42:2, April-June, 152-155.

25 Economic and community development literature supports the importance of developing these strategies. Pender, et al. 

write, “Strategic plans are designed to building on local assets, shore up local liabilities (where necessary), and exploit or 

achieve a comparative economic advantage that will lead to sustainable development.” For more information, see Pender, 

John, Alexander Marre, and Richard Reeder. 2012. Rural Wealth Creation: Concepts, Strategies, and Measures. Economic 

Research Service Report No. 131. Washing-ton, DC: USDA: 22

26 This calculation compares current property and sales tax revenues with potential property and sales tax revenues in 

downtown Fresno. For more information, see Fresno’s “Economic Impact Study Listing of Fulton Mall on National Register 

of Historic Places.”
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

23

economic drivers, including medical and education institutions, to locate and grow 

downtown. This strategy is also helping the city take advantage of the coming high-speed 

rail and other transportation investments, leverage previous investments in infrastructure, 

and begin to solve some existing fiscal and economic challenges through the 

redevelopment of vacant or under-used land downtown.27 

The first year of SC2 has demonstrated the potential to further promote long-term 

economic development by emphasizing the importance of comprehensive economic 

development planning. SC2’s Economic Visioning Challenge was developed to provide 

cities with the resources to craft city-specific economic development plans, accompanied 

by technical assistance from federal agencies. Other federal programs such as the EDA’s

support of the creation of Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS)28

and HUD’s Regional Planning grants29 can also provide the resources and incentives for 

communities to develop locally-driven revitalization strategies for enduring economic 

growth. Many of the places that use these programs as platforms to take stock of their 

economic assets and develop implementable visions for the future have seen great 

results.30

For example, Greensboro, one of the Economic Visioning Challenge cities, is showing that 

the CEDS process can be leveraged to effectively coordinate planning efforts across 

regions. Through its regional council, the Piedmont Triad Regional Council (PTRC), 

Greensboro is helping to develop a statewide CEDS (NC Tomorrow) built upon 16 

integrated CEDS. North Carolina is using the CEDS process as an opportunity to 

synthesize the work of many different jurisdictions and previously disparate planning 

initiatives into a single set of guiding principles, vision, and regional goals. 31 However, 

there is a need to encourage more cities and regions to take full advantage of federal 

planning resources, instead of simply treating planning processes as a compliance box to 

be checked. The success that comes with fully utilizing federal planning resources

indicates that significant potential exists for the Administration to build off these programs

and work with distressed communities to create even more robust platforms for supporting 

enduring economic growth.

 

27 Numerous studies show the fiscal and economic benefits of infill development and revitalization. For more information, 

see a discussion on economic prosperity and smart growth in the Transit Cooperative Research Program report, “TCRP 

Report 74: Costs of Sprawl,” and the Center for Community Progress report, “Restoring Properties, Rebuilding Communities,” as compiled by Smart Growth America.

28 Through EDA’s Planning Program and network of approximately 380 Economic Development Districts, CEDS are locallydeveloped, strategy-driven plans for regional economic development designed to guide the economic prosperity and resiliency of an area. CEDS provide a coordinating mechanism for individuals, community organizations, local governments, 

non-profits and private industry to engage in a meaningful conversation about the economic direction of their region.

29 The Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program supports metropolitan and multijurisdictional planning 

efforts that integrate housing, land use, economic and workforce development, transportation, and infrastructure investments in a manner that empowers jurisdictions to consider the interdependent challenges.

30 For more information on CEDS best practices, see the National Association of Development Organization’s report, “Aligning Strategies for Impact.”

31 In Greensboro, the regional CEDS will complement the work of the EDA Visioning Challenge through, a) foundational 

information that provides regional context to Visioning Challenge applicants; b) the basis for demonstrating the relationship

between the project and the regional goals; and c) additional support for implementation. For more information, see the NC 

Tomorrow Report, “Technical Report 2: Synthesis of Existing Plans.”
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

24

“The Strong Cities, Strong Communities 

initiative has allowed the opportunity for 

a bottom-up model to thrive in all seven 

cities. At the principal level, mayors are 

able to directly communicate their needs 

as the federal government follows their 

economic and community development 

plans.”

-Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department 

of Transportation, John D. Porcari

Linking transit to long-term economic development

Each SC2 city has a need for public investment in transit, rail, sidewalks and bike paths 

that attract high-quality jobs and talent, as well as bring affordable housing closer to 

schools and other destinations. For example, in Detroit, SC2 has worked with the city to 

rethink and restructure the composition of its transportation system, helping the city

access intensive technical assistance and facilitating new partnerships to support its

transportation goals.

32

 

These efforts are mirrored in Fresno, where the 

SC2 team recognized the opportunity to reroute 

the planned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines 

through the city’s top-priority downtown area. This 

supports Mayor Ashley Swearengin’s vision to 

transform the city’s downtown into a center for 

economic growth through the development of a 

vibrant transit corridor. Through a coordinated 

effort among the mayor’s office, the SC2 team, 

and multiple federal agencies, including EPA, 

DOT and HUD, the BRT lines were realigned to 

be within a block of the center of 

downtown and less than a half mile 

from the high-speed rail station site. 

The new location will complement and 

reinforce the city’s downtown 

revitalization activities and better

leverage existing federal investments in 

Fresno.33 

Transit-oriented development also plays 

a central role in Memphis, which 

received a two-part DOT TIGER grant 

that will improve connectivity to West 

Memphis via the old Harahan Railroad 

Bridge, in what is being called the “Main 

to Main Connector.” The project will 

also include pedestrian and bike access 

on previously inaccessible roads, 

including the bridge. The grant requires an integrated approach with collaboration across 

 

32 See pg 15 of the Impacts and Accomplishments section of this report for a detailed discussion of the work in support of 

the M-1 Rail project along the Woodward Corridor in Detroit.

33 According to FHWA, “Had the SC2 team not initiated coordination when it did, the costs of making changes to the BRT 

alignment at a later date would have been high and the city would have missed a tremendous opportunity to leverage a $48 

million investment—the largest transit investment in Fresno's history—to help revitalize key districts of its downtown.” For 

more information on the Fresno BRT realignment, see DOT-FHWA’s newsletter on the project.

New Orleans Mayor Mitchell J. Landrieu celebrates opening of Loyola 

Streetcar with the St. Augustine Purple Knights Marching Band

Source: USDOT, January 2013
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

25

“The Treasury has demonstrated a strong 

commitment to Community Development 

Financial Institutions (CDFIs) as they 

work to spur economic opportunity and 

increase jobs in underserved communities, 

and it’s important we continue this work. 

SC2 has provided an additional platform 

for the Treasury to build new relationships 

and strategic partnerships in distressed 

communities like Memphis, TN and Chester, PA that are showing a real impact.”

-United States Treasurer Rosie Rios

state lines, EPA regions, and DOT Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) state offices 

and among city and county government agencies.34 The project offered an opportunity for 

different agencies to come together to solve a transportation issue, support economic 

development and growth, and complement ongoing efforts via the county’s green printing 

efforts and Regional Planning Grant. Through the ongoing provision of technical 

assistance, the SC2 team provided the city with additional capacity and expertise to make 

Memphis more competitive for the TIGER grant. After these resources were awarded to 

the city, the SC2 team helped identify federal teams that facilitated environmental 

approvals to meet project timelines. 

Leveraging community-focused finance institutions to increase access to capital

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) play a significant role in distressed 

and economically recovering communities across the country by helping to increase 

access to capital to address a variety of needs.35 The U.S. Department of the Treasury 

CDFI Fund promotes economic revitalization and community development through 

investment in and assistance to CDFIs to help finance community development projects, 

but also boost a lagging economy in many distressed communities by promoting privatesector investment in these projects. Awardees of financial and technical assistance funds

from Treasury’s CDFI Fund have reported leveraging their awards with private 

investments by an average ratio of 13:1—demonstrating a good return on federal 

investments in distressed, low and moderate income communities.

The SC2 team’s work on the ground in Memphis demonstrates an opportunity for the 

federal government to deepen its ongoing work 

with strategic public and private-sector partners 

to strengthen CDFIs as a core economic 

development engine for change. The SC2 

Memphis team and the city identified and 

worked with a local non-profit, Community 

LIFT36, to incubate and launch a new CDFI, 

River City Capital Investment Corp. River City 

Capital will serve as a new financial resource for 

affordable loans and grants geared towards 

entrepreneurs and small business owners in 

three underserved, targeted neighborhoods -

Binghampton, Frayser and South Memphis. 

 

34 TIGER grants are administered by the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, an inter-agency initiative that aligns 

resources from DOT, EPA, and HUD.

35 For more information on capital absorption, see Living Cities’ publications, “The Capital Absorption Capacity of Places: A 

Self-Assessment Tool,” and “Putting Dollars to Work in the Community: 9 Things Local Government Can Do to Harness 

Private Capital for Public Good.” 

36 Community LIFT grew out of a sweeping strategic planning report, produced by a partnership of local foundations, city 

agencies, and development associations. It is designed to lead redevelopment on the neighborhood level.
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

26

Because of their ability to leverage loans from conventional banks, locally based investors 

like River City will provide local businesses with capital they need to spur investment in 

local businesses, create jobs, eradicate long-term blight, and reduce crime. 

Through technical assistance and by partnering with the Treasury CDFI Fund, this new 

affiliate of Community LIFT was awarded nearly $100,000 from the Fund.37 River City 

Capital anticipates leveraging its loan fund to approximately $1.9 million by year three for 

a possible total investment of $3.4 million and a total loan fund budget, including 

expenses and loan loss reserves, of almost $4.6 million.

Increase Regulatory Flexibility and Align Federal Programs 

SC2 has demonstrated that alignment of federal resources and coordination among 

agencies can better leverage taxpayer-funded investments and support economic 

development priorities. Yet, federal rules and regulations can sometimes be at odds with 

the greater alignment of resources locally. Even in situations in which federal waivers or 

other flexibilities do exist, localities are often unaware of them. Addressing this 

information gap between local and federal governments and across federal agencies 

could decrease the chances of wasting federal, state and local resources, increase the 

ability to benefit from existing programs, and better align programs. Going forward, the 

SC2 Council will work to disseminate the best practices outlined below to many other 

communities around the country. 

Increase awareness of existing flexibilities and resources 

In New Orleans, the SC2 team identified a rarely invoked hardship policy that enabled the 

pairing of federal and local resources to remove a rental-assistance barrier for homeless 

individuals. The local homelessness provider paired HHS Substance Abuse and Mental 

Health Services Administration (HHS-SAMHSA) grant resources with Housing Choice 

Vouchers administered by the local housing authority. Simply by invoking this existing 

hardship policy, approximately 50 homeless individuals have qualified for vouchers who 

otherwise would not have been able to meet minimum rent requirements. With more than

3,000 housing authorities nationwide, significant potential exists to ensure that other 

communities make use of this policy to support housing options for the homeless.

Also in New Orleans, $4 million of support for a $32 million redevelopment project was 

almost stalled because of a lack of awareness about an important DOT flexibility on local 

hiring. As part of the redevelopment, the city wanted to make use of FHWA and HUD 

Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). However, through CDBGs, HUD 

promotes a local hiring preference for vendors, while DOT restricts such a local hiring 

preference. As a result, the city had almost abandoned an effort to merge the two funding 

streams under a single contract. SC2 team members were able to identify a DOT pilot 

 

37 River City Capital anticipates its loan fund will grow to $1.9 million by the third year for a possible total investment of $3.4 

million and a total loan fund budget, including expenses and loan loss reserves, of nearly $4.6 million. See Memphis Business Journal’s article, “River City Capital has resources to lift urban redevelopment.” 
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

27

program, Special Experimental Projects No. 14 (SEP-14), which would allow FHWA 

dollars to be used under HUD CDBG guidelines. Because many cities are using CDBG 

funding for repairing roadways, expanding the use of SEP-14 and similar pilot programs 

and making them permanent, for specific kinds of projects, could be helpful to cities 

across the country and help promote local hiring. This innovation has not only enabled 

New Orleans to move ahead on a major infrastructure project that will create jobs, but it 

also provided DOT with the opportunity to test this new flexibility – which had not yet been 

applied to another community – with an eye toward learning about its effect on the 

competitive bid process and offering it to other communities around the country.

Align federal resources 

With the help of the SC2 team, Memphis is tackling the interconnected challenges of 

economic decline, high unemployment, and high rates of juvenile violence, especially in 

several poverty-stricken neighborhoods by coordinating interagency investments in priority 

neighborhoods. The SC2 team helped support the mayor's 25-block neighborhood 

revitalization strategy to reduce blight and improve public safety, making the city more 

competitive to receive and align additional federal resources. As a result, the city 

successfully competed to receive additional technical assistance from DOJ, in 

collaboration with the Department of Education and HUD, to build capacity in the 

neighborhoods of Frayser and Binghampton. All part of the Greater Memphis Partnership, 

led by Community LIFT38, this interagency grant will focus on revitalizing Frayser and 

Binghampton through improvements in 

education, employment, safety, and housing, all 

with an emphasis on increasing stakeholder and 

community engagement.39 As discussed above, 

Community LIFT also received technical 

assistance delivered through SC2, which has 

enabled it to incubate and launch a CDFI that 

will target these same neighborhoods.40

Increase regulatory certainty

The federal government plays a key role in 

helping communities address the challenge of 

vacant and blighted properties, which often 

require demolition. Important demolition 

regulations at the federal as well as state and 

local level vary and thus can be made more 

accessible and easy-to-follow for cities and 

developers by providing more consistent 

 

38 As discussed on pp. 23-24 of this report, Community LIFT is a Memphis non-profit that partnered with SC2 and the 

Treasury Department to incubate and launch a new CDFI, River City Capital Investment Corp.

39 For more information, see the Memphis Business Journal article, “Revitalization dollars flow in for Frayser, Binghampton.” 

40 For more information, see pg 21-25 in previous section of this report, Promote Strategies for Enduring Economic Growth.

“Communities across the country are 

looking for ways to improve environmental, economic, and public health outcomes. 

When the Environmental Protection 

Agency works with local communities on 

the investments in water infrastructure or 

the cleanup and redevelopment of previously used or contaminated sites, these 

investments produce both economic and 

environmental benefits. Strong Cities, 

Strong Communities has allowed EPA 

and its federal partners to work even more 

directly with communities to help achieve 

results. SC2 has allowed us to employ 

local solutions to meet national challenges.”

- Acting and Deputy Administrator, 

U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency, Bob Perciasepe
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

28

“As a result of the Strong Cities, Strong 

Communities engagement with the City of 

Youngstown, we have been able to build 

capacity in the areas of community and economic development as well as help put a 

solid financial plan in place for the next five 

years and improve accountability in all departments throughout city hall.”

-Youngstown Mayor 

Charles Sammarone

guidance. In recognition of this fact, as part of the SC2 deployment in Cleveland, EPA 

partnered with the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation in Cleveland to 

conduct field tests of improved residential demolition specifications for those bidding to 

perform the demolitions. The specification language and best practices are being 

developed to help organizations responsible for these demolitions to limit negative 

environmental impacts and increase community health through improved environmental 

outcomes. The results of this field test have aided EPA in the evaluation of different 

specification language and best practices that will improve its residential demolition 

guidance for communities around the country. The improved specs will create a climate 

of predictability for localities and prospective end-users of the properties by supporting a 

consistent standard for demolitions, which enables communities to better develop land 

reuse and neighborhood revitalization strategies. EPA is currently working to complete 

the resulting product from this work for use nationwide.

Deepen Partnerships with Philanthropy

At the core of SC2 is the recognition that federal, state and local governments need to 

develop a more integrated approach and build new partnerships to effectively address the 

interdisciplinary challenges facing distressed communities. Because SC2 is designed to 

find new ways to coordinate within government and with external stakeholders, partners in 

the philanthropic sector continue to be fundamental to the success of the initiative. 

Unlike governments, philanthropic organizations have greater flexibility to support local 

efforts by piloting new and innovative approaches that can inform both local decisionmaking efforts and the design of federal 

programs. Private funders support crosssector collaborations through their unique 

strengths in providing community leadership 

and local expertise, alignment and leverage of 

resources, capacity building and learning and 

innovation for scaling best practices.41 Often 

funders – community and national foundations 

alike – involved in place-based efforts are 

institutional anchors that engage in a 

combination of these roles. 

Enhancing community leadership

In Detroit, for example, the Kresge Foundation along with other partners including the 

Ford Foundation has supported the city’s participatory planning exercise that resulted in 

 

41 Business is also playing a key role in helping Mayors develop new solutions to address priority challenges. For example, 

IBM has donated $50 million worth of its employees’ time in support of its Smarter Cities Challenges grant program, a threeyear, 100-city initiative. Teams of experts deploy to “help cities formulate strategies for improving the quality of life and the 

prospects of their citizens.” See IBM Smarter Cities White Paper: “How to Reinvent a City: Mayors’ Lessons from the 

Smarter Cities Challenge.” January 2013. p.3. Available: http://smartercitieschallenge.org/executive_reports/IBM-SCCHow-to-Reinvent-a-City-Jan-2013-v2.pdf
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

29

the Detroit Future City framework. The framework provides a comprehensive assessment 

of the city’s assets and opportunities and includes recommendations for revitalization that 

will unfold over several decades. In addition to supporting the city’s plan, the Kresge 

Foundation will provide an additional $150 million to support its implementation.42 Such 

community-driven efforts can provide an important blueprint for federal government 

partners to support the local vision for economic revitalization. The SC2 team is 

evaluating the recently released Detroit Future City framework to determine how to best 

support some of the priorities with federal technical expertise.

Developing initiatives that align and leverage federal dollars

In Memphis, a partnership between philanthropy, government, and socially minded private 

investors has created a new program that could improve outcomes for the 

community. The SC2 team provided information that enabled the BioWorks Foundation to 

apply for EPA funding to examine how Social Impact Bonds (SIBs), or the Pay for 

Success model,43 could be used to implement effective green jobs training 

programs. EPA funded approximately $60,000 worth of technical assistance for Memphis 

to develop and implement SIBs to create more job training opportunities and to implement 

recycling and organics recovery programs.

Providing resources for municipal capacity building 

Philanthropy plays a key role in strengthening a community’s capacity and skills to 

address its challenges and articulate a vision for its future. For example, the Surdna 

Foundation emphasizes the importance of peer learning, sharing of best practices, and 

supporting local capacity to foster communities “distinguished by healthy environments, 

strong local economies and thriving cultures.”44 Surdna has funded and partnered with the 

German Marshall Fund to run technical assistance “bootcamps” in the various SC2 pilot 

locations. The bootcamps will bring together local practitioners, government leaders, and 

non-profit organizations to discuss and develop strategies and practical approaches to 

address a broad range of issues such as economic development and strategic planning. 

Other community foundations provide financial and technical support directly to public 

sector institutions, for example the partnerships that the Raymond John Wean Foundation 

has forged with the City of Youngstown to address a number of priorities facing the 

community.45 The Wean Foundation provided insight and expertise based on its work on 

the ground during the SC2 assessment phase in Youngstown. 

 

42 For more information about Detroit Future City and the Kresge Foundation’s role, see Kresge’s news release on the project. For information about the Ford Foundation’s role in Detroit Future City, see the Ford Foundation’s news release

43 Pay for Success is a market-driven approach to address the lack of results often achieved by governments and nonprofits for social programs, while engaging investors and philanthropies in a new framework that funds the achievement of 

measurable outcomes. For more information, see the Center for American Progress report, “Social Impact Bonds: A Promising New Financing Model to Accelerate Social Innovation and Improve Government Performance” and the 

WhiteHouse.gov page on “Paying for Success.”

44 See Surdna Foundation’s website: http://www.surdna.org/what-we-fund/funding-overview.html

45 See the Raymond John Wean Foundation’s website: https://www.rjweanfdn.org/CommunityInvestment.aspx
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

30

“One of the greatest strengths of the 

Strong Cities, Strong Communities 

Initiative is that it is based on 

listening to local communities about 

their needs and building collaborative 

partnerships to achieve results. 

AmeriCorps, Senior Corps and 

AmeriCorps VISTA national service 

programs and citizen volunteers are 

part of on-the-ground solutions that 

are both innovative and sustainable. 

At a time when resources are scarce, 

the active participation of community 

members and volunteers allows many 

cities to better meet the most pressing 

needs of business and resident alike.”

-Chief Executive Officer, 

Corporation for National and 

Community Service, 

Wendy Spencer

Finally, well-established federal service programs, 

such as AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service 

to America), work in partnership with philanthropy 

and community organizations to offer some unique 

resources that can help communities add to their 

bench of expertise and capacity by recruiting 

young- to mid-career professionals. Municipalities 

often may not be aware that they can work directly 

with the Corporation for National and Community 

Service’s (CNCS’s) state offices to apply for and 

acquire VISTA service members who also 

possess skill sets in budgeting, city management, 

or planning. SC2 teams have already helped 

cities partner with CNCS. In addition, both Fresno 

and Memphis have leveraged these programs 

through partnerships with local nonprofits to 

expand their own capacity to tackle local issues 

while putting in place long-term plans to sustain 

the work after national service members end their 

service term. In these and other localities, the cities are exploring how to deploy VISTA 

volunteers to help support other priority needs.

Supporting learning and innovation 

By supporting new and innovative ideas, philanthropy also funds critical projects that have 

been pilot tested and can inform the design of federal programs. For example, the 

lessons and best practices from philanthropic work informed the design of the SC2 

fellowship program, which is funded with a $2.5 million donation from the Rockefeller 

Foundation and administered by a consortium led by the German Marshall Fund of the 

United States.46 The SC2 fellowship program was modeled in part from the University of 

Pennsylvania’s Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence (CUREx), which placed 

young professionals in redevelopment agencies across the nation for 2-year 

engagements. CUREx was developed to create a pipeline of talent into the urban and 

community redevelopment field. The success of the program led to the creation of the 

Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, a similar program that provided fellows to help 

improve the conditions for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. During the course of 

several months, HUD engaged the creators of CUREx and other stakeholders to learn 

from the model and adapt it to help meet the needs of the SC2 pilot cities. 

 

46 See GMF’s website: http://www.gmfus.org/programs/urban-and-regional-policy-program/strong-cities-strong-communitiesfellowship/
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

31

Enhance the Skills of Federal Employees 

The federal staff who comprised the SC2 

teams, more than 90 percent of whom are 

career federal employees, have broadly 

praised the SC2 experience in terms of 

professional development. According to a 

survey conducted among all federal SC2 

team members, more than 65 percent of SC2 

members are very satisfied with their job, 

compared to just 28 percent who reported 

being very satisfied before their SC2 

engagement, and 89 percent of respondents 

would recommend joining an SC2 team to a 

colleague. Team members say their SC2 

experience provided important professional 

development opportunities, made them more 

productive, and enabled them to better 

understand and be more sensitive to the 

needs of local governments. 

Participating federal agencies have also benefited from devoting staff to SC2. Managers 

at these agencies have expressed the benefit of having programmatic and policy staff 

gain invaluable field experience that is disseminated when they return to their regular 

assignments. Participants return from the experience energized, with more skills, and a 

new perspective that encourages innovation and greater responsiveness to local needs in 

federal agency policymaking. At a critical time for the federal government to recruit and 

retain talented and energetic employees, and to do more with less, SC2 is providing an 

important model to pursue staff developmental rotations and then disseminate that 

learning. The SC2 Council is exploring avenues with senior leadership at various 

agencies to make future SC2 team positions for federal staff more widely available as a 

complement to recruitment, retention, and skills development strategies.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Employee Satisfaction Among FullTime SC2 Team Members

pre-CST

post-CST

What Federal Employees Are Saying About Their SC2 Experience

“It has allowed me to better understand local government and its interaction with county, state 

and federal government. It will help me do my job better by being more sensitive to the working 

environment of local government.”

“This was an experience of a lifetime. I have had the opportunity to work on complex problems...from the city's perspective. I hope to stay engaged with the city and continue seeking 

solutions to the complex range of difficulties and changes facing my assigned city.” 

“This is the best job that I’ve ever had. It’s centered on helping people, it’s entrepreneurial—

fully what you make it—and it’s educational. I’ve learned a lot.” 
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

32

Next Steps for the SC2 Initiative

SC2 is planning to expand its reach and policy work in order to continue to transform the 

way federal government partners with economically distressed communities. During the 

next year, SC2 will continue to grow in a number of key areas: 

Create ladders of opportunity and invest in Promise Zones 

Working with local leadership, President Obama is proposing to align a number of his 

signature revitalization initiatives from U.S. Departments of Education, Housing and 

Urban Development, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Justice, and Agriculture to 

ensure that federal programs and resources are focused intensely on 20 communities 

hardest hit by the recession.47 The Administration will designate each of these areas as 

Promise Zones through a transparent, competitive process that will bring a number of

programs to bear, including targeted investments to transform high poverty communities 

into places of opportunity, tax incentives to stimulate growth, and increased partnerships 

with local leadership. As these Promise Zones are designated, the SC2 Council will 

continue to support this effort, especially by helping local leaders navigate federal 

programs, cut red tape, and use federal resources more effectively. 

Select second round of pilot communities to receive SC2 teams

The work in the first cohort of SC2 pilot sites has demonstrated the increased efficiency 

and responsiveness that result from embedding seasoned federal employees in a limited 

number of municipal governments to help address capacity through technical advice, 

best-practice sharing, and peer-to-peer learning. It has also demonstrated the need for 

better information-sharing in communities about available federal resources and 

regulatory flexibility. In addition, the work in the first cohort has provided a rich learning 

opportunity not only for pilot locations but also for the federal government to improve its 

programs and practices. In light of these ongoing benefits, SC2 will be inviting an 

additional number of economically distressed communities to apply to receive a SC2 team 

later in calendar year 2013. Partnering with a second round of SC2 communities will 

expand the reach of the initiative’s impact while providing an additional set of locations 

from which to draw important lessons related to technical assistance delivery and federal 

policy. This expansion to new sites will be in addition to the support that SC2 provides to 

Promise Zones after those locations are competitively selected. 

Build SC2 Network to promote best practices and peer learning 

The SC2 National Resource Network will apply the SC2 model of customized federal 

technical assistance to a larger number of local governments. The SC2 Network will (1) 

provide a single portal for economically distressed communities to access a wide array of 

 

47 See “Fact Sheet: The President’s Plan to Ensure Hard Work Leads to a Decent Living”
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

33

short-term technical assistance (both operational and programmatic); (2) disseminate best 

practices and promote peer-to-peer learning; and (3) establish local resource networks, 

establishing new public-private partnerships, to better leverage existing community

assets. Based on the SC2 Network’s work in communities, the Network administrator will 

work closely with the SC2 Council to provide important feedback to the Administration 

about ongoing trends, barriers and opportunities related to federal policy and investments 

in technical assistance. 

Transition SC2 Team Roles and Skills to City Staff and Fellows in Pilot Cities 

As the work of the SC2 teams winds down in the current seven pilot locations by the

summer or fall 2013, the SC2 Council will be working with each SC2 team to plan for a 

responsible transition of roles and skills to the fellows who will remain behind in each city. 

The SC2 teams will be working closely with their city counterparts to put in place a plan so 

that, as “alumni” of the SC2 Initiative, the current pilot locations continue to have access to 

tailored technical assistance facilitated by the SC2 Council staff and the National 

Resource Network after the teams exit. 

Continue to Identify Regulatory Barriers, Innovations and Best Practices 

As discussed in the Policy Lessons and Innovations section, the pilot phase of SC2 

surfaced important lessons and innovations pertaining to better alignment of federal 

resources, regulatory barriers, and public-private partnerships, among other areas. The 

SC2 Council will continue to consider and elevate these lessons as the Administration 

formulates policies to support economically distressed communities. 

Deepen Federal Partnerships with Philanthropy 

SC2 has illustrated that when the federal government adopts some of the best practices 

and models tested in the philanthropic and private sectors, it can have a transformative 

impact on its traditional approaches to partnering with local communities. SC2 will 

continue to pursue opportunities for deeper philanthropic partnerships and peer-learning. 

Lessons Learned from SC2 Pilots 

As mentioned previously, an evaluation of the SC2 teams is currently underway. Federal 

agencies are collaboratively funding a third-party evaluator to assess the overall work of 

the SC2 teams, how their activities have been implemented, the experience of SC2 team 

participants and local partners, and what participants have learned that can be used to 

enhance future program implementation. The evaluation will achieve these goals through 

key informant interviews, site visits, and focus groups, and by analyzing other relevant 

information. These results will be incorporated to improve the design and work of the SC2 

Initiative going forward. 

In addition to participating in the formal evaluation, returning SC2 team members 

continuously provide valuable feedback that will help future teams increase their impact 

on the ground. The first cohort made it clear that having direct relationships between key 
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

34

city officials and federal staff in Washington increases efficiency and facilitates quick 

action, but that relationships with program staff with in-depth on-the-ground knowledge 

are also critical. Similarly, to understand what works and does not work, team members

thought it was critical to listen to and collaborate with those who are already working on 

combining funding streams at the local level. The SC2 Council will continue to seek 

feedback from SC2 team members improve the program, increase the benefits it brings to 

distressed cities, and improve the design of the next round of Community Solution Teams 

deployed. 
STRONG CITIES, STRONG COMMUNITIES

35

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