Tallahassee Wins NLC Award
City’s Summer Youth Employment Program Spotlighted for Community Collaboration
March 12, 2018
Today, the National League of Cities' (NLC) announced that the City of Tallahassee has won its City Cultural Diversity Award. Last week, NLC announced that the City was one of two finalists for the award in the 50,001-200,000 population category. At this morning's Diversity Awards Breakfast during the Congressional City Conference in Washington, D.C., NLC solidified the City's top placement, announcing it as the first place winner. The prestigious award is presented each year in recognition of programs that demonstrate quality and innovation in relation to the many aspects of cultural diversity.
The City won the award due to its Tallahassee Future Leaders Academy (TFLA), which provides teens with mentorship, job readiness training, financial literacy education, college exposure and summer employment. NLC called the program, "a shining example of diversity and total community collaboration and partnership."
"We all know the immense positive impacts of TFLA, but now cities, both large and small, from all across our nation know it too," Mayor Andrew Gillum said. "This is a transformational program for the young people earning the professional experience and for the employers who put them to work. We are proud to be recognized by the NLC, and we can't wait to get the 2018 cohort started!"
The eight-week program begins with two weeks of job readiness training followed by six weeks of paid employment. Employment placements are offered through the City of Tallahassee, private organizations and local businesses around the Tallahassee area. Over 500 area youth have already registered to participate in the upcoming 2018 program.
The NLC award program is designed to encourage citizen involvement in local government-sponsored activities and enhance and show the appreciation of cultural diversity as a way of life in municipalities. To learn more, visit www.nlc.org/city-cultural-diversity-awards.
To learn more about the City's TFLA program, including how to become a business partner, visit Talgov.com/TFLA.
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