Erwin & Gann Hear About Affordable Housing, Economic Growth

PRESS RELEASE FROM CITY: Mayor Ronnie Erwin and Vice Mayor Jerry Gann joined community leaders from around the country last week to discuss innovative solutions to the 21st century challenges facing cities and towns at the National League of Cities (NLC) Congress of Cities in Reno, Nev.

More than 3,500 mayors, council members and other municipal officials came together to help shape the NLC federal policy agenda for the year ahead and learn new ideas that they can bring home to help address problems in their communities.

Both participated in conference sessions with noted speakers, including former U.S. Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development and affordable housing advocates Jack Kemp and Henry Cisneros, leadership guru Kevin Carroll and "Web of Inclusion" author Sally Helgesen. In addition to discussing pressing issues such as affordable housing, participants took home enhanced leadership skills to help their communities implement effective solutions. Civil rights leader Rev. Josehph A. Lowry and philanthropist Catherine Reynolds also offered their unique perspectives on leadership.

In addition to the larger sessions, NLC's Congress of Cities offered delegates a wide variety of workshop aimed at addressing specific community needs, sharing effective tools and resources and learning from hands-on experiences through "mobile workshops" help throughout the greater Reno and Sparks area. Workshops centered around six key issues of critical importance to cities and towns:

How to Create a Strong Local Infrastructure
How to Prepare for the Unexpected
How to pay for Essential Services
How to Keep Your Economy Strong
How to Make your City a Great Place to Live
How to Engage and Communicate with Citizens

The National League of Cities is a resource and advocate for 19,000 U.S. cities, towns and villages, which collectively serve 218 million people. For details on the conference, visit www.nlc.org.

NOTE: I've said it before and will say it again, I am so thrilled that LaVergne sends people to this conference. It appears that between this and the other economic development conference that's attended each year is beginning to pay off as we're seeing some more business coming to LaVergne. Hey guys... if you want, I'll come along next year! Oh wait, where's it going to be first? :)