By Wesley Prater

Earlier this week, the National League of Cities (NLC) announced the selection of 22 cities to participate in two leadership academies focused on expanding access to care for children and families through the development of citywide outreach and campaigns.

Through funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies, NLC will host the leadership academies as part of its NLC’s Cities Expanding Access to Health Care for Children and Families Initiative. The leadership academies will be held in Denver (July 25-26) and Baltimore (September 17-18), and each city will have three-person teams consisting of local elected officials, senior municipal staff, and other stakeholders. The teams will learn outreach and enrollment strategies from national experts (including our own Tricia Brooks) and other cities that have taken steps to increase child enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Selected cities include:

Aurora, CO;

Baltimore, MD;

Chula Vista, CA;

Columbia, PA;

Dallas, TX;

Gainesville, FL;

Garden City, MI;

Groesbeck, TX;

Hattiesburg, MS

Houston, TX;

Jackson, MI;

Jacksonville, FL;

Las Vegas, NV;

Miami Beach, FL;

New Bedford, MA;

Newark, NJ;

Omaha, NE;

Portland, ME;

Providence, RI;

Savannah, GA;

Tucson, AZ; and

Wilson, NC

As you may recall from my previous blog about the project, the 22 cities participating in the leadership academies will be eligible to apply for planning grants of up to $30,000 later this year and then up to six cities will be selected for the initiative’s implementation grants of up to $130,000 per year over two years.

You can learn more about the details of the project here.

Congratulations to these cities on this great opportunity to improve outreach and enrollment for children and families!