June 17, 2011 – Lakewood won the coveted 2011 All-America City Award tonight from the National Civic League, recognizing the City’s collaboration with a wide range of community organizations and residents to accomplish three significant projects.
Video: Why IS Lakewood an All-America City?!
The All-America City Award is a long-standing and prestigious award given by the National Civic League to 10 communities each year to recognize their ability to bring residents, organizations and government together to solve the challenges in their communities. The announcement of the 10 cities was made tonight at a ceremony in Kansas City, Mo.
“This is a meaningful award for the City of Lakewood and all its partners in the community,” said Mayor Bob Murphy. “This award reflects the culture of Lakewood, which is that our residents, our businesses and our nonprofit organizations work together to find better ways to serve those who live and work in the city. That culture remains unchanged from the time when the city’s incorporation was founded on our eclectic neighborhoods coming together to create Lakewood.”
The City also won an additional honor, the Diversity Award for extraordinary and innovative success in advancing diversity and inclusiveness in the community. This is the first year for the Diversity Award.
Twenty-three cities that range from Buffalo, New York, Fort Worth, Texas, and Fayetteville, N.C., to Kenai, Alaska, and Taylor Landing, Texas, with a population of 228, competed for the award. Each city submitted a written application and then made a presentation to an 11-member jury consisting of experts in civic engagement and community collaboration from nonprofit or charitable organizations and governmental entities.
Watch Lakewood's presentation to the jury.
Watch the Awards Presentation.
Lakewood submitted the three following projects. First is the multiyear and multipronged planning effort to renew West Colfax Avenue by providing new zoning that expands land-use opportunities and to plan for the coming West Corridor light-rail line and its stations to manage coming changes and to facilitate the best development in the right locations. This effort involved nearly a 1,000 residents. Second is the Greening Lakewood Business Partnership to bring energy-efficient retrofits to the more than 1,500 older, existing office and commercial buildings in Lakewood. Third is the opening of the Jefferson County branch of the Boys and Girls Club at O’Connell Middle School in Lakewood, an effort that involved the entire community rallying around the goal of providing a special and safe place for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged youth in Lakewood.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our community,” said City Manager Kathy Hodgson. “All of these projects are examples of the residents, businesses and nonprofits taking action and the City providing the help and support it could to accomplish what the community wanted.”
The only other major cities in Colorado to be named All-America City are Aurora and Colorado Springs. For more information on the All-America City Award, visit www.AllAmericaCityAward.com.
Lakewood’s winning the All-America City Award could not have been accomplished without the generous support of the Alameda Gateway Community Association, the Alameda Corridor Business Improvement District, Jim Havey Productions, the Learning Source, the West Chamber Serving Jefferson County, the West Colfax Community Association, the Boys and Girls Club, FirstBank, the Applewood Business Association, the South Lakewood Business Association, the Lakewood-West Colfax Business Improvement District Formation, PEI Insurance, Sotiros and Sotiros and City Council member Sue King.
