Official Publication of the National League of Cities OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES
NATION’S CITIES WEEKLY
Volume 34, Number 13 | April 4, 2011

IN THIS ISSUE
www.nlc.org
PAGE 2

PAGE 3
Home Ownership Still Viewed as
Essential to the American Dream
PAGE 3
Local Leaders Asked to Host
Community Discussions for Earth Day
PAGE 4
Audioconference to Focus on Municipal
Leadership for Black Male Achievement

CDBG WORKS
Chillicothe, Ohio, Business Owners Revitalize Their
Downtown with CDBG Funds

by Stephanie Spirer
and Denise Belser
As the original capital of
Ohio, the City of Chillicothe
gets its name from the Shawnee
Indians’ word meaning “princi-
pal town.” Chillicothe is home
to more than 22,000 people
and, like many other American
cities, its local economy has
been affected by the recession
— slowing business activity and
increasing unemployment. But
a deliberate plan to diversify the
economy has helped and the
city is experiencing growth in
some areas, particularly in its
downtown.

“These types of incentives
help small businesses by allow-
ing property owners to make
investments that are good for
communities, especially smaller
ones like Chillicothe,” explained
Marvin Jones, president of the
Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of
Commerce.
Chillicothe used some of its
CDBG funds to provide busi-
ness owners in the distressed
downtown area with matching
grants to enhance the down-
town’s quality of life through
improvements to properties’
facades, roofs and HVAC sys-
tems. The city more than dou-
bled its $400,000 grant by lever-
aging the funds into improve-
ments worth over $1 million.
According to Chillicothe
Mayor Joseph Sulzer, the city
uses CDBG funding “to make
the city a more viable, safe and

see page 8, column 1
Community Development Block Grant funds have helped Chillicothe, Ohio, leverage $1 million to revitalize its downtown
area./ Photo by Marvin Jones, president and CEO of Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce
NBC-LEO Presents City Cultural Diversity Awards

by Rikka Batulan

Newspaper Handling

The 2011 City Cultural Diversity
Awards were presented to four cities by
NLC’s National Black Caucus of Local
Elected Officials (NBC-LEO) at this
year’s Congressional City Conference.
Cities honored include: Southfield,
Mich., (first place, population category
25,001–100,000); Fargo, N.D. (run-
ner-up, population category 25,001–
100,000); Hollywood, Fla., (first place,
population category 100,001–400,000);
and Rochester, Minn., (runner-up pop-
ulation category 100,001–400,000).
The awards were presented at the
Celebrate Diversity Breakfast, which is
cosponsored by all of NLC’s constitu-
ency groups: the Asian Pacific American
Municipal Officials (APAMO); the
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender

Rochester, Minn., Mayor Ardell F. Brede, center, accepts a City Cultural Diversity Award during
the Congressional City Conference./ Photo by Steve Schneider

Local Officials (GLBTLO); the Hispanic
Elected Local Officials (HELO); the
National Black Caucus of Local Elected see page 6, column 1
Officials (NBC-LEO); and Women