The National League of Cities (NLC) selected the City of Edgewood for honorary mention in the 2022 Cultural Diversity Awards.
An organization comprised of municipality leaders focused on improving the quality of life for their current and future constituents, the NLC’s mission is to strengthen local leadership, influence federal policy and drive innovative solutions. More than 2,000 cities claim NLC membership. The Cultural Diversity Awards honor community leadership in developing creative and effective programs to improve cultural diversity.
Submissions for the awards program were grouped by size, and evaluated for creativity, impact on the community and scope of the program. The partnership between the City of Edgewood and the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce (NKY Chamber) was awarded second place in the under 50,000 population category.
“It was an honor for the City of Edgewood to be chosen by the Northern Kentucky Chamber as a partner in receiving this recognition,” said John Link, Mayor of the City of Edgewood. “We served as a conduit to highlight the outstanding work that the NKY Chamber’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee is doing for our region. Our cities, businesses and residents are better today because of this program. We still have much work to do in the future and we look forward to continuing our partnership with the NKY Chamber.”
The Northern Kentucky Chamber’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee’s entry was chosen from more than a dozen community programs from across the country that submitted applications for the 2022 awards.
“Despite the challenges that communities continue to face today, local leaders remain deeply committed to diversity, innovation, access and inclusivity to the benefit of all their residents,” said NLC President and Mayor of Union City, GA, Vince Williams. “The National League of Cities is proud to recognize the winners of this year’s 2022 Cultural Diversity Awards and celebrate these programs aimed at fulfilling the promise of America’s cities, towns and villages.”
John Hawkins, President of MPI Consulting and leader of the NKY Chamber’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s (DEI) Measures and Metrics subcommittee was one of the leaders behind the NLC application. John also represented the NKY Chamber at the awards ceremony, part of the NLC’s 2022 Congressional City Conference in Washington, D.C. He is very proud of the NLC’s recognition of the NKY Metro’s DEI efforts, saying, “NKY is becoming more diverse everyday and the efforts being made to create a more inclusive and welcoming culture is essential for our long term success. We are attracting more diverse businesses and individuals in our community and retaining this diversity will be a source of our future success. There is good work that is happening, but there is more to be done.”
He hopes the NLC recognition will encourage others to join those efforts and discover how the NKY Metro is growing in many ways.
“We are putting our best foot forward locally, regionally and nationally, in helping to reinforce that NKY is open for business to people of all cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Having raised a family here, I can say first hand that this is a great place to raise a family and start a business. We are not perfect, but we are definitely looking ahead to our future versus focusing on our past. ” Hawkins said. “We want people to know they can come here be successful, grow their families and help to meet critical needs that we have in our community.”
To learn more about NLC Cultural Diversity Award winners, visit www.nlc.org.
City of Edgewood