Nearly 450 mayors, city councilmembers, senior municipal staff - along with their school and community partners - from over 150 cities and towns across America gathered in San Antonio from Sept. 30-Oct. 2 for the 2007 National Summit on Your City’s Families.

The Summit is the nation's largest gathering of municipal leaders who are working to improve the lives of children, youth, and families in their communities.

The Summit offered local leaders the unique opportunity to learn first-hand how other communities are successfully solving key problems and making their cities better places for families to live and children to thrive.  Participants had the opportunity to learn and share strategies for improving public schools, expanding afterschool programs, promoting early childhood success, helping families achieve financial stability, preventing youth violence, engaging youth, and many other topics in a broad range of workshops, sessions, and site visits.

National Summit 2007 Welcome
Clifford M. Johnson, Executive Director, NLC Institute for Youth, Education and Families

“Building Strong Futures for Children, Families, and Communities”
Introduction: Dennis Campa, Director, Department of Community Initiatives,City of San Antonio, Texas
Keynote Speaker: Ralph Smith, Senior Vice President, Annie E. Casey Foundation

Opening General Session Welcome
Donald J. Borut, Executive Director, National League of Cities

The Power of Municipal Leadership: City Roles in Forging Partnerships for Children, Youth and Families
Moderator: Clifford M. Johnson, Executive Director, NLC Institute for Youth, Education,and Families Panelists: The Honorable Melvin L. “Kip” Holden, Mayor-President, City of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish, La.; 2007 Chair, NLC Council on Youth,Education, and Families; Sylvia Lovely, Executive Director and CEO, Kentucky League of Cities and President, NewCities Institute; The Honorable Cynthia McCollum, Councilmember, City of Madison, Ala. and NLC First Vice President; and Charles Royer, President, Institute for Community Change; Former Mayor, City of Seattle, Wash.

“Investing in the Next Generation of Our Human Capital”
Introduction: Henry Cisneros, former U.S. Secretary for Housing and Urban Development, and former Mayor of San Antonio
The Honorable Lou Ogden, Mayor, Tualatin, Ore.; 2007 Vice Chair, NLC Council on Youth, Education, and Families Keynote Speaker: The Honorable John Hickenlooper, Mayor, City of Denver, Colo.

“The Changing Face of Our Communities: City Responses to Emerging Demographic Trends”
Moderator: Rebecca Chapa, Assistant Editorial Page Editor, San Antonio Express-News Panelists: Kica Matos, Community Services Administrator, City of New Haven, Conn. The Honorable Les Heitke, Mayor, City of Willmar, Minn. Dario Moreno, Ph.D., Director, The Metropolitan Center, Florida International University

Opening News Conference: What Cities are Doing to Strengthen Families
Baton Rouge Mayor Melvin L. “Kip” Holden, Chair of the NLC Council on Youth, Education, and Families
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper
Madison, Ala., Council Member and NLC 1st Vice President Cynthia McCollum
San Antonio Director of Community Initiatives Dennis Campa