Cities, Counties, Kids, and Families: The Essential Role of Local Government

By Sidney L. Gardner

(click to enlarge)	University Press of America
	List Price: $43.00   Paper 0-7618-3094-4 / 978-0-7618-3094-8   Feb 2005 272pp European customers click here

"Gardner, president of Children and Family Futures, a nonprofit organization that provides planning, evaluation, and consulting services to government agencies, community organizations, and schools, is a veteran who has spent decades in the trenches. He offers extensive, relevant information and savvy advice. As a reult, this volume is an excellent handbook that ranges comfortably between specific examples and general lessons.Summing Up: RECOMMENDED. General readers, upper-division undergraduates and professionals/practitioners."—E.T. Jones, University of Missouri—St. Louis Choice

Cities, Counties, Kids, and Families outlines a model for developing strategic policy for responding to children and family issues in local governments. It also discusses fifteen strategic roles that local government can play-most of which do not require direct funding, but depends upon the scarce resource of leadership. The book describes policy and analytical tools used by cities and counties, and makes a case for using these tools more strategically. It calls for strategic policy to respond to the four critical forces affecting children and family policy: families; race and culture; communities and neighborhoods; and regionalism. Finally, the book reviews policy in four critical areas affecting local governments: education and school readiness; substance abuse; youth development; and family support programs. It concludes with predictions of issues that will affect cities and counties in the future.

About the Author
Sidney L. Gardner serves as President of Children and Family Futures, a non-profit firm based in Irvine, California, which provides planning, evaluation and consulting services to government agencies, community-based organizations, and schools. Mr. Gardner served as Director of California State University, Fullerton's Center for Collaboration for Children, a consultant to the White House Domestic Council, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Director of the Hartford Private Industry Council, and an elected member of the City Council in Hartford, Connecticut. He graduated from Occidental College and was awarded a Master's degree in Public Affairs from Princeton University and a Master's degree in Religious Studies from Hartford Seminary.

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