City of Flint Added to Strong Cities, Strong Communities Initiative

The City of Flint was one of seven cities from around the country named to President Obama's Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative (SC2).

The goal of SC2 is to help cities more effectively invest existing resources, provide advice and expertise in support of local priorities, better align federal programs and investments, and facilitate new partnerships and peer learning possibilities when possible. SC2 will deploy Inter-agency federal experts to work alongside city leadership, community organizations, local businesses and other to help support the community's cities' visions for economic growth and development. Federal staffers will head to each city beginning this month to assist local leaders and along with ongoing technical assistance from various federal agencies, at least one federal staffer will be placed in the City to advance implementation of a Master Plan.

In a statement, Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said "it's an honor for the City of Flint to join the next group of Strong Cities, Strong Communities. SC2 will bring additional capacity to the implementation of the new Master Plan for a Sustainable Flint and to the innovative work being done here to improve economic opportunity, neighborhood safety and quality of life for all of Flint's residents."

Michigan's Fifth District Congressman, Dan Kildee of Flint, said Flint being designated into the SC2 program "will help coordinate and direct federal programs and investments to spark additional growth and opportunity in Flint. I have spent most of my career focusing on reinventing America's older, industrial cities like Flint, Saginaw and Bay City, and a true collaborative partnership like this designation with the federal government is vital to our success."

The SC2 program was established by President Obama in 2011 as an innovative and flexible program designed to strengthen local capacity, coordinate federal investments, and spark economic growth in economically distressed communities by providing technical advice and expertise from federal staff.

In addition to Flint, St. Louis, MO; Gary, Ind; Macon, GA; Brownsville, TX; Rockford, Ill; and Rocky Mounty, NC were also selected.