National Civic League

National Civic League is a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization vigorously promoting the principles of collaborative problem solving and consensus-based decision making in local community building. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, NCL accomplishes its mission through technical assistance, training, publishing, research, and the All-America City Award program.

History

In 1894, more than 100 educators, journalists, business leaders, and policymakers met in Philadelphia to discuss the future of American cities. Among the turn of the century progressives who attended the two day conference were Marshall Field, Charles William Eliot, Frederick Law Olmsted, Mary Mumford, Louis Brandeis and Theodore Roosevelt. This gathering, which marked the birth of NCL, would serve as a nationwide call to civic action. The National Municipal League, as it was then known, would help local reform groups learn from each other's successes and failures, and develop specific proposals for making city governments more honest, efficient and effective.

Mission

NCL entered the 1990s with a mission to foster collaboration between citizens, government, business, and nonprofit organizations in identifying and solving community problems. Although some of the terms have changed, the role of NCL today remains the same as it was 100 years ago - encouraging the greatest possible involvement of citizens in the governance of their own communities.