At the recent symposium in New York City, The National Association of Counties (NACo) Large Urban County Caucus released a report highlighting a variety of innovative programs in urban counties throughout the country.  NACo defines large urban counties as those counties that are home to 500,000 residents or more.

The event brought together more than three dozen county leaders from 18 states in meetings focused on health care, justice system reforms, sustainable transportation  and disaster preparedness. As reported by NACo,

Guest speakers included Molly Ward, White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs; Gillian Sealy, Clinton Foundation; Vincent Schiraldi, probation commissioner, New York City; and Bruce Katz, vice president, Brookings Institution and founding director of Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program.

For more information, see the news release from the National Association of Counties.

The report, Spotlight on Large Urban Counties: Leadership in Action, highlights noteworthy initiatives of 23 large urban counties in areas such as economic development, health, justice, resilience, technology, and transportation and infrastructure.  The report features examples of county work including redevelopment of superfund sites, methane extraction from landfills, and public-private workforce training compacts. As described in the introduction, several themes emerge:

• Multi-Sector Partnerships
• Investments to Drive Economic Growth
• Streamlined Services for Dependent Populations
•  Youth Engagement

For more information, read the full report.