Battle Creek Competes For “All-America City” Award

For nearly seven decades, the All-America City Award – once called the “Nobel Prize for constructive citizenship” – has been handed out to more than 500 communities across the country.   Battle Creek is sending a delegation of fifteen city leaders to Denver to make a presentation this weekend.   Tony the Tiger, Mayor Behnke, and City Manager Rebecca Fluery will be among them.

Fluery, Battle Creek City Communications Manager Jessica Vanderkolk, and BC Vision's Olivia Harvey were guests on the 95.3 WBCK Morning Show with Tim Collins. They all leave Thursday night for Denver Colorado, where they'll rehearse and then deliver a 10-minute presentation, stating Battle Creek's case.   At the center of the effort is "BC Vision", which is bringing many local organizations, municipalities and companies together to move Battle Creek forward as a community.

Founded in 1949, the All-America City Award will focus on promoting equity through inclusive civic engagement. The Award is open to all American communities, from major cities, counties and regions to tribes, neighborhoods, towns and villages.  In applying, communities reflect on their strengths, weaknesses, challenges and the progress they have made.

Each year hundreds of leaders, volunteers, and young people from the finalist communities travel to Denver to present the story of their work and their community to a jury of national experts. The awards conference includes workshops on promising practices.   Half of the twenty finalists will be honored as "All America Cities."