(October 11, 2018 - New York City) – The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) today released Creating Champions of Change: Advocacy for Intelligent Communities. The new research report shares dynamics, strategies and successful examples of Advocacy in action in four Intelligent Communities.

An Intelligent Community integrates smart people, facilities, equipment, data and policies into a united and common direction. Advocacy is that unifying element – gathering and aligning local initiatives in Broadband, Knowledge Workforce, Digital Equity, Innovation and Sustainability into a broadly shared and understood narrative. Momentum with intention. Successful Advocacy coalesces a community’s character and conveys a public identity to the world. It energizes economic development, investment attraction and business formation because the community has built a unique vision of its culture and its future.

Creating Champions of Change focuses on Arlington County, VA, USA, a three-time Top7 Community; Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, a Top7 Community in 2018; Moscow, Russia, also a Top7 Community in 2018; and Whanganui, New Zealand, a Top7 Community in 2016. The report shares how municipal governments, not-for-profits and individuals in these communities have engaged in the slow and difficult process of building a common understanding of the challenges facing the community and cultivating a shared vision for overcoming them.

“Advocacy is the glue that binds together every aspect of an Intelligent Community’s progress,” said co-founder and report editor Robert Bell. “Citizens can either be the greatest advocates for change, or its greatest obstacle, and Intelligent Communities know how to harness individual commitment for public benefit.”

The report is available free for ICF Members, and for purchase for non-members.

About the Intelligent Community Forum
The Intelligent Community Forum (www.intelligentcommunity.org), headquartered in New York, is a global movement of 170 cities, metro regions and counties with a think tank at its heart and a mission to make everyone’s “hometown” at great place. ICF studies and promotes the best practices of the world's Intelligent Communities as they adapt to the new demands and seize the opportunities presented by information and communications technology (ICT). To help cities and regions build prosperous economies, solve social problems and enrich local cultures, the Intelligent Community Forum conducts research, hosts events around the globe, publishes books, and produces its high-profile annual international awards program. The Forum sponsors research Institutes in North America dedicated to the study of the movement, and national organizations in Canada and Taiwan, both home to many Intelligent Communities. In 2012 ICF was invited to participate at the Nobel Peace Prize conference in Oslo and in 2014, its model and work was recognized by the U.S. Department of Commerce under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which, according to the American government, was "aimed at creating a more flexible and responsive system of workforce development to meet the needs of employers looking to fill 21st century jobs.” The Forum’s membership is made up of 170 designated Intelligent Communities worldwide. For more information, go to www.intelligentcommunity.org/icf_membership. For more details on the Intelligent Community Forum’s recent publications and programs, www.intelligentcommunity.org.

Intelligent Community Forum Contacts
Matthew Owen
Director of Operations
Intelligent Community Forum
Phone: +1 646-291-6166 (x105)
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @Newcommunities