One of the reasons I live in the Twin Cities area is because I like what it offers my family. No place is perfect, but we seem to have a good blend of so many of the things people need to live a healthy and productive life. I’ll bet I am not alone in admiring my community. If you feel you live in a special place you can take advantage of this next funder’s offer to help your home town to become even better.

This week’s pick: America's Promise Alliance and Capital One have announced the launch of the 2008 100 Best Communities for Young People Competition. The Alliance looks for communities that provide developmental resources which support success in life for young people. They call these resources the Five Promises; they are:

• Caring Adults
• Safe Places
• A Healthy Start
• Effective Education
• Opportunities to Help Others

Large urban cities and small rural towns can submit applications explaining how their town has discovered ways to solve problems that improve the lives of youth in the community. You can go to the America’s Promise Alliance website to see which 100 communities received the money in 2007 and get an idea of the type of environments the competition rewards.

Winning communities receive $300,000 in grant money, along with extensive media coverage and other resources. Click here to go directly to the 2008 application.