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Mike McGrath
Director

  • Email:mikem@ncl.org
  • Hometown:Dallas, TX

Award-winning writer/editor/researcher with expertise in local government, political reform, civic engagement and urban policy. His writings have appeared in newspapers, magazines, books and blogs.

Mike McGrath joined the National Civic League as communications associate in 1994, as the organization was launching a national initiative to raise public awareness about cutting-edge examples of community building and civic engagement. The job marked a new career direction. During the 1980s and early 1990s, he worked as an editor and staff-writer for newspapers and alternative weeklies in California and Colorado, winning awards for investigative journalism and public policy reporting.

As editor of the National Civic Review, a quarterly journal founded in 1913, Mike has written and edited hundreds of articles on civic engagement, comprehensive community-building initiatives and local government innovation. In the late 1990s, He served as policy analyst for the league’s New Politics Program, co-authoring a report on local campaign finance reform and helping to overseeing a project to revise the Model City Charter. In 2009, he was asked to author a report on civic innovation in local governments for Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE). In 2011, he joined the research team of the Southern California Fiscal Sustainability Project, a three-year joint effort with USC and the University of San Francisco. Thanks to his comprehensive knowledge of local government and the history of municipal reform, Mike was asked to contribute the official entry on political patronage for the Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Blackwell Publishing) in 2014.

Recent presentations and publications:

  1. “Beyond Distrust: When the Public Loses Faith in American Institutions, National Civic Review.
  2. “Bridging Divides and Bringing Communities Together,” Government Finance Review.
  3. “Framework for Financial Sustainability,” (co-author) a research paper for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
  4. “Decatur, Georgia: Diversity, Gentrification and the Art of Community Conversation,” National Civic Review.
  5. “Hampton, Virginia: Civic Engagement as a Management Strategy,” National Civic Review.
  6. “Fiscal Sustainability Case Studies: Santa Ana, California, and City of South Gate, California” National Civic Review.
  7. “Fiscal Sustainability and Bottom-Up Change in Brea, California,” National Civic Review.
  8. “Fiscal sustainability and political culture in Long Beach, California,” National Civic Review.
  9. “Potholes and PDAs,” Intergovernmental Solutions Newsletter, U.S. General Services Administration.

Educational Background:

  •    Master of Journalism, U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, 1983.
  •    Bachelor of Arts, Plan II Honors Program, University of Texas, 1976.
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Mayor Malik D. EvansChairMayor of Rochester, NY Mayor G.T. BynumVice ChairMayor of Tulsa, OK Heather A. JohnstonTreasurerCity Coordinator, City of Minneapolis, MN Anthony SantiagoSecretaryPrincipal, Outside N Strategies Ray BarayBoard MemberChief of Staff, ICMA Hon. Mary Ann BorgesonBoard MemberNACo Immediate Past President; Commissioner, Douglas County, NE T.C. BroadnaxBoard MemberCity Manager, City of Dallas Teree Caldwell-JohnsonBoard Member (Former Chair)Chief Executive Officer, Oakridge Neighborhood and Neighborhood Services Diana Romero CampbellBoard MemberCouncil Member, Denver District 4 Adam CarlisleBoard MemberVice President of Labor Relations, Southwest Airlines Carolyn ColemanBoard MemberExecutive Director and CEO, League of California Cities Maia ComeauBoard MemberPresident Comeau & Company Todd ConnorBoard MemberCEO, Veterans for Political Innovation Mayor John DaileyBoard MemberMayor John Dailey, City of Tallahassee, FL Johnny DuPreeBoard MemberFormer Mayor, Hattiesburg, MS Ayeola FortuneBoard MemberInterim Senior Vice President, Impact Team, United Way Worldwide Dr. Joshua FranzelBoard MemberSenior Executive and Director of Research & Data Analysis at National League of Cities Mayor Patti GarrettBoard Member (Former Chair)Mayor of Decatur, Georgia Valerie LemmieBoard Member (Former Chair)Director of Exploratory Research, Kettering Foundation Rita McNeil Danish, Esq.Board MemberCEO, Signal Ohio Angela MontezBoard MemberSenior Vice President, Chief Legal, Corporate & Government Affairs Officer, MissionSquare Retirement Onyeka ObiochaBoard MemberExecutive Director, CTNext Tony PeytonBoard MemberExecutive Vice President & Chief of Staff, National Center for Families Learning Angela RomansBoard MemberFounding Executive Director, Innovation For Equity Monte RoulierBoard MemberPresident & Co-Founder Community Initiatives Inc. Mayor Vince WilliamsBoard MemberMayor of Union City, GA Wendy WillisBoard MemberExecutive Director, Deliberative Democracy Consortium

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