WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In letters to President Obama and Congressional leadership, the National League of Cities (NLC) outlined four key strategies for advancing economic prosperity which called for the federal government to do more to create jobs quickly and stabilize local government budgets.

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The full text of the letters may be found here.

With cities facing sizable budget shortfalls that are expected to only grow more severe, local government budget tightening can act as a serious and significant drag on economic recovery for the next two years. To ensure a climate for job creation and recovery, NLC requests direct assistance to local governments to help save public sector jobs.

The letters also ask for investments to be made in America's workforce by funding, among other programs, a public service employment program to provide immediate employment to jobless residents through community improvement projects with clear public benefit.

NLC requested that any jobs package prioritize targeted infrastructure spending to create jobs while also laying the foundation for long-term benefits in communities. This would be best accomplished by an expansion of existing programs to allow for local ingenuity and to get money into job creation quickly.

Finally, to ensure sustained long-term growth, cities and small businesses need access to credit. NLC recommends that measures designed to improve access to credit be included in any jobs package.

"Since the onset of the economic downturn, city leaders have been forced to make tough choices in an effort to provide desperately needed services and to drive their local economic engines while responding to large and often persistent budget shortfalls," NLC President Ronald O. Loveridge, mayor, Riverside, Calif., wrote in the letter. "In the absence of additional federal intervention, a deepening local fiscal crisis could hobble the nation's incipient recovery with more layoffs, furloughs, cancelled infrastructure projects and reduced services."

The National League of Cities is the nation's oldest and largest organization devoted to strengthening and promoting cities as centers of opportunity, leadership and governance. NLC is a resource and advocate for 19,000 cities, towns and villages, representing more than 218 million Americans. www.nlc.org.

SOURCE National League of Cities

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