The City of Oakland Park will be honored by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) as the recipient of the organization’s Community Health and Safety Award for its COVID-19 Vaccination Site for Vulnerable Seniors. ICMA, a global organization of more than 12,000 city, town, and county managers bestows the annual Local Government Excellence Award to recognize programs that demonstrate innovation and success in the community’s safety, health, and wellness, including enhancement in the quality of life for the disadvantaged.
As the recipient of ICMA’s Community Health & Safety Award, Oakland Park will be honored in various platforms, including ICMA’s Annual Conference, September 17-21, 2022. The Oakland Park COVID-19 vaccination site opened in January 2021 to serve vulnerable seniors who faced challenges making vaccine appointments and getting to distribution sites. The City partnered with the Department of Health to get access to a vaccine supply and worked with local organizations to identify and contact vulnerable seniors to schedule appointments. Oakland Park operated the vaccine distribution site and transported seniors to their appointments when needed. As the first City-run vaccination site in Broward County, Oakland Park was able to provide more than 9,500 vaccines to seniors from ten south Florida cities and served as a model for other communities to operate additional distribution sites.
“Local government is the government closest and most responsive to the needs of the people,” said Oakland Park City Manager David Hebert. “When the most vulnerable members of our society could not access the COVID vaccine, we took action. Oakland Park provided lifesaving care and comfort to our seniors when no other alternative was available to them and we provided the same service to vulnerable seniors from surrounding communities,” Hebert continued.
The ICMA Local Government Excellence Awards Program highlights creative contributions to professional local government management while demonstrating the difference that effective and committed management makes to the quality of life in our communities. ICMA’s program awards are presented to local governments and their chief administrators in recognition of their innovative and successful programs.
Awards are presented to local governments for each of three population ranges: less than 10,000, 10,000 to 49,999, and 50,000 and greater. Multi-participant nominations will be classified in the population range that corresponds to the population of the largest participating organization. Nominations are evaluated by an independent, 13-person panel of ICMA members.
These recipients set the standard for innovation, effectiveness, and creativity in the cities, towns, counties, and academic institutions they lead. We thank them for their commitment to improving the lives of the constituents they serve every day.
In addition to in-person and virtual conference recognition, the 2022 ICMA award recipients will be highlighted in the October 2022 issue of PM magazine.
For more information about ICMA’s Local Government Excellence Awards Program, contact Joyce Lee at jlee@icma.org or 202-962-3625.
About ICMA
ICMA, the International City/County Management Association, advances professional local government worldwide. Our mission is to create excellence in local governance by developing and fostering professional management to build livable communities that improve people’s lives. ICMA provides member support; publications; data and information; peer and results-oriented assistance; and training and professional development to nearly 12,000 city, town, and county experts and other individuals and organizations throughout the world. The management decisions made by ICMA's members affect millions of individuals living in thousands of communities, from small villages and towns to large metropolitan areas. Learn more at icma.org.