The National Civic League has been honoring cities, towns, villages, counties and regions with its All-America City Award for almost six decades. Roughly 500 communities have been recognized. Count Akron among those winning the designation multiple times, in 1981, 1995 and the third award coming over the weekend. The League describes the honor as something of an Oscar for communities. Certainly, these are the best performances in collaboration, participation and innovation.

An All-America City isn't flawless, its problems all solved. Rather, the award recognizes promising ways of addressing difficulties, through partnerships and a shared sense of purpose.

Telling is that Akron has been recognized since the departure of thousands of jobs in the tire industry. That points to the city's resilience, and its effective leadership, from those who pushed Goals for Greater Akron in the 1970s to the tenure of Don Plusquellic, the mayor for the past two decades.

Read the city's application, and you begin to appreciate how the many players must come together to move a community forward. The city highlighted three efforts, starting with the cooperation among the Akron Public Schools, the Urban League and city government to advance the Helen Arnold Community Learning Center, bringing new life to a battered section of town. Yet the hard work hardly stopped there. Marco Sommerville, the City Council president, pressed vigorously for rebuilding the neighborhood. The Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority has set in motion the Hope VI project.

Others contributed, too, and now there is a refreshing sense of possibility. The same goes for the others featured in the city application, the momentum at the Global Business Accelerator, reflected in 37 budding companies and the link to the Israeli Targetech incubator, and the Perkins Activities Central, an after-school program of city schools, supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Too often, amid the troubles surrounding foreclosures, a struggling economy and schools lacking sufficient resources, the community advances, large and small, are missed. In that way, the All-America City Award provides perspective and reassurance. Return to the application (which can be found at www.ci.akron.oh.us), and you are struck by the range of collaboration, from the city, neighborhood groups and the Akron Community Foundation launching the Neighborhood Partnership Program to Summit County juvenile court's Crossroads Probation Program.

Managing a city isn't so much about solutions as keeping pace with changes and challenges. That requires a collective effort, and learning from those who are doing better. This year, the National Civic League advised: Look at Akron.