When we make our communities better places for children and youth, we make them better places for all.

The City of Boulder is partnering with UNICEF USA and Growing Up Boulder to work towards formal recognition as a UNICEF Child Friendly City. The goal of the UNICEF Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) is to identify and prioritize action steps and mobilize the community to improve young people’s health and well-being. In Boulder, this work will be co-designed with young people, including historically underrepresented children and youth.

Jump To

Project Overview

UNICEF Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) is a framework that engages local governments together with communities to prioritize the needs of children and elevate their voices in local governance and decision-making. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched CFCI in 1996 to protect children’s rights in an increasingly urbanized and decentralized world. This framework helps to identify areas of success and growth, creates a common vision among programs and services that support youth, and supports action plans that help children and youth thrive in ways that were previously unimagined.

Timeline

Stages of CFCI: Joining CFCI, Recruit, Situation Analysis, Create Action Plan, Implement Plan, Recognition

Joining CFCI2023Signed a memorandum of understanding with UNICEF USA, and designated resources to CFCI. Created an internal Executive Committee to guide the CFCI process and establish a staff team of CFCI champions. Received designation as a Child Friendly City Candidate.
Community Engagement2024Engaged nonprofit leaders, business owners, city officials and youth.
Situation Analysis2024Analyzed data and collaborated with the city’s Youth Opportunities Advisory Board (YOAB) to facilitate youth-centered conversations to better understand the needs and perspectives of children and youth in our city.
Youth Action Plan2024-25Worked alongside YOAB and a Youth Action Plan Council to conduct intergenerational workshops and build a draft youth action plan.
Implementation2025-26Engage YOAB and community partners to finalize a Youth Action Plan; sustain collective impact and meet regularly to coordinate plan implementation and measure success.
Evaluation & Recognition2026Celebrate official CFCI Recognition in meaningful ways. Define plans to renew collaboration with UNICEF USA and deepen and sustain CFCI efforts in the future.

CFCI recognition in the United States is not an accreditation model. Rather, it is a transformative process through which local governments and stakeholders commit to advancing child rights. CFCI is not about creating perfect cities, it is about improving children’s well-being and building the better future they deserve.

Project Updates

  • State of the Child Report developed to understand the well-being of youth in Boulder.
  • Youth Action Plan created by Boulder's Youth Opportunities Advisory Board and CFCI Youth Council to identify action steps to advance the three primary areas of focus:
    • Addressing bullying and ensuring psychologically safe environments in schools and community
    • Enhancing safety in shared outdoor spaces and transit areas
    • Expanding opportunities for youth to have a meaningful voice in their local government
  • Youth Action Plan draft presented to City Council on May 15.

Community Partnership Roundtable (Fall 2023 – Spring 2024)- City of Boulder staff, Growing Up Boulder staff, and local nonprofit partners gathered to learn about CFCI and to narrow down which indicators or “questions” to ask children, youth, caregivers and service providers to learn about young people’s well-being in Boulder. Adult feedback built upon youth feedback already garnered from the City of Boulder’s Youth Opportunities Advisory Board and El Centro Amistad’s Raices Vivas teens.

Situational Analysis (Government Data + Community Conversations)

A “situational analysis” analyzes the “situation” of young people in a community. It is composed of quantitative data from government and other sources and qualitative data from the local community. The data will be reviewed by the community to determine the priorities for improvement in young people’s lives.

Government Assessment Data (Summer 2023 - Winter 2024) - City staff, Growing Up Boulder staff, and community partners gathered quantitative data from sources such as the census, the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey and Boulder Valley School District data.

Community Conversations Trainings (Nov. 2023-Feb. 2024) – Growing Up Boulder staff, with support from consultants Mayamotion Healing and Uka Consulting, taught educators and youth workers from schools and community-based organizations about the Child Friendly City Initiative. Trainers then discussed how to facilitate “community conversations” within their communities using culturally responsive and flexible approaches, ranging from visual surveys to storytelling. The goal of “community conversations” was to hear from children, teens, caregivers, and service providers about their key priorities for improving young people’s lives in Boulder.

Teen Town Hall (Dec. 2023) – Organized by City of Boulder’s Youth Opportunities Advisory Board, teens gathered to discuss top priorities and concerns for teens in Boulder.

Youth Well-Being Assessment (Dec. 2023 – Jan. 2024) – A questionnaire on Be Heard Boulder, available bilingually for children and adults, gathered general community feedback about ranked priorities for youth and children in Boulder; 207 people participated in the survey.

Community Partner Engagements (Nov. 2023 – Feb. 2024) - Growing Up Boulder, Youth Opportunities Advisory Board (YOAB) teens, and nonprofit partners facilitated Community Conversations using art, voting, open dialogue and classroom lessons. A total of 683 participants participated in these engagements, including children, youth, caregivers and service providers.

  • A place where children are safe and protected from exploitation, violence and abuse
  • A place to have a good start in life and grow up healthy and cared for; a place to have access to essential services
  • A place to experience quality, inclusive and participatory education and skills development
  • A place to express their opinions and influence decisions that affect them
  • A place to participate in family, cultural, community and social life
  • A clean, unpolluted and safe environment with equitable access to the outdoors
  • A place to meet friends and have places to play and recreate
  • A place to have a fair chance at life regardless of their ethnic origin, religion, income, gender or ability

For over eight decades, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has built an unprecedented global support system for the world’s children. UNICEF relentlessly works to deliver the essentials that give every child an equitable chance in life: health care and immunizations, safe water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more. UNICEF USA advances the global mission of UNICEF in the U.S. to empower policies, practices, and programs at the federal, state and local levels to improve the lives of children, starting with our country’s most vulnerable and excluded communities.

Growing Up Boulder (GUB) is a nonprofit program based in Boulder, CO. Their mission is to offer young people opportunities to participate, deliberate, and influence local issues that affect their lives. ​Locally, GUB has engaged directly with more than 7,500 young people, 1,500 university students, 60 partner organizations, and contributed youth voice to more than 100 projects. GUB engages children of all backgrounds to include their input in local government decisions, including on topics such as the design of affordable, sustainable housing, resilience planning, transit systems, parks and open space, and productive community dialogue.

Map of CFCI in the United States

CFCI Global impact map

From 2023-25 the city utilized funds appropriated through the city budget, and a small amount of funding from its $2 million share of the sale of the Broncos stadium, to support CFCI activities. For 2026-27 the city will utilize a portion of Broncos funding to support the Youth Opportunities Project and CFCI activities, including implementation of the Youth Action Plan.

How can I participate?

Making our community a place where children and youth thrive will take all of us. Visit Be Heard Boulder at UNICEF Child Friendly Cities Initiative | Be Heard Boulder to provide feedback on key questions throughout the process.

Subscribe to Growing Up Boulder’s newsletter and both organizations’ social media channels.

Related Links: