Accelerator for America in Action in Kansas City

Dear Colleagues and Partners,

Yes, Taylor Swift was in Kansas City this week, but more importantly, so was Accelerator for America for our second in person Advisory Council convening this year. Our host and Advisory Council Co-Chair, Mayor Quinton Lucas, had a tall order to meet following our tremendous gathering in Phoenix, hosted by fellow AFA Advisory Council Co-Chair, Mayor Kate Gallego. The camaraderie of peers was once again unparalleled, and most importantly, the conversations we had were enlightening, engaging and energized us to accelerate our collective work. 

 
 

And that was the key – conversation. For the first time, our Advisory Council meeting was anchored by conversations among leaders as opposed to presentations from them. 

This being the Accelerator, a common thread throughout the day was the power of and best practices to facilitate collaboration among the public and private sectors, philanthropy and NGOs to advance economic mobility in our communities.

I was honored to open the substantive portion of our meeting by moderating a big-picture discussion on partnerships between mayors and philanthropy, including Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, former Topeka Mayor Michelle De La Isla of Hack.Diversity (and AFA Board Member), Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, and Radhy Miranda of the Rockefeller Foundation.

 
 

These leaders noted that place-based philanthropy has more longevity than elected administrations, that philanthropy has power in its flexibility and its ability beyond and complementary to local government, and that changing “the city is leading this” mindset to a cross-sectoral leadership model unlocks great opportunity.

AFA Director of Policy & Program Innovation A.J. Herrmann then took the moderator baton to lead a discussion on economic mobility with Mayor Lucas, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, Neal Richardson of the St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) and Miles Sandler of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. 

 
 

Here, too, it was noted that philanthropy is essential to “fill the gaps” where government funding may not be sufficient or flexible to meet the demands of the moment. They also expressed that local leaders must avoid a mindset of “if you win, I lose” when it comes to regionalism. Rather, the right approach, for example, is to ask how we can leverage the Tech Hub in Kansas City to support the Advanced Manufacturing Center in St. Louis (and vice versa)? Philanthropic leaders can play a critical role in facilitating that dialogue, particularly if they can move faster to honest conversations across stakeholders.

AFA Senior Advisor Aaron Thomas led a discussion exploring how Atlanta has innovated and leveraged partnerships to increase the availability of affordable housing – joining him were Joshua Humphries from Atlanta’s Mayor’s Office, Ashani O’Mard of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, and AFA partner Andrew Kieve of Tolemi. 

 
 

Today, Atlanta is tackling affordability in housing with a $200 million commitment from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation and Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, providing dollars to leverage proposed public funding of $100 million through a new affordable housing bond to be issued by the City of Atlanta, showcasing the power of public-philanthropic collaboration. The group pointed out that city-owned real estate is often the city’s most valuable asset, and noted that leveraging publicly owned land is a priority for addressing housing supply in Atlanta. The impact of institutional investors in the single-family rental market heightens the need for public-private collaboration to compete in the marketplace to preserve and promote affordability. Humphries’ new role leading the “housing strike force” in Atlanta involves convening and aligning leaders of all local housing entities (the Housing Authority, the Urban Development Authority, the City Housing Department and others) weekly, a simple but deeply important step in allocating resources in an efficient and effective manner.

No AFA gathering would be complete without a provoking presentation from the incomparable Bruce Katz – this time, on how cities navigate the new economic order.  Massive disruptive forces ranging from climate change to COVID-19 to competition with China to wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are driving a new economic order comprising Remilitarization, Reshoring and Decarbonization and catalyzed by unprecedented federal funding. Many metros are acting intentionally to benefit from the new economic order through defense, semiconductor and green initiatives. Other cities must act without delay to do the same, and recognize that traditional economic development analyses fall short of capturing the new set of opportunities.

Small businesses are the backbone of any city’s economy, and AFA’s Director of Economic Development Anne Bovaird Nevins dug into equitable small business development with Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, Dell Gines of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), Jodie Harris of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), Charisse Conanan Johnson of Next Street, and Greg Mikulka of Locus.

 
 

They shared that recent work by AFA, in collaboration with IEDC, has made the case that city leaders can invest with philanthropy to increase equity when it comes to capital access and other critical needs for small business formation and growth. Communities shouldn’t wait – Mayor Parker noted that in Fort Worth, Tarrant County College is offering high school students who might not be otherwise considering college the opportunity to graduate with a high school diploma and 60 college credit hours through its “Entrepreneurship” track. It’s important to keep in mind, too – especially in terms of minority-owned businesses – that small businesses aren’t just “mom and pop” storefronts, but include tech startups and other high-growth firms that should have access to opportunities in the “new procurement economy.” Public-private-philanthropic partnerships are critical to building a more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem, with panelists highlighting promising - and replicable - models in Kansas City, Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York. In particular, philanthropy can play a key role in providing first-dollar, as well as long-term, funding for backbone infrastructure to execute on these opportunities.

Infrastructure and workforce development as a pathway to community wealth was the subject of a dynamic discussion led by AFA Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives Matt Horton. Calling this a “golden moment” with trillions of infrastructure dollars flowing from Washington, Former HUD Secretary and San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, Indio (CA) Mayor Oscar Ortiz, Equity in Infrastructure Project Co-Chair John Porcari and Leah Rambo of the US Department of Labor explored the opportunities and challenges posed by this financial firehose. 

 
 

They noted that you have to make sure you leverage these funds beyond individual projects to build careers and communities for the long term. Public agencies must be intentional about “making each dollar work harder” by matching workforce training with employer demands and take steps to increase the share of infrastructure contracts going to historically underutilized businesses and local businesses. Partnerships with labor and project owners can achieve common goals – and incorporate community voices across the delivery of the project.

We know that these conversations provoked thought, but most importantly, we seek to provoke action – after all, AFA is a “do tank”! As we continue our work across the country (in over 80 localities to-date and counting), our time together in Kansas City will spark new partnerships to help communities thrive and, in doing so, build national change from the ground up.

 
 

Thanks for all that you do – and please see below for links to a number of resources highlighted at our meeting.

 
 
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