AFA Convenes in Phoenix, Accelerates Economic Growth and Opportunity

Dear Colleagues and Partners,

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

With the Kansas City Royals in town to take on Phoenix’s Arizona Diamondbacks, our Accelerator convening of more than 75 people with a dozen mayors last week included a friendly clash between our Co-Chairs – Kansas City, MO Mayor Quinton Lucas and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego – as our Advisory Council meeting took over a section at Chase Field for Monday’s game.

 
 

While much fun, food and drink was had, the main takeaways from our Advisory Council gathering of last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were the provocative questions and innovative tools that were presented – reinforcing Accelerator’s mission to share solutions with local, regional and state leaders to create national change from the ground up.

 

Our group got to experience the first fully autonomous vehicles with Waymo.

 

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

  • Bruce Katz of Drexel University's Nowak Metro Finance Lab challenged us and offered solutions to consider right off the bat, calling on local, regional and state leaders to plan now as market dynamics, geo-political tensions and federal investments re-industrialize America by driving reshoring, re-militarization and de-carbonization. See LINK.
     

  • Michael Roth, the Co-CEO of Next Street (and former SBA Administrator) took the baton from Bruce and called for intentionality and highlighted proven tools to ensure that the “New Majority” (the US will soon be majority-minority) will benefit from the new economy that is being built, See LINK.
     

  • Brookings’ Interim President Amy Liu then explored the dynamic between Blue Cities and Red States, noting that 47 U.S. states have one-party rule of state legislatures (Nebraska’s legislature is non-partisan), but the metro areas contribute significantly to the economic success of the state. See LINK.
     

  • Mayor Victoria Woodards of Tacoma, WA and President of NLC, Ryan Whalen, Senior Advisor for Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Jennifer Tolentino, Director of Local Practice at Results for America gave an update on the Local Infrastructure Hub. See LINK.

 
 

FEDERAL UPDATES

  • USDOT Assistant Secretary Chris Coes, along with HNTB Chairman and CEO Rob Slimp and WSP USA Senior Vice President Stuart Sunshine, updated us on IIJA/BIL implementation. 
     

  • US Department of Labor Director of Intergovernmental Relations Richard Cesar and Infrastructure Investment Equity Fellow Tammi Fleming briefed us on workforce development through the IIJA/BIL. See LINK.
     

  • US Department of Commerce representative Jesse Stoneman briefed us on CHIPS. See LINK.

TOOLS & PARTNERSHIP FOR LOCAL, REGIONAL, STATE LEADERS

  • Our own Director of Regional Policy, AJ Herrmann, updated us on an ongoing initiative with Brookings to analyze the use of ARPA funds to inform decision-making and encouraged cities to share their experiences to inform this effort. A report from Brookings and AFA will be published by early June.
     

  • Accelerator’s Director of Infrastructure and Intergovernmental Affairs Ross van Dongen along with David Gilford from Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP) presented i3, the Innovative Infrastructure Initiative, AFA’s new project in partnership with SIP that is seeking first mover cities, agencies, MPOs and other authorities looking to accelerate transformative infrastructure projects. See LINK.
     

  • Honeywell’s George Karayannis & Matthew Britt updated us on the Honeywell/AFA Smart City Accelerator initiative that is providing Cleveland, Kansas City (MO), Louisville, San Diego and Waterloo (IA) with technical support to develop a Smart City Strategic Plan that identifies and advances high-impact infrastructure projects and provides assistance in securing federal grants. See LINK.
     

  • Tolemi’s Co-Founder and CEO Andrew Kieve shared his company’s data tools that help cities tackle their housing affordability, ownership, eviction and broader vacant and abandoned property issues. See LINK.

 
 

For a complete library of presentations from our 10th Advisory Council meeting, click here. 

Thank you to everyone who came to Phoenix and supported the work.  Many great ideas were hatched, several initiatives grew deeper, and we all left with a renewed spirit and dedication for the important efforts that occur daily in our communities to accelerate economic mobility and opportunity for more Americans.

 
 

Mary Ellen Wiederwohl
President and CEO | Accelerator for America

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