At the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2023 Meeting today, Accelerator for America CEO Mary Ellen Wiederwohl and Tolemi CEO and Co-Founder Andrew Kieve announced a commitment to supporting 11 American cities by providing no-cost access to an analytical tool and peer learning cohort to provide insights into local real estate markets.
Read MoreThis week Accelerator for America (AFA) announced the inaugural cohort of 10 cities participating in the Innovative Infrastructure Initiative (i3), which is an AFA partnership with Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP) to help cities accelerate transformative infrastructure projects by providing technical assistance and peer learning. The cohort cities convened for the first time today.
Read MoreAPRIL 14, 2023 – As part of its Thriving Communities Program, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has selected Accelerator for America (Accelerator) and its partners – WSP USA, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP), and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University – to be a Capacity Builder Team. Together, they will help 14 under-resourced and disadvantaged communities access new infrastructure funding opportunities that have been made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Accelerator and its partners will bring their expertise and resources to bear to help these communities deliver neighborhood-enhancing transportation projects. USDOT awarded $5.05 million for the Accelerator team’s Complete Transit Oriented Neighborhoods work.
Read MoreAccelerator for America today announced that Birmingham Mayor Randall L. Woodfin will join the organization’s Advisory Counc
Read MoreLos Angeles Mayor and Accelerator for America Founder Eric Garcetti today joined U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-OR); Chair of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC); Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ), former Mayor of West New York, NJ, and current senior Member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ), former Mayor of Phoenix and current Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit; Mayor Quinton Lucas, Kansas City, Missouri; and Mayor Levar Stoney, Richmond, Virginia, for a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol to highlight the need for Congress to act boldly on infrastructure.
Read MoreToday, Accelerator for America and Drexel University’s Nowak Metro Finance Lab released the Small Business Equity Toolkit, which offers mayors and economic development leaders in the nation’s top 100 metropolitan areas unique insights and innovative strategies for growing Black-, Hispanic-, Asian- and Women-owned businesses. The toolkit offers a data-driven, evidence-based approach to help cities close the long-standing racial, ethnic, and gender wealth gaps that have been exacerbated during the pandemic.
Read MoreAccelerator for America Action, WSP USA, Mastercard City Possible, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, The ACEC (American Council of Engineering Companies) Research Institute, Meridiam NA, and HNTB — collectively, the “New Partnership on Infrastructure” — yesterday released an updated version of “America’s New Playbook for Infrastructure.” While other approaches to infrastructure policy draw from past best practices, this effort was uniquely created during the pandemic and with a focus on recovery.
Read MoreThe New Partnership on Infrastructure released “America’s New Playbook for Infrastructure” today. The Playbook goes beyond a call for significant investment in our nation’s infrastructure and urges an overhaul of how infrastructure is financed by the federal government. The Playbook states that for stimulus legislation to be most effective, we must align local government needs with broader federal macroeconomic stability goals and overhaul how we fund infrastructure in our country by moving toward a system that incentivizes aligned local, state, and federal investment.
Read MoreBuilding on the successful Angeleno Card financial relief program for Los Angeles residents, the non-profit Accelerator for America announced today it will help 10 additional U.S. communities establish similar programs. Supported by a $750,000 grant from the Open Society Foundations, Accelerator for America will provide technical assistance and $50,000 in funding for each community to stand up the infrastructure needed to successfully administer a large-scale financial assistance program.
Read MoreAccelerator for America today encouraged city leaders from across the country to harness its COVID-19 Relief Toolkit, which highlights specific models, policy recommendations and the actions of mayors across the country in support of families, tenants, small businesses and more during the pandemic.
Read MoreLos Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti charged Accelerator for America with finding a solution, in partnership with the Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles. It was clear that the solution needed to be something that not only got direct cash assistance to Angeleno families quickly, but that also made it easy for the many Angelenos across the city who wanted to help out during this crisis to do so. The Accelerator engaged with its longtime partner, Mastercard and its City Possible team, to create the replicable and scalable "Angeleno Campaign" — a campaign that aims to raise $15 million in direct financial assistance to Angelenos most in need.
Read MoreThe Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles last night launched the Angeleno Campaign to raise $10 million to provide cash assistance to LA families most in need of income during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Campaign was created by Accelerator for America as a way to help Angelenos and create a scalable and replicable model for other cities to adopt. As soon as next week, LA families will be able to apply for assistance that will be distributed via designated community centers through no-fee debit cards enabled by Mastercard’s City Possible network. Mastercard is an ongoing strategic partner of the Accelerator.
Read MoreAccelerator for America today announced it has been awarded a $380,000 grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The grant will support the Accelerator’s creation of a specific vertical dedicated to the Future of Work in addition to supporting the Accelerator’s ongoing economic development work.
Read MoreThe non-profit Accelerator for America announced an effort to create a new “Infrastructure Playbook” at the Moving America Forward presidential candidate forum held on Sunday, February 16, featuring Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Businessman Tom Steyer. The Playbook will be issued following convenings in Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Raleigh, and an Infrastructure Summit in Washington, DC.
Read MoreAccelerator for America today announced the addition of Rebecca Rhynhart, City Controller for the City of Philadelphia, to its Advisory Council.
Read MoreAccelerator for America, the Centre for Public Impact (CPI) and Drexel University Nowak Metro Finance Lab released their research on the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative (WPSI). The comprehensive report details the organizations’ findings from a 3 month look into West Philadelphia’s unique workforce development model, which has had an overwhelmingly positive impact in the area.
Read MoreOver a year ago Opportunity Zones (OZ) were created to move billions of dollars into low-income communities, yet business investment in these areas is trickling in - while real estate investment continues to surge. In a new report released today, researchers from the Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel University, Ben Franklin Technology Partners and Accelerator for America, identify which OZ rules are inhibiting stakeholder interests in business investments, while identifying updates that can make OZ benefits for business investing clearer and easier to leverage.
Read MoreThe Local America Forum will take place on Friday, December 6. Doors open at 3:30pm and the event will run from 4:30 to 8:30pm. Iowa Starting Line is the official media partner for the Forum, and will stream the program online at IowaStartingLine.com. The Forum will also be broadcast live by Mediacom on station MC22 in more than 300 Iowa communities and on local channels 722 and 822. It will also reach communities in Illinois and Minnesota and will stream online nationwide.
Read More“As Mayors, we hear directly from the people we serve at the playground, at the supermarket — face to face. That’s the perspective we are going to put in front of these candidates,” said Los Angeles Mayor and Accelerator co-founder, Eric Garcetti. “We need real solutions that will build wealth for people who don’t have it.”
Read MoreThe non-profit Accelerator for America and the U.S. Conference of Mayors announced today that presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg, Julián Castro, Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer will answer questions posed by mayors about their agenda for America’s local communities at the non-partisan Local America Presidential Forum on December 6 at the Cedar Valley Sportsplex in Waterloo, IA. Iowa Starting Line is the official media partner for the Forum.
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