Celebrating Five Years of AFA
The end of a calendar year is always a good time to take stock, reflect, and plan for the upcoming year (and not just new year’s resolutions!). Here at the Accelerator, we’re doing that, too, and in a very profound way.
This week, our founding Chair, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, termed out of office; a timeline that intersected with the 5th anniversary of our organization. Hence, as we affirm our 2023 priorities, we are also reflecting on our amazing journey so far.
In 2017, we timed our first meeting to be held around the one year anniversary of the momentous election of 2016, which starkly underscored the need for local communities to work together to make national change from the ground up. It was the dawn of “new localism.”
We immediately got to work; we developed Investment Prospectuses with 60 cities to help them attract new private investment for inclusive economic development and created an ongoing initiative that has provided assistance to efforts in securing $40 billion in local infrastructure funding.
When the pandemic hit, we moved quickly and urgently to create a COVID relief model that was adopted in 9 cities and 2 states and continues to inform relief efforts nationally. And, with a group of our partners, we worked with dozens of mayors to develop 27 infrastructure policy suggestions that would become the New Partnership for Infrastructure Playbook to get cities back to work, build our national pandemic recovery from Main Street, and advocate for federal investment in infrastructure.
The 2021 passage of ARPA and then IIJA promised a new era of much needed funding for our local communities; the Accelerator swiftly partnered with cities across the nation to establish Stimulus Command Centers to help manage the influx of ARPA funds, align decision-making around long term equitable investments instead of one time spending, and organize locally and regionally for the generational investments possible through IIJA. Our work has helped cities allocate billions in ARPA funds, provided timely guides, playbooks and publications to navigate the maze of new funding opportunities, facilitated direct technical assistance resources that resulted in millions of 2022 RAISE awards for equitable infrastructure projects, and since the passage of IIJA, our Accelerator cities have secured $1,053,360,000 in grant funds from the FY22 RAISE, INFRA and Low-No Emissions Bus Programs alone!
As these federal dollars continue to flow into cities, towns, and villages across the country, Accelerator for America is prepared to add capacity and deliver the resources local leaders need to distribute those dollars with equity and inclusion at the center of our collective work. We will continue to work with our partners to establish workforce development programs and pre-apprenticeship training opportunities with focus on historically marginalized communities. We will explore innovative procurement and alternative delivery models that will help mayors to deliver infrastructure projects to their residents on time, on task and on budget. And, as we have since our founding, we will continue elevating the voices of our nation’s local leaders at every opportunity – celebrating your successes and sharing your best practices.
To go from startup to recognized center of excellence in 5 short years is a monumental achievement. And we owe this success to the incredible coalition that is the Accelerator:
Our supporters:
Our Advisory Council, which has grown to comprise 13 Mayors and 16 other national leaders...
Our large networks of Mayors, senior staff, and economic and community development practitioners across the country...
And our culture.
From our first meeting in South Bend with then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg to a new era of Zoom meetings, the Accelerator’s secret sauce comes from a focus on action – embracing our ‘do tank’ moniker – and real relationships forged while together in our communities honoring and reflecting upon our past in historic places, viewing state of the art union training facilities, and bus tours in countless cities, learning from the successes (and sometimes failures) of our colleagues, led by the best tour guides – Mayors! We’ve also shared a glass or two – to both celebrate and occasionally commiserate! It’s been an amazing time to be a local leader, and we’ve been in it together.
We toast to 5 years of success – THANK YOU – and here’s to many more!
Cheers to a wonderful holiday season and an amazing 2023!