June Newsletter

Maximizing the Local Impact of Federal Investments

For the past several months, the Accelerator has been working closely with our partners at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Drexel University's Nowak Metro Finance Lab, and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth to develop critical resources to help mayors effectively organize for inclusive local recoveries.

Yesterday, our Founder Mayor Eric Garcetti joined Conference President Mayor Greg Fischer, Mayor Quinton Lucas, Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein, and nearly 100 attending mayors and members of their teams from across the country to dive deep into two of these timely resources: our
American Rescue Plan Federal Investment Guide and our framework for establishing Stimulus Command Centers — 18-month, executive-level task forces with leaders from the public, private, and civic sectors to serve as the local go-to points for planning, prioritizing, and coordinating the deployment of federal relief and recovery investments.

While our team is working directly with seven "first-mover" cities to establish their own Stimulus Command Centers, the resources we've created are available to all mayors and their teams. Watch the replay of the webinar below, and don't hesitate to reach out to our team to learn more — we're here to help.

#InfrastructureIsCalling

On May 12, Accelerator for America Action and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee launched the bipartisan 'Infrastructure is Calling' digital campaign — featuring more than 30 U.S. mayors from across the country — to elevate the importance of federal infrastructure investment to our cities. Check out the launch video below!

The digital launch coincided with a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol where our Founder Mayor Eric Garcetti 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, to highlight the need for Congress to act boldly on infrastructure.

Read more here, and stay tuned for more on the campaign in the coming weeks!

A Tale of Five Cities

We're excited to announce the release of Accelerating Transportation: A Tale of Five Cities, a new report detailing best practices and common pitfalls from five distinct transportation infrastructure campaigns from across the country. Written by transportation writer and policy analyst Joel Epstein, the report highlights lessons that other communities can learn from when launching their own transportation infrastructure campaigns.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d9f9365f67b454b1ce2dc2f/t/60ba63aeec39d75460170050/1622827969001/FINAL+Accelerating+Transportation+A+Tale+of+Five+Cities.pdf

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Congratulations to:

Our ever-inspiring Advisory Council member Sonal Shah on last month's launch of The Asian American Foundation (TAAF), her new non-profit created to provide funding and resources to build the infrastructure to improve AAPI advocacy, power, and representation. Incredibly, TAAF has already raised more than $1 billion to support AAPI organizations and causes.

Learn more and explore how you can get involved here!

In the News

Dayton Daily News: Dayton one of six ‘stimulus command centers’ in nation

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

And keep following us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram as we create national change from the ground up, from coast to coast.

Aaron Thomas
President and CEO | Accelerator for America

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