USDOT SELECTS ACCELERATOR FOR AMERICA AND PARTNERS AS A ‘CAPACITY BUILDER TEAM’ AND AWARDS $5+ MILLION
APRIL 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 More
Data Deficit: Flying Blind on Small Business
In this time of intense polarization, it is rare to find an issue that both sides of the political spectrum can agree on. But small businesses seem to be one of the few exceptions. President Joe Biden has been a vocal champion of small businesses, emphasizing their importance as "the engines of our economic progress… the glue, the heart, and soul of our communities." And Senator Marco Rubio, who led the Small Business Committee during the pandemic, has repeatedly emphasized the crucial role that small businesses play in job creation and the overall health of the economy. Despite this widespread support, there is still a critical missing piece: a consistent and robust data platform for small, diverse businesses.
Read More
Infrastructure Week is Back
Infrastructure Week is back for 2023! We hope your calendar is marked for May 15-19 and that your planning is underway for an event of your own that highlights the benefits of and ongoing need for investment in pipes, ports, roads, rails, and other infrastructure.
Read More
"We Buy Houses": You Lose Out
Our new report, “We Buy Houses”: You Lose Out, authored by Bruce Katz, Ben Preis, and Kevin Gillen, reveals striking findings – homes sold from an owner-occupant to an investor off the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) sold for 51% less than comparable homes sold on the MLS to an individual. This analysis reinforces a key assertion of our first report in this series – Investor Home Purchases and the Rising Threat to Owners and Renters: Tales from 3 Cities – that homeowners are being hurt by investor activity.
Read More
AFA Celebrates Black History Month
Black History Month is a time to celebrate the profound history, culture, struggle and progress of Black Americans. It is also a time to remember that while marches, wars, and legal battles have all confronted discrimination, segregation and slavery, the work toward “a more perfect Union” is ongoing, and the effects of our nation’s history are very much felt to this day, particularly in terms of economic inequality.
Read More
THE INNOVATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE INITIATIVE JOINS FORCES WITH ACCELERATOR FOR AMERICA TO TRANSFORM INFRASTRUCTURE DELIVERY IN U.S. CITIES
Accelerator for America (AFA) and Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP) today announced a long-term partnership to expand the Innovative Infrastructure Initiative (I3), helping communities across the country deploy transformative infrastructure projects. Launched in 2021 as a consortium of policymakers, technologists, investors, academics, and other leading thinkers, I3 has championed projects that use innovative strategies to meet pressing infrastructure needs.
Read More
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.
Read More
AFA Welcomes New Staff
As thought leaders and implementers, the Acclerator’s talented staff are the beating hearts and hardworking hands behind everything we do, and we are excited that we are entering 2023 with two incredible new team members: Anne Bovaird Nevins, our new Director of Economic Development, and Matt Horton, our new Director of State Policy and Initiatives.
Read More
FCC Releases Broadband Maps and opens Map Challenge
Today, in partnership with the Department of Commerce and NTIA, the FCC has released the first version of their National Broadband Maps. These maps, one for fixed broadband service and another for mobile broadband, display data compiled by the FCC from hundreds of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) on their service reach, as well as upload and download speeds at the parcel level. NTIA will utilize these maps to allocate funds from the IIJA’s $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program to every state and territory by June 30, 2023.
Read More
Accelerator for America and Honeywell Collaborate to Promote Smart City Growth in Five U.S. Cities
This partnership between Accelerator for America and Honeywell begins by helping five cities – Cleveland, OH; Kansas City, MO; Louisville, KY; San Diego, CA; and Waterloo, IA – strategically plan their futures and build capacity to fund transformational initiatives.
Read More
Investor Home Purchases and the Rising Threat to Owners and Renters: Tales from 3 Cities
Historically, the price of buying a home was based on how much local residents could afford to pay and the traditional economics of supply and demand of existing and future homeowners. Renters, meanwhile, were most likely living in a property owned by a “mom and pop” local operation. Today, however, housing markets in the United States are rapidly changing with corporate investment in real estate driving up purchase prices, which are now tied to competition among far away investors. Meanwhile, the percentage of rental properties owned by sole proprietors has been cut in half. These new and disturbing trends threaten homeownership, wealth building, and the very fabric of our neighborhoods.
Read More
Seven Mayors Join Accelerator for America Advisory Council
Mayors of Chattanooga, Fort Worth, Mesa, San Antonio, San Diego, Scranton & Tampa – and Two Other New Members – to Help Lead National Organization Committed to Building Economic Security and Inclusive Recovery
Read More
Lifting Communities through RAISE Grants
During this time of federal abundance, Accelerator for America is helping localities best access and invest funding from the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to build long-lasting community wealth – and the Biden Administration just announced that our work with the cities of Kansas City (MO) and Louisville helped them secure more than $31 million through RAISE grants!
Read More
ARPA Clawbacks
"Start to spend your money. There's an urgency because Congress is looking to clawback those resources that you've been sitting on for 2-3 years. Start to find a way & obligate those resources as quickly as you possibly can." HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge issued that call to Mayors at the USCM Annual Meeting in Reno in June. Accelerator was in the room and repeated her words across our networks to emphasize the urgency of allocating ARPA funds.
Read More
Accelerator and NABTU promote Apprenticeship Readiness Programs at DOL's Good Jobs Summit
Last week, Accelerator for America’s Transit and Infrastructure Program Manager Ross van Dongen attended the Department of Labor’s inaugural Good Jobs Summit where he led a workshop around the vision of our Gold Standard Playbook for Workforce Development. The gathering convened public, private and philanthropic leaders focused on advancing good jobs and equitable workforce development, especially through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Read More
Averting a Lost Decade...
The Accelerator’s latest paper, written with our partners at the Nowak Metro Finance Lab and Mastercard’s Center for Inclusive Growth, is intended to sound a loud alarm and provoke a major shift in policy, practice and capacity building. Specifically, Averting a Lost Decade: Rethinking an Inclusive Recovery for Disadvantaged Neighborhoods, co-authored by Accelerator Partner and Nowak Lab Director Bruce Katz and Accelerator CEO Mary Ellen Wiederwohl, concludes that unless major structural changes are made across government and society, the nation runs the risk of a lost decade with racial wealth disparities that are greater and neighborhoods that are worse off than the period that preceded the pandemic.
Read More
AFA Action Continuing the Mission of United for Infrastructure
Today we are proud to announce that United for Infrastructure will be continuing its legacy as the leading infrastructure advocacy organization as a program of the national “Do Tank” Accelerator for America Action. United For Infrastructure (UFI) founded Infrastructure Week and was the driving force behind the passage of the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure bill.
Read More
Broadband Funding and Deployment Opportunities for Cities
The Monday, May 16 launch of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program NOFO marks the first rollout of the $65 billion in funding opportunities for broadband and internet connectivity programs contained within the IIJA/BIL.
Read More
Perspectives on Private Financing for Public Infrastructure
This second bulletin in our series highlighting local IIJA/BIL implementation efforts focuses on Private Financing and Innovative Delivery in Public Infrastructure. In partnership with the Nowak Metro Finance Lab, this series contextualizes local infrastructure efforts within the six key strategies outlined in our IIJA Federal Investment Guide.
Read More
ACCELERATOR FOR AMERICA ISSUES ‘GOLD STANDARD PLAYBOOK’ TO HELP CITIES MEET WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT NEEDS
As $1.2 trillion begin to flow from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, local government "project owners" face a lack of trained workers, impacting their ability to start and complete projects on time. At the same time, these local leaders and the communities they represent continue to grapple with growing income inequality. To help cities meet their workforce needs and to promote equitable career creation in underserved communities, the national non-profit “Do Tank” Accelerator for America today released the “Gold Standard Playbook for Workforce Development.”
Read More
