PRESS AND MEDIA

The Windy City was sunny, warm and welcoming – as was our host, Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia, as Accelerator for America held its Spring Advisory Council meeting last week. 

Accelerator for America announces new members to our Board of Directors and Advisory Council.

Yes, Taylor Swift was in Kansas City this week, but more importantly, so was Accelerator for America for our second in person Advisory Council convening this year. Our host and Advisory Council Co-Chair, Mayor Quinton Lucas, had a tall order to meet following our tremendous gathering in Phoenix, hosted by fellow AFA Advisory Council Co-Chair, Mayor Kate Gallego. The camaraderie of peers was once again unparalleled, and most importantly, the conversations we had were enlightening, engaging and energized us to accelerate our collective work. 

At the 2023 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) conference in New York, the Clinton Foundation and Accelerator for America teamed up to host a Mayors’ Roundtable on the most pressing challenges and opportunities that city leaders are facing as they seek to advance economic mobility for residents and communities.  Accelerator for America Co-Chairs Mayor Kate Gallego (Phoenix, AZ) and Mayor Quinton Lucas (Kansas City, MO) were joined for this discussion by Mayors Justin Bibb (Cleveland, OH), David Holt (Oklahoma City, OK), Steven Reed (Montgomery, AL), and Frank Scott, Jr. (Little Rock, AR), alongside federal officials and philanthropic, business, and non-profit leaders from across the country.

Today, along with our research partners at the Drexel University Nowak Metro Finance Lab, we are excited to share the first in a series of Case Stories, produced through a partnership with the Local Infrastructure Hub, showcasing local infrastructure projects eligible under or funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law or Inflation Reduction Act and the dedicated public servants and community members who made them possible.

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service released new proposed guidance on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) mechanisms for elective pay (also known as direct pay) and transferability.  Through the IRA, tax-exempt entities, which include local, state and tribal governments, as well as non-profits, and other organizations that are exempt from income tax, can access clean energy tax credits. This means that city governments, and their non-profit partners, can directly benefit from these new tax incentives to advance energy generation and clean energy initiatives in local communities across the country.

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.

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. 

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.

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 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.

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.

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!

With the first tranche of ARPA funds out the door, and the second tranche on the way, we are ready for a Halftime Report from our Stimulus Command Center Cities.

advance our work to help cities nationwide reduce economic insecurity within underserved communities. Just before our December 2 meeting in Los Angeles, we announced that Mary Ellen Wiederwohl will succeed Aaron Thomas as our President and CEO on January 1, 2022. Aaron will remain active with us as he starts a new role in the private sector

Last week, the Birmingham City Council approved the Embrace Mothers guaranteed income pilot program, spearheaded by Mayor Randall Woodfin and his team, that is designed to provide $375 a month for a year to 110 female-identifying heads of households. Single-mother households represent about 60% of all City of Birmingham households with children.

For the past several months, the Accelerator has been working directly with cities to help them plan, prioritize, and coordinate the deployment of the unprecedented level of federal relief and recovery investments coming their way. Last week, alongside our partners at Drexel's Nowak Metro Finance Lab, we met on the ground with Mayor Nan Whaley, City Manager Shelley Dickstein, Dayton community leaders, and investors to develop an Investment Playbook focused on leveraging federal funding to build a more competitive and inclusive Dayton.

More than a year and a half since the start of the pandemic, getting "back to normal" has been slower than all of us had hoped. Accelerator for America's work has always been strengthened by the ability to meet with local leaders and partners on the ground in communities to assess needs and strategize on plans to foster inclusive economic growth.

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.

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.