Mayors Innovation Project

We are so very excited to invite you to join us Wednesday, Jan. 15 - Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025 in Washington D.C. for the Mayors Innovation Project Winter Policy Meeting! This year we’ll be celebrating our 20th Anniversary, and we’re more committed than ever to centering our values of equity, sustainability, and democracy in city policymaking. We invite you to celebrate 20 years of MIP by joining us for two days of networking and policy sessions designed to send you home with fresh ideas and new friends and partners to support you. This year’s conference will include discussions on climate resilient infrastructure, creating inclusive and welcoming communities, reducing barriers to community wealth building, and a special workshop on improving mayor-council communications. We’ll also host a briefing on the results of our 2024 research project, summarizing the top challenges and opportunities that mayors shared with us and the ways our network is working to meet those challenges. Learn more and register today: https://bit.ly/MIP-W25!

This week the Mayors Innovation Project was in Washington DC for our 20th Annual Winter Meeting! We held discussions on building strong mayor-council relationships, community wealth building, creating inclusive and welcoming communities, and the data and financing tools for flood resilient infrastructure. We connected with new and familiar friends; and heard from our wonderful keynote speaker, Xavier de Souza Briggs, and from Secretary Pete Buttigieg! This year, we were proud to report initial findings from our 2024 research project on the informal and formal barriers that women mayors face while campaigning and governing. Thank you to everyone who attended the briefing and to all of the mayors, partners, and sponsors, who participated and contributed to the research. A special thanks to Chasity Wells and Betsy Hodges for their partnership in this work and to the Barbara Lee Family Foundation who made this project possible. We look forward to digging deeper into the data and creating tools and resources for mayors later this year.  As always, our goal is to send each attendee home feeling inspired and with at least one new idea, policy, or connection that they can use to improve their city. We’re grateful to all the speakers, sponsors (Trust for Public Land, Next Street, Rails to Trails Conservancy, RepresentWomen, The Kresge Foundation, and Welcoming America), partners, mayors, city staff, and attendees who helped make this event a success! Be sure to stay tuned for more posts from us in the coming weeks recapping each panel and sharing photos and highlights from the meeting! Check out all materials from the meeting, including the briefing book from each panel, on our website: https://bit.ly/MIP-W25.

It was great to see RepresentWomen board member Susannah Wellford, Alissa Bombardier Shaw, Betsy Hodges, Talisha Searcy & Katya Spear at the terrific Mayors Innovation Project gathering of women mayors — so inspiring!

It’s always great to see my mayor but especially nice to see Talisha Searcy at a Mayors Innovation Project event — that RepresentWomen helped to sponsor — that brought women mayors together from across the country — so inspiring to hear their stories! #WomenLeaders

So great for Secretary Pete to stop by the Mayors Innovation Project Winter Meeting days before he concludes his time as Secretary of Transportation. We thanked him for his leadership in helping to create safe streets for all. Lancaster was awarded a $12.7M Safe Streets for All grant made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law fueling our efforts to fast track investments in safe streets. U.S. Department of Transportation

Mayor Danene Sorace had the opportunity to speak on a panel discussing how cities can create inclusive, welcoming communities at the Mayors Innovation Project Winter Meeting today. The City of Lancaster is proud to be a certified welcoming city by Welcoming America for our efforts to create a welcoming environment for everyone, including immigrants and refugees. Mayor Sorace detailed efforts like the City of Lancaster's language access program and work to enhance local cultural celebrations. #MayorInnovation #MIP

Last night was a great panel at Mayors Innovation Project winter meeting on economic development and wealth creation in communities of color around the country w/my good friends, Kim Norton, mayor of Rochester, MN and Victoria Woodards the mayor of Tacoma, WA.

And don’t behind again! The Mayors Innovation Project Winter Meeting has begun here in Washington, DC. On the agenda: advancing local wealth and opportunity, welcoming and inclusive communities, flood resilient infrastructure, and improving governance culture. My colleague Chasity Wells and I, along with Managing Director Katya Spear, will be presenting preliminary results from our research into the experience of women mayors. Xavier de Souza Briggs will be the keynote speaker, as well. At the end of the day, it’s great watch mayors connect and compare notes and forge long-term friendships in a more intimate setting. Mayors need each other.

Every so often I hear a quote that I know will stick with me for years, like this one from Xavier de Souza Briggs paraphrasing Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, civil rights activist and founder of musical ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock: “If you are comfortable with everyone in your coalition… you aren’t in one.” 👏🏽 Mayors Innovation Project

In just two days we'll be hosting our 20th annual Winter Meeting in Washington DC! Today, we're thrilled to be announcing the speakers for the panel, Leadership and Policy for Welcoming and Inclusive Communities. This panel will highlight mayors can leverage their positions to create inclusive communities to counter the growing tide of divisiveness and create formal pathways for all residents to inform local policy. Not able to join us this week? No problem! Check out meeting materials, including the briefing book for this session, on our website → bit.ly/MIP-W25