Congress is back in session and America’s cities, towns, and villages are looking for 2020 to be a year of action, partnership, and progress. For local leaders and their residents, this year is about addressing critical community priorities before the legislative process slows during the election cycle. Here are a few key things we expect Congress
This week, Congress sent the president a comprehensive bipartisan water infrastructure bill. America’s Water Infrastructure Act (S. 3021) passed the House by voice vote and passed the Senate by a vote of 99-1. In a tense political climate leading up to the mid-term elections, the strong support for the bill in both chambers shows that
For the past five years, NLC’s Center for City Solutions has analyzed mayors’ state of the cities speeches, which highlight the priorities mayors are focusing on. The 2018 State of Cities (SOTC) report has a sample of 160 mayoral speeches between January and April 2018 and includes cities of all population sizes and across geographic
I have witnessed firsthand how community colleges have changed lives. Following a five-year tenure at city hall with the former president of the New York City Council, who ran for mayor and was defeated, I landed a job at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), one of seven community colleges in the City University of
This is a guest post by Mayor Mark Stodola, Little Rock, Arkansas, president of the National League of Cities As you may know, my focus this year as president of NLC is to help city leaders prepare for the future of work. What does that mean? Well, it means a lot of things. For me,
This is a guest post by Mayor Mark Stodola, Little Rock, Arkansas, president of the National League of Cities, adapted from remarks delivered for Infrastructure Week. This week in Washington, D.C., — and in cities and towns across the nation — policymakers, the business community and everyday citizens are coming together to recognize Infrastructure Week
In three just-released briefs, NLC outlines how city leaders can leverage afterschool and summer learning programs as strategies to improve public safety, workforce development, and college and career readiness in their communities. Municipal leaders can use these briefs as valuable messaging tools to make the case to their state and local policymaker peers for afterschool
In so many cities that are now seeing the benefits of the nation’s sustained economic growth since 2009, it feels like the local economy and labor market are changing at lightning speed. In the midst of these rapid changes, new questions abound: What is the future of work? How can city leaders help their communities
As a strong and vibrant community, the city of Houston, Texas, has a lot to celebrate. In just one year, Mayor Sylvester Tuner and the City of Houston in partnership with the Houston Independent School District and the Greater Houston Partnership have scaled their summer jobs program from 450 employment opportunities to over 5,000. The
NLC President and Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor Mark Stodola explains the importance of city officials and local business leaders investing in afterschool and summer learning programs as a way to address the “workforce skills crisis.” Last week, seven mayors and corporate executives from their respective cities met in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to explore new pathways
