A peer learning network for mayors and city leaders.
High-speed dependable internet is not a convenience or a luxury, but a critical tool for resilient, connected, and inclusive communities. Broadband ensures that residents have access to education, healthcare, and essential services. However, low-income neighborhoods, rural communities, and neighborhoods of color tend to have lower rates of internet access. Local governments can help close this …
By Mary Carr Lee • Mayors Innovation Project Across the country, cities are navigating a complex reality defined by two factors: the increasingly high needs of our most vulnerable residents and the persistent uncertainty of federal funding and municipal budgets. Simply put, the gap between what residents need and what public services can provide is …
Complete Streets is an approach to planning, designing, building, operating, and maintaining streets that enable safe access for all, regardless of mode of travel. Complete streets policies and practices improve safety, enhance public health, reduce pollution, and boost local economies by increasing property values and supporting local businesses. The City of Madison, WI has long …
By: Emma Denison, Communications and Student Engagement Manager • The Water Center at Penn The Water Center at Penn, together with our partners the Mayors Innovation Project, the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), is working to shine a critical spotlight on local leaders advancing water affordability. By collaborating …
By: Katya Spear, Managing Director • Mayors Innovation Project This Summer, the Mayors Innovation Project and the Water Center at Penn hosted a webinar featuring Mayor Danene Sorace of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who offered a unique perspective on managing water affordability from the top. As the head of a city that owns and operates its water …
Under the new federal administration, long-standing commitments to equity and public rights are under threat. This erosion threatens to deepen racial and economic disparities, undo hard-won progress, and weaken the trust that local leaders have worked hard to build with vulnerable communities. Local governments play a critical role in countering these setbacks by protecting inclusive …
Since January, cities across the nation have been working to interpret a new, uncertain, and often overwhelming federal policy landscape. At the Summer 2025 Meeting, city leaders came together to discuss how they’re protecting the health and safety of their communities in the face of reduced federal support and rapidly changing federal guidance that often …
By Mary Carr Lee, Mayors Innovation Project Welcoming Week is more than a celebration—it’s a movement. It’s a call to action to build a nation of neighbors where all residents can embrace diversity, foster belonging, and shape a future where everyone feels at home. “Welcoming Week started in 2012 as a conversation between a number …
By Katya Spear, Managing Director, Mayors Innovation Project The panel The Right Response at the Right Time at the MIP Summer Meeting in Albuquerque, NM, brought together mayors, department heads, and national policy experts to discuss how cities are advancing public safety by establishing and expanding alternative response programs. The conversation highlighted a quiet but …
By Quincy Midthun • Mayors Innovation Project Across the country, cities are heating up. Extreme heat not only creates extreme discomfort, it strains the grid and endangers the health and safety of residents, particularly in neighborhoods that lack greenery, which are disproportionately home to communities of color and low income communities. At the Summer 2025 …
