NLC kicks off first in-person City Summit in three years

For the first time since the pandemic began, the National League of Cities (NLC) is hosting its annual City Summit in-person this weekend, drawing around 3,000 local leaders to Kansas City, Mo.

The conference kicked off Thursday with remarks from NLC President Vince Williams, mayor of Union City, Georgia; John Stankey, CEO of AT&T; Clarence Anthony, CEO of NLC; Quinton Lucas, mayor of Kansas City; and Lisa Sun, founder & CEO of GRAVITAS and former associate principal at McKinsey & Company, according to a statement from the organization.

Federal investment in local cities, including the historic $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was passed about a year ago, is a major theme in the event.

“For years, whether it’s water infrastructure or roads, we’ve been using band-aids to keep our cities running. With this historic level of funding, we’re finally in a position to make the types of upgrades and repairs our communities so desperately need,” said Williams, whose 2022 presidential term with the organization is coming to an end soon. In his outgoing address to the conference, Williams highlighted “challenges that the last three years of the pandemic,” including “fair and just protection for everyone,” homelessness, access to healthcare, educational opportunities and equal opportunity.

Notable presentations Thursday included de-escalation training for local officials (important given the rise in threats and harassment public officials experience these days), and a discussion with Stankey about broadband and the pandemic’s impact, and bridging the digital divide. 

“Each of your states are about to get in the middle of trying to get subsidized support back from the government,” Stankey said. “The best thing to do as a mayor is figure out what your needs are, who the constituents are that are shaping that policy, and figure out how to get the loudest voice in that constituency to share that policy.”

Another workshop addressed investing in sustainable infrastructure amid a changing climate. With federal funding pouring into communities across the nation, local leaders have a unique opportunity to update aging infrastructure, reconsider land use, water access and flooding, redesign the electric power grid and set their communities on a new path toward resiliency.

“We are already experiencing climate change, and we want to rebuild in a climate conscious and mitigating way that prevents other communities from experiencing the (wildfire) tragedy that we experienced,” said Chris Rogers, mayor of Santa Rosa Calif. in the session. Brad Cavanagh, mayor of Dubuque, Iowa, stressed the importance of bringing everyone to the table during this rebuilding and reconsidering process.

“We want to do infrastructure projects with the communities that are living there, not just doing things for them without their input, or as we have seen in the past, even despite them,” Rogers said.

Through Saturday, the NLC’s City Summit will host attendees at more than 40 workshops, with many focused on federal funding opportunities made available for communities through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Other sessions will focus on public safety, broadband equity, transportation, and economic development, among other things.

More information can be found at NLC’s City Summit 2022 website. Speakers slated to speak during the remainder of the conference include Dr. Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent at CNN, Holly Sullivan, vice president of worldwide economic development at Amazon, Arthur Evans, CEO of the American Psychological Association, Sharon Weston Broome, mayor of Baton Rouge, La., Victoria Woodards, mayor of Tacoma, Wash., and incoming president for NLC, and Brandon Fleming, author of “MISEDUCATED” and fouder and CEO of The Veritas School of Social Sciences, formally known as the Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project.