Second Class of Mayors Goes Back to School
July 25, 2018
July 25, 2018 - New York, NY - The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative today announced the second class of 40 mayors from around the world who will participate in the yearlong education and professional development program designed exclusively for mayors. The 40 mayors joined Harvard faculty and renowned management experts in New York City this week for a three-day, immersive classroom experience and convening to kick-off the program.
In this year's class of mayors:
The Initiative is a collaboration between Bloomberg Philanthropies, Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School that aims to provide a world-class learning experience for mayors and their senior leaders that will equip them with the tools and expertise to effectively govern complex cities. Harvard faculty, staff and students, alongside experts from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ global network, work with mayors and senior officials over the course of one year in the classroom, online, and in the field to foster professional growth and advance the necessary capabilities to drive innovation and deliver results for residents.
"As Washington has grown more dysfunctional and dishonest, American cities have grown more dynamic and effective, and more critical to our nation’s success,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and three-term mayor of New York City. “Around the world, cities are growing in size and importance, and mayors are leading the charge in addressing the most pressing issues we face, from creating jobs to fighting climate change. This program is aimed at helping them succeed. Last year’s inaugural program yielded some great results, and we’re looking forward to seeing what comes out of this year’s group.”
The second class of mayors to participate in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative are:
Kathy Sheehan (Albany, NY), Tim Keller (Albuquerque, NM), Jeff Williams (Arlington, TX), Keisha Lance Bottoms (Atlanta, GA), Randall Woodfin (Birmingham, AL), Naheed Nenshi (Calgary, Canada), Vi Lyles (Charlotte, NC), Marian Orr (Cheyenne, WY), Steve Benjamin (Columbia, SC), Andrew Ginther (Columbus, OH), Steve Schewel (Durham, NC), Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr (Freetown, Sierra Leone), Mike Savage (Halifax, Canada), Luke Bronin (Hartford, CT), Jan Vapaavuori (Helsinki, Finland), Chokwe Antar Lumumba (Jackson, MS), Andy Schor (Lansing, MI), Joyce Craig (Manchester, NH), Francis Xavier Suarez (Miami, FL), Toni Harp (New Haven, CT), Andre Sayegh (Paterson, NJ), Mauricio Rodas (Quito, Ecuador), Dagur Eggertsson (Reykjavik, Iceland), Levar Stoney (Richmond, VA), Ron Nirenberg (San Antonio, TX), Alan Webber (Santa Fe, NM), Samuel Liccardo (San Jose, CA), Bruno Covas (São Paulo, Brazil), Charlie Clark (Saskatoon, Canada), Jenny Anne Durkan (Seattle, WA), Paul TenHaken (Sioux Falls, SD), Lyda Krewson (St. Louis, MO), Melvin Carter III (St. Paul, MN), Michael Tubbs (Stockton, CA), Ben Walsh (Syracuse, NY), Victoria Woodards (Tacoma, WA), Michelle De La Isla (Topeka, KS), Emil Dardak (Trenggalek, Indonesia), G.T. Bynum (Tulsa, OK), and Andy Street (West Midlands, United Kingdom).
The private sector invests more than $42 billion each year in executive development, but there is no equivalent in the public sector. The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative aims to close this gap to help mayors excel. The program is part of the American Cities Initiative, an effort designed to support US cities as they generate innovation and advance policy to move the nation forward.
“This is a unique program in the sense that it provides an opportunity for mayors to learn from each other as well as from our faculty and state-of-the-art research. In turn, Harvard is honored and excited to learn from the way city leaders are approaching complex challenges,” said Jorrit de Jong, Faculty Director of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. “The program has already led to practical impact in cities in its first year while it has also launched new interdisciplinary research on leadership and innovation in city government.” The initiative aims to enroll up to 240 cities from around the world over four years.
Twenty-two Harvard graduate students take their talents to U.S. and international cities
June 10, 2022, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, the flagship program of the Bloomberg Center for Cities, is pleased to announce the 2022 Bloomberg Harvard Summer Fellows. This group of 22 outstanding Harvard Master’s and professional degree students was selected from a highly capable pool of more than 150 applicants from across nine Harvard Schools.
Students will work in local government in the following cities, all recent participants in the Initiative’s programming for mayors and senior city leaders:
They will contribute meaningfully to innovating government services, applying the tools of data-driven decision-making, human-centered design, and cross-sector collaboration to help cities tackle complex challenges such as gun violence, youth mental health, equitable economic development, and homelessness, improving the lives of city residents.
Since 2018, the Initiative has placed 86 Harvard graduate students in paid summer roles in 59 U.S. cities and nine international cities (some with multiple placements). Fellows work closely with city leader supervisors, addressing complex problems such as affordable housing, community safety, early childhood development, equitable economic recovery, and racial equity and access. Fellows deliver work such as analyses, plan designs, and new resources to assist mayors and city staff in advancing key priorities.
This year’s class of Summer Fellows includes 12 graduate students from Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), four from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, two from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, one from the Harvard Divinity School, and one earning a joint degree at HKS and Yale Law School.
“Summer Fellows are catalysts and emerging leaders,” said Pascha McTyson, the Initiative’s Program Manager for Student Engagement. “The Fellowship is beneficial to everyone—the students who apply their skills and capabilities and gain valuable exposure, and the cities that gain extra capacity and new knowledge and tools to innovate and serve their residents.”
Fifteen Harvard graduate students bring their skills to cities in the U.S. and abroad.
May 22, 2023, Cambridge, Massachusetts – The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, the flagship program of the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University, welcomed its newest class of Summer Fellows today.
After receiving more than 100 applications across five Harvard Schools this year, the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative selected 15 accomplished graduate and doctoral degree students.
Fellows will spend the summer embedded in local government in the following cities, all recent participants in the Initiative’s programming for mayors and senior city leaders:
Fellows will work directly in their host cities in project areas including climate action, equitable economic development, civic engagement, government and technology, and community-centered governance.
“Summer Fellows bring critical capacity to work on mayoral priorities aimed at producing deliverables with high impact potential for residents,” said Pascha McTyson, the Initiative’s Program Director for Student Engagement. “Fellows were selected based on their clear articulation of their interest in cities, how their skills could be effectively and creatively applied to the project scope, and how the experience could support their postgraduate career goals.”
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Since 2018, the Initiative has placed 108 Harvard graduate students in paid summer roles in 86 cities across 15 countries. Eight Summer Fellows were hired for full-time roles in their cities after the fellowship concluded.
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Fellows work closely with city leader supervisors, addressing their city’s most pressing problem, such as affordable housing, community safety, early childhood development, equitable economic recovery, or racial equity and access. Fellows deliver work such as recommendations, analyses, plan designs, and new resources to the mayor, senior leaders, and other key stakeholders in the city.
This year’s class of Summer Fellows includes graduate and doctoral candidates from the Harvard Kennedy School, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the Harvard Business School.
Seven emerging leaders take up new roles in US cities
August 4, 2022, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, the flagship program of the Bloomberg Center for Cities, is pleased to announce the first recipients of the Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellowship. Seven accomplished Harvard graduates have accepted positions in city halls around the country, where they will make significant contributions over the next two years.
The City Hall Fellows are working in these cities, which have participated in the Initiative’s programming for mayors and senior city leaders:
The Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellowship places Harvard master’s or professional degree graduates into leadership positions in city halls, where they will contribute to lasting change by applying skills and helping build capabilities in city government. The Fellows will help their host cities tackle pressing and significant challenges identified by each mayor. Central to each Fellow’s work will be strengthening their host city’s capacity to sustain the work beyond the two-year fellowship term.
The inaugural class of City Hall Fellows includes three master’s degree graduates of Harvard Kennedy School, two from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and two from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
“I’m delighted by the knowledge and energy of this inaugural group of talented professionals,” said Bulbul Kaul, the Initiative’s Senior Program Director for City Support and Student Engagement. “The City Hall Fellows will take on complex challenges that are top priorities for each city’s leadership, ones that will benefit from fresh perspectives, new uses of data, and collaborative and innovative approaches to help diagnose and address the underlying causes and symptoms. We look forward to the cities’ future progress and accomplishments, achieved with their Fellows’ contributions over the next two years.”
The City Hall Fellowship team is planning future cohorts and will invite potential host cities to apply in fall 2022. Fellowship applications will open to eligible Harvard graduate students at that time, and the Initiative will announce the second annual cohort of Fellows in summer 2023, following a competitive application process. Fellows receive a competitive salary and benefits, robust professional development opportunities, and a unique opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives.
Visit our Fellowships page and join our email list to get the latest information.
