ICYMI: National, State and Local Leaders Praise the American Jobs and Families Plans

Over the past month, elected officials, local leaders, and nonprofit CEOs have penned op-eds and letters praising President Joe Biden's American Jobs and Families Plan, urging Congress to pass the plans into law.

In a Salt Lake Tribune op-ed, Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall wrote: "...We are grateful to the White House for shifting focus to our long-term national recovery and putting forth the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan. These complementary legislative frameworks have the power to address community-wide needs that predated the pandemic, ensure the continued wellbeing of our constituents, and promote economic growth in our region by investing in both traditional and human infrastructure....We hope our congressional delegation will seriously consider the merits of the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan, and we encourage lawmakers on Capitol Hill to work in a bipartisan fashion to actualize the goals of each framework."

Leonard Forsman, Suquamish Tribe Chair and President of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, also penned an op-ed in Crosscut describing the impact of the American Jobs Plan on Indian Country. He wrote: "President Biden's jobs plan is a historic step toward meeting the federal government's obligations to Indian Country, while making the entire nation more resilient... I call on Congress to partner with President Biden in a bipartisan effort to help the United States and Indian Country begin to heal the wounds of the past, and build a future where all peoples and species will thrive."

In a Nevada Independent op-ed, Henderson, Nevada Mayor Debra March and Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones discussed the importance of President Biden's infrastructure proposals to Nevada's economy. They wrote: "In Nevada, we are also uniting behind a rallying cry, 'Building Back Better,' which calls for positioning Southern Nevada for sustained growth through various infrastructure projects..... We ask our federal leaders to invest in Southern Nevada to create jobs, maintain and enhance our transportation infrastructure, and build back better."

Last month, nearly two dozen bipartisan Mayors and CEOs for U.S. Housing Investment coalition also sent a letter to Congress underscoring the significance of President Biden's proposed housing infrastructure investments in the American Jobs Plan. And Congressional leaders and more than two dozen mayors held a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol last week to launch the "Infrastructure is Calling" campaign and "highlight the need for Congress to act boldly on infrastructure."

See below for the full op-eds and letters.

Salt Lake Tribune: Jenny Wilson and Erin Mendenhall: American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan would ensure long-term wellbeing of region
[By Mayors Jenny Wilson and Erin Mendenhall; 5/17/2021]

Last week, we welcomed first lady Dr. Jill Biden to Utah for visits in Salt Lake City including a visit to Glendale middle school and to a vaccine outreach clinic run by Salt Lake County. We were struck by the compassion of the first lady and shared with her our thanks to President Joe Biden and the administration for their commitment to COVID health and economic recovery.

As our governments wait for further guidance regarding appropriate use of funds received through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, we thanked her for this generational opportunity to implement measures that protect the public health and provide economic relief to individuals and businesses.

COVID-19 and its residual impacts over the past 15 months have provided a unique and challenging twist to our traditional framework of governing as we face unique needs in our communities due to COVID-19. As our constituents prepare for the summer months and a gradual return to normalcy, we are excited to take part in our favorite pastimes again, but we are also reminded of the need to confront so many other pressing challenges.
For that reason, we are grateful to the White House for shifting focus to our long-term national recovery and putting forth the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan. These complementary legislative frameworks have the power to address community-wide needs that predated the pandemic, ensure the continued wellbeing of our constituents, and promote economic growth in our region by investing in both traditional and human infrastructure.

Our needs presented through COVID-19 are real as our pre-COVID challenges. Traffic congestion is problematic along the Wasatch Front and Utah has 62 bridges that need repair and over 2,000 miles of highway in poor condition. These needs only add to our already poor air quality. We need to improve regional connectivity to address the needs of residents, commuters, and tourists alike – from downtown to the recreational attractions that stimulate our local economy.

The American Jobs Plan includes $600 billion to improve our transportation systems nationally. We hope that federal lawmakers will prioritize investments to support us in Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County as well as our transportation partners through both formula and discretionary grants. We strongly support the establishment of the Community Transportation Block Grant Program, which would help empower local officials to drive better outcomes related to equity and mobility.

Transit must be part of the collective solution. In Utah, nonwhite households are almost twice as likely to commute using public transit, spending twice as much of their time commuting than those who do not rely on transit. The American Jobs Plan calls for an $85 billion to modernize public transit. The funds would help us and our partners at Utah Transit Authority implement the Salt Lake City Transit Master Plan, putting 75% of city residents within walking distance to transit and better access to jobs, education, and services.

The administration's proposal would create family-supporting jobs in the greater region by directing federal investments throughout Salt Lake County, including rural, suburban and urban communities. The framework calls for the establishment of ten new regional innovation hubs as well as a Community Revitalization Fund to support redevelopment projects that provide communities of color and rural residents with access to the innovation economy.

The American Jobs Plan would invest $300 billion in the manufacturing industry that employs 138,000 Utahans. It promotes jobs in clean energy – an emerging industry where Utah shines – by extending and expanding tax credits for the sector.

The past year demonstrated the importance of broadband access as schools, workplaces, and medical offices transitioned to remote operations. At the same time, one in eleven Utahans live in an internet desert, cut off from these critical services. The American Jobs Plan would expand our broadband infrastructure, helping ensure that every family can easily connect and engage in telework or remote learning.

The second proposal, the American Families Plan, calls for investments in education, additional support for children and families, and tax cuts for workers and families. The proposal is particularly important for women, who have suffered a disproportionate share of job losses throughout the pandemic. As mothers ourselves, we are no strangers to the challenge of balancing work responsibilities with family responsibilities. The Administration's proposal would provide two years of universal preschool and establish a national paid family and medical leave program, ensuring that our economic recovery leaves no family behind. The plan also calls for an extension of the expanded Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.

As more Utahans and Americans get vaccinated, we feel it is important to plan for our nation's, our county's and our city's future. We applaud the Biden-Harris Administration for putting forth a long-term vision for us all that prioritizes support for families, significant infrastructure investments, a commitment to equity, and a cleaner and healthier future. We hope our congressional delegation will seriously consider the merits of the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan, and we encourage lawmakers on Capitol Hill to work in a bipartisan fashion to actualize the goals of each framework.

Jenny Wilson is the mayor of Salt Lake County. Erin Mendenhall is the mayor of Salt Lake City.

Crosscut: Native tribes need Biden's bold plan to fix infrastructure
[By Leonard Forsman, 5/14/2021]

Once in a generation, an opportunity comes along for the sort of progress represented by the Biden administration's bold, yet practical, infrastructure initiative.

The American Jobs Plan would address some of the most neglected aspects of life in the United States, including the challenging conditions that prevail in much of Indian Country. This initiative would repair such traditional infrastructure as worn-out roads, rail lines and bridges, and also invest in infrastructure that would fuel future prosperity, like broadband internet and upgrades to the electrical grid.

The proposal also makes significant investments in people by providing access to education, health care and public safety. The American Jobs Plan is a holistic approach to infrastructure that offers jobs now while strengthening our communities and investing in hope for generations to come.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the expanding awareness of racial injustice make it clear that our country needs investment in both its muscle and its soul. Both are badly needed in tribal nations and by the country as a whole to create a better world for coming generations.

As chairman of the Suquamish Tribe and president of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, my work centers on American Indians, who are among the country's most neglected people. Our fates were tied to treaties that promised education, health care and the right to continue our ways of life and means of sustenance through fishing and hunting.

Most early federal investment was used to force us off lands coveted by settlers or extractive industries, and to attempt to assimilate us by dividing our reservations into allotments, scattering tribal communities and forcing tribal children (our parents and grandparents) into far-flung and often abusive boarding schools.

The promises that the United States made to our people in these treaties were ignored, broken or both.

Over time, though, farsighted tribal leaders, working from their living rooms with few resources, fought off policies aimed at undermining and even terminating tribes. These leaders pushed back against federal, state and local policies that fractured tribal economies — which were built on fishing, hunting and other sustainable harvesting practices — and against policies that neglected health and educational services.

These leaders made remarkable progress, but Indian Country has a long way to go to recover from generations of federal mismanagement, discriminatory practices, treaty violations and neglect. President Biden's jobs plan is a historic step toward meeting the federal government's obligations to Indian Country, while making the entire nation more resilient.

Here are just some of the many areas in which the plan could help transform Indian Country:

• Health care. Indian Country has one of the nation's most underfunded health care systems, which contributes to the fact that American Indians suffer some of the worst health outcomes in the nation. Funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act has helped. My tribe, the Suquamish Tribe, was able to make a down payment on a badly needed health clinic with CARES Act funding. But much more needs to be done to restore the health of our people. The American Jobs Plan will bolster funding for critical infrastructure that supports health care facilities, including clean water, sanitation and broadband.

• Habitat restoration. Our treaty fishing rights mean little if the species we rely on go extinct. As with the southern resident killer whales, our ways of life are endangered by the sharp decline in salmon populations and the pollution of shellfish beds. Infrastructure spending can help salmon populations recover by upgrading failing municipal sewage systems (as in King County), replacing fish-blocking culverts and cleaning up toxic waste sites. This support can also enable the long-overdue breaching of the lower Snake River dams as part of a Northwest salmon recovery strategy.

• Broadband internet. Tribal nations are frequently the last to get connected to broadband internet, and the pandemic has made clear that connectivity is a lifeline to education, business development and medical services. The Suquamish Tribe leveraged CARES Act funding to provide emergency hotspots to families and students without internet access, and to begin building an internet system that will finally connect tribal housing to broadband services. Biden's plan promises 100% coverage with high-speed internet, which will be a game changer for both rural communities and tribal nations.

• Climate change. A warming climate poses a threat to all species, including ourselves. Some Indian nations are being forced to move their villages as waters rise. Many of us are seeing the devastating impacts on fish and shellfish of warming rivers and seas, and acidifying oceans. The American Jobs Plan would invest in clean transportation, energy generation and agriculture that would restore hope for the future while creating good paying jobs today. A resilient, updated infrastructure means all of us are able to better weather the inevitable climate challenges ahead.

• Housing. Forty percent of the housing on Indian reservations is inadequate, compared with 6% nationwide. The COVID-19 pandemic ravaged tribal nations, in part, because many multigenerational families living in the same homes were unable to practice social distancing. The jobs plan would invest in crucial development to ensure that American Indians and others can access affordable housing.

These are just some of the Suquamish Tribe's and other Northwest tribes' priorities to be addressed by the American Jobs Plan, ensuring a better, healthier and more prosperous future for Indian Country and the entire nation.

I call on Congress to partner with President Biden in a bipartisan effort to help the United States and Indian Country begin to heal the wounds of the past, and build a future where all peoples and species will thrive.

Leonard Forsman is Suquamish Tribe Chair and President of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.

Nevada Independent: Building back better for infrastructure week
[By Mayor Debra March and Commissioner Justin Jones; 5/13/2021]

Infrastructure is again a national conversation. President Biden just introduced his $2 trillion American Jobs Plan to rebuild the country's infrastructure. He has noted that his sweeping plan is "a once-in-a-generation investment in America" at a level not seen since the 1960s when the country built the interstate highway system and won the Space Race. The plan includes rebuilding 20,000 miles of roads, repairing 10,000 bridges – including the ten most economically essential bridges in the country – and building a network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations, among many other things. While the details will no doubt be debated, Americans largely agree that investing in infrastructure is an important safety issue and a boon to both our economy and the future of our communities.

In Southern Nevada, the conversation about infrastructure has always been a priority. The Las Vegas Valley has witnessed exponential growth in the last decade, necessitating significant investment in our roads and transportation services. Although the federal government has failed over the past several years to unite on a robust infrastructure plan, Southern Nevada came together in a bipartisan way to approve Fuel Revenue Indexing (FRI) to fund various infrastructure projects.

Since the beginning of FRI in 2017, more than $1 billion has been invested in more than 458 critically important local road projects. As a complex community where people lead regional lives, millions of residents drive on roads that have been built or improved thanks to FRI funding, including the 215 Beltway Airport Connector, Centennial Bowl and Summerlin Parkway projects. FRI has also supported the interstate backbones of our economy – I-15, and I-11 – which bring millions of visitors each year to our city and move goods and services between major metropolitan areas.

The importance of our transportation infrastructure cannot be overstated. Completed projects enhance safety and mobility for our fast-growing community, and their construction has created more than 10,000 jobs and provides work to numerous local small and diverse businesses. In fact, it was roadway projects that kept thousands of Southern Nevadans employed in 2020 when our tourism-based economy was reeling from the pandemic, and our unemployment rate reached record levels.

These large-scale road projects, along with continued progress on key commercial developments including Allegiant Stadium, Resorts World, Circa and the Las Vegas Convention Center expansion kept people working last year and helped to ensure we were ready to greet the millions of visitors who will return to Las Vegas in the coming months. Smaller-scale infrastructure investments also revitalize our community and help to attract new businesses and diversify the economy. For example, in downtown Henderson's Water Street, $6.4 million was invested, and over the last year, the city has seen more than $20 million in private investment plus a $55 million project that just broke ground.

That's why from May 10-14, we are celebrating "United For Infrastructure," a nationwide awareness campaign in support of building and improving our country's infrastructure. In Nevada, we are also uniting behind a rallying cry, "Building Back Better," which calls for positioning Southern Nevada for sustained growth through various infrastructure projects. This includes further improvements on I-15 and I-11; building high-speed rail between Las Vegas and Los Angeles; making investments in transit, electric vehicles, clean energy infrastructure; and related private ventures that will become part of the transportation system.

But to be successful, the private sector must work in partnership with the public sector to fully integrate all proposals, ensuring everyone has access to safe, sustainable, reliable, and connected mobility options. As a community, we have accomplished a lot. However, we still have unmet needs and high unemployment in a valley seeking to rebound economically and plan for a more resilient and sustainable future.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nevada has the sixth highest unemployment rate in the nation, at just over 8 percent. Keeping the pedal to the metal on transportation infrastructure projects is paramount to ensuring we meet our residents' and visitors' economic and mobility needs. In working with the local jurisdictions in Southern Nevada, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada has nearly $500 million invested in projects that could be advanced — if federal funding becomes available. Bridges, interchanges, and intersections can be maintained and built, as well as complete streets with bicycling and pedestrian improvements. These projects will create jobs, better connect our growing population, improve safety on our roads and reduce congestion.

Because of Southern Nevada's foresight, we were able to keep moving forward despite shutdowns and an unprecedented pandemic that brought the world to a standstill. However, this is not the time to tap the brakes. We ask our federal leaders to invest in Southern Nevada to create jobs, maintain and enhance our transportation infrastructure, and build back better.

Debra March is the mayor of the City of Henderson and chairs the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada. Justin Jones is a Clark County commissioner and vice-chair of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.

Mayors and CEOs for U.S. Housing Investment: Letter to Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McCarthy and Leader McConnell
[4/13/2021]

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McCarthy and Leader McConnell:

As Congress works to negotiate an infrastructure package, we strongly urge a significant investment in affordable housing, which is a pro-jobs, pro-families, and pro-security investment that enables our communities to thrive. As mayors, we understand these issues from the streets of our cities and recognize their urgency, which has been amplified throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Stable and affordable housing strengthens our communities by providing more residents the opportunity to pursue a job and financial stability, which both support local businesses and economic growth. For these reasons and more, we applaud President Biden's inclusion of a strong investment for affordable housing in the American Jobs Plan.

In addition to our work with the federal government, our coalition of 33 bipartisan mayors and business leaders is working with non-governmental organizations, real estate and affordable housing developers and other critical housing stakeholders to ensure that the voices of struggling families and individuals are heard. Today, we urge that Congress's package support the investments in Chairwoman Waters' Housing is Infrastructure legislation and the American Jobs Plan, include a significant expansion of Housing Choice Vouchers to all eligible households, and provide incentives for housing production around large employment and/or transportation hubs.

America needs this level of support because current federal programs and funding as well as affordable housing supply are not meeting the skyrocketing national housing demand. One in four families that rent in our country are a paycheck away from homelessness, and families can no longer afford safe places to live.

Thank you for considering this urgent request and your continued leadership in helping to prevent and end homelessness in the United States. We are ready to work with you.

Sincerely,

Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland, California
John Giles, Mayor of Mesa, Arizona
Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles, California
London N. Breed, Mayor of City and County of San Francisco, California
Vi Lyles, Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina
Kate Gallego, Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona
Michael B. Hancock, Mayor of Denver, Colorado
Darrell Steinberg, Mayor of Sacramento, California
Jim Kenney, Mayor of Philadelphia, PA
Lily Mei, Mayor of Fremont, California
Jenny A. Durkan, Mayor of Seattle, Washington
Steve Benjamin, Mayor of Columbia, South Carolina
Cassie Franklin, Mayor of Everett, Washington
Todd Gloria, Mayor of San Diego, California
Muriel Bowser, Mayor of Washington D.C.
Sam Liccardo, Mayor of San Jose, California
Lucy Vinis, Mayor of Eugene, Oregon
Mike Coffman, Mayor of Aurora, Colorado
Jerry Dyer, Mayor of Fresno, California
Robert Garcia, Mayor of Long Beach, California
Ted Wheeler, Mayor of Portland, Oregon
Diane Yentel, President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition
Nan Roman, President and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness

Bipartisan 'Infrastructure Is Calling' Campaign Launches With American Mayors Joining Speaker Pelosi, Chair Defazio To Call For Bold Action On Infrastructure
[5/12/2021]

Washington, DC — Los Angeles Mayor and Accelerator for America Founder Eric Garcetti today joined U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-OR); Chair of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC); Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ), former Mayor of West New York, NJ, and current senior Member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ), former Mayor of Phoenix and current Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit; Mayor Quinton Lucas, Kansas City, Missouri; and Mayor Levar Stoney, Richmond, Virginia, for a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol to highlight the need for Congress to act boldly on infrastructure.

This press conference highlighted the launch of the "Infrastructure is Calling" campaign. The campaign features videos from nearly 30 U.S. mayors highlighting the importance of federal infrastructure investment to their communities. The mayors' call comes as Chair DeFazio and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee prepare to introduce legislation with transformational investments in our nation's roads, bridges, public transit, and rail.

Accelerator for America believes strongly that infrastructure investment is essential to accelerating our nation's economic recovery and generating the local opportunities and community wealth necessary to break generational cycles of inequality. Each $1 billion of investment in infrastructure creates more than 22,000 jobs — typically well paid and typically union jobs — that provide long-lasting careers and support strong local economies. Accelerator for America was founded in 2017 following Mayor Garcetti's successful leadership of Los Angeles County's $120 billion Measure M, the nation's largest-ever local transportation infrastructure measure. The Accelerator has since worked with localities nationwide to help generate more than $40 billion in local infrastructure funding.

To inform federal action on infrastructure, Accelerator for America and its New Partnership on Infrastructure coalition developed America's New Playbook for Infrastructure, which goes beyond the call for significant investment in our nation's infrastructure and urges an overhaul of how infrastructure is financed by the federal government. The Playbook states that for stimulus legislation to be most effective, we must align local government needs with broader federal macroeconomic stability goals and overhaul how we fund infrastructure in our country by moving toward a system that incentivizes aligned local, state, and federal investment. By empowering local governments — which are most attuned to local needs and priorities — with more autonomy, infrastructure investments can be developed alongside national policy objectives.

"There is no better way to rebuild our middle class and accelerate our economic recovery from COVID-19 than through the local careers that will be created by a bold national investment in our infrastructure," said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who is Founder and Advisory Council Chair of Accelerator for America. "A national investment in our infrastructure would address so many of our key challenges: air pollution and climate change, clean water for our children, broadband access for small businesses and students, and the traffic congestion that takes so much time and money away from our families. Local leaders are ready to get to work."

"As a former county commissioner, I strongly believe federal infrastructure investment is essential to help communities thrive," said Chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Peter DeFazio. "The right kind of investment means good paying, local jobs fixing our roads and bridges. It means safer, more connected communities. It means better options to get around, including more reliable transit and trains, bike lanes, safe crosswalks, and ways to charge an electric vehicle. That is why I am so excited join the chorus of mayors whose cities need a federal partner to achieve transformational change for the people we all serve. With the Biden-Harris administration making infrastructure a priority, this is our nation's opportunity to invest in a clean, green transportation system that will benefit generations to come."

"It's time to invest in our future," said Dayton, Ohio Mayor Nan Whaley, who is a member of the Accelerator for America Advisory Council. "We need national infrastructure investment to generate the new economy — with broadband access, electric charging stations for cars, and rail that will connect us to other cities across Ohio and the Midwest."

"In Chicago, national investment in infrastructure means creating jobs, modernizing and repairing our roads, bridges, and aging transit system, and improving the safety of our streets and the quality of the air we breathe," said Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot. "It reinforces our reputation as a global city and creates opportunities to uplift historically disinvested communities, building bridges between our neighborhoods in more ways than one."

"Mayors have remained on the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis in our cities for more than a year," said Oklahoma City, OK Mayor David Holt, who is a member of the Accelerator for America Advisory Council. "Now, with federal infrastructure investment potentially directed into local communities, we could have the opportunity to lead our cities through inclusive economic recoveries that will rebuild our communities even stronger than they were before."
"As one of America's fastest growing cities, we in Phoenix know that investment in transportation and infrastructure means investment in opportunity," said Phoenix, Arizona Mayor Kate Gallego. "Infrastructure connects students to the schools of their dreams, it creates and connects residents to jobs, and it is key to the future we all want for our families and our country."

"National infrastructure investment will create good-paying jobs in Columbia and across our country, accelerating our nation's inclusive economic recovery," said Columbia, South Carolina Mayor Steve Benjamin, who is a member of the Accelerator for America Advisory Council. "Columbia is ready to take on our biggest infrastructure challenges to become one of the most talented, educated, entrepreneurial, and resilient cities in America."
"Infrastructure is about more than concrete and steel — it's also about helping the American people succeed," said Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Randall Woodfin. "We need national infrastructure investment to put people to work today and to build the strong, safe, equitable, and sustainable communities of tomorrow."

"America is at a pivotal moment where we need to make decisions about what our recovery from the pandemic will look like, so we can build a stronger foundation for shared prosperity," said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who is President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. "We need direct federal investment in our cities now to address our biggest challenges: outdated and insufficient infrastructure, inequities in our communities resulting from centuries of underinvestment and unjust policies, and the growing threat of climate change."

"Infrastructure in 2021 is about so much more than reservoirs and highways alone," said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall. "Ultimately, it's about people — and improving their access to transit, affordable housing, connectivity, sustainable energy, and so much more. When we invest in infrastructure, we invest in families and communities, leading to greater stability and prosperity, a higher quality of life, and a strong economy for everyone."

The 'Infrastructure is Calling' campaign comprises individual videos from 29 mayors and local leaders, from cities large and small:

1. Mayor Steve Adler, Austin, TX
2. Mayor Tom Barrett, Milwaukee, WI
3. Mayor Steve Benjamin, Columbia, SC
4. Former Mayor Andy Berke, Chattanooga, TN
5. Former Mayor and HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, San Antonio, TX
6. Mayor Paige Cognetti, Scranton, PA
7. Mayor John Cranley, Cincinnati, OH (Accelerator for America Advisory Council member)
8. Mayor Greg Fischer, Louisville, KY
9. Mayor Kate Gallego, Phoenix, AZ
10. Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles, CA (Accelerator for America Founder and Advisory Council Chair)
11. Mayor John Giles, Mesa, AZ
12. Mayor Michael Hancock, Denver, CO
13. Mayor Quentin Hart, Waterloo, IA (Accelerator for America Advisory Council member)
14. Mayor Joe Hogsett, Indianapolis, IN
15. Mayor David Holt, Oklahoma City, OK (Accelerator for America Advisory Council member)
16. Mayor Tim Keller, Albuquerque, NM
17. Mayor Debbie Kling, Nampa, ID
18. Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade County, FL
19. Mayor Sam Liccardo, San Jose, CA
20. Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Chicago, IL
21. Mayor Quinton Lucas, Kansas City, MO
22. Mayor Vi Lyles, Charlotte, NC
23. Mayor Lauren McLean, Boise, ID
24. Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Salt Lake City, UT
25. Mayor Bill Peduto, Pittsburgh, PA
26. City Clerk Anna Valencia, City of Chicago (Accelerator for America Advisory Council member)
27. Mayor Lucy Vinis, Eugene, OR
28. Mayor Nan Whaley, Dayton, OH (Accelerator for America Advisory Council member)
29. Mayor Randall Woodfin, Birmingham, AL
30. Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson.