Economic Development & Marketing Committee (ad Hoc)
April 28, 2025

Economic and
Development
Marketing Committee
25-502 - Update on the
City’s Participation in the
Bloomberg Harvard City
Leadership Initiative
April 28, 2025
Bloomberg Philanthropies - The Role of City
Leaders in Driving Change
• Mayors and local leaders are on the frontlines, with
unique power to effect change.
• Faced with financial, societal, and governmental
constraints, city leaders need resources and support.
• The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative
provides essential tools for overcoming these challenges. 2 Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative
• Since 2017, Bloomberg Philanthropies has partnered
with Harvard to support mayors globally.
• The initiative equips leaders to tackle complex city
challenges and improve quality of life.
• Focus on building leadership capacity, implementing
innovative strategies, and addressing real-world
problems.
3 2026 Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership
Initiative Cohort
• Each year, the Initiative offers leadership and
management training to 40 mayors (and 2 senior leaders) from around the world.
• The program combines an intensive classroom experience with broader training and capacity-building to help
participants foster their professional growth, advance key capabilities within their city hall, and lead more effective, efficient, and equitable cities.
4 Core Classes & Key Learning Areas
• Intensive in-person and virtual sessions for mayors and their senior city officials.
• Focus areas: leadership, collaboration, innovation, data- driven decision-making.
• Harvard professors lead courses on strategic leadership, performance, and government transformation.
• Each city has the opportunity to access deeper
programming, support, and resources that help them
improve a key practice over the course of the year.
5 Core Classes & Key Learning Areas
Continued
• In addition to the week-long courses in New York and monthly virtual sessions, the members participate in peer-to-peer breakouts to discuss city problems and share ideas.
• Key topics:
6 • how to drive performance
• transform government
• learn from peers
• empowering staff
• teaming to innovate
• finding entry points
• possibility government
• cross-sector collaboration
• engaging residents
• developing talent
• moral leadership
Mayor’s Key Priority for 2026 – Transparency
and Accountability
• In 2026, Santa Clara will host Super Bowl LX as well as six matches as part of the FIFA Men's World Cup.
• To ensure that the city offers more transparency and
accountability around the stadium’s operations—and that these 2026 events benefit the community to the greatest extent possible.
7 Bloomberg Harvard Summer Fellow
• Summer Fellowship Focus: Stadium Events & Community
Engagement
• Elija Kozak, a Havard Master’s student in Public
Administration with an urban planning background. She
is also a researcher for the Bloomberg Center for Cities with a focus on civic engagement and leveraging data for impactful policies.
• Fellowship will run for 10 weeks, starting in June.
8 Bloomberg Harvard Summer Fellowship
Project:
• Develop a comprehensive plan and strategy for engaging the public, improving trust, and collaborating with city partners for Stadium Major Events. The work will include the following:
• Insights and information from internal and external stakeholders • Summarize research and analysis of existing data (e.g., satisfaction surveys, data on event users) to describe ways to engage the public, build public trust, and improve relationships and collaboration with the public and city partners • Presentation of the Stadium Major Events Plan and Communications Strategy for the City 9
Additional Bloomberg Harvard Programs
and Resources
• Civic Power Lab: Innovative civic engagement practices. • Data Smart City Solutions: Tools for data-driven decision- making.
• Equity Innovation Hub: Promoting equitable city
solutions.
• Local Politics Lab & The People Lab: Resources to
deepen understanding of local politics and community
engagement.
10 Next Steps
• June 2025 - Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership
Initiative completed
• Summer 2026 – Work with Fellow to develop plan and
strategy for the Mayor’s Key Priority
• Ongoing – Utilize the resources and programs that
Bloomberg Center for Cities has to offer.
11 Questions
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