The Honorable Robert L. Bowser, President of the National Conference of Black Mayors, joined his counterpart principals of the National Policy Alliance in meetings February 8 with President Barack Obama, Cabinet members and Administration officials at the White House.
The meetings allowed for a focused engagement between the Administration and NPA on policy priorities of the collective, and the relationship of these priorities to the President’s goals and initiatives outlined in his State of the Union address.
The NPA principals discussed how their respective organizations currently address these issues, and fundamental strategies to increase the effectiveness of policy implementation on state and local levels.
Mayor Bowser addressed the critical need to retool cities and retrain the workforce in order to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure and advance America’s pace in the “Green Revolution.” He discussed how mayors can strategically position city halls to lead their municipalities in this and identify methods to ensure that communities of color and vulnerable communities are not marginalized in the process.
He also highlighted the importance of developing long-term plans for sources of funding through public-private partnerships around various transportation needs; examining legislation on state and local levels to undergird these partnerships; and leveraging the resources of federal programs through these partnerships.
