2025 Annual Report
A Letter from our Co-Chairs & CEO
Dear Colleagues and Partners,
Meaningful progress is never achieved from the sidelines. It is shaped by those willing to step forward, take responsibility, and work with determination. In 2025, local leaders across our nation did exactly that. Spurred by their resolve, Accelerator for America is unwavering in our commitment to our founding purpose: to create national change from the ground up. Our mission has always been to help communities navigate uncertainty, seize opportunity, and advance practical solutions that improve people’s lives, and that mission is more critical during times of change and disruption.
In 2025, AFA supported 145 communities nationwide, added hundreds of local leaders and practitioners to our network, welcomed nine new mayors to our Advisory Council, and adopted our first-ever, multiyear strategic plan. As local needs evolved, we adjusted and innovated to meet them. We deepened partnerships with philanthropy, advanced new state and local revenue strategies, and equipped communities with tools to address the national housing crisis and expand broader economic mobility.
There is no telling what 2026 will bring, but we are certain that the year ahead will be dynamic, and that the need for – and burdens on – local leadership will only intensify. AFA is prepared. We will continue to stand with local leaders, strengthen our national network, and advance solutions that make life better for people in America’s smallest towns and major metropolises alike. Thank you for standing with us.
Mayor Kate Gallego
Co‑Chair, AFA Advisory Council
Mayor Quinton Lucas
Co‑Chair, AFA Advisory Council
Mary Ellen Wiederwohl
President & CEO, Accelerator for America
Cities of Impact
Accelerator for America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan “Do tank” that delivers solutions, connections, and resources to mayors and other local leaders working to create greater economic mobility in underserved communities.
The dots on the map below indicate Cities of Impact. Hover over the stars to read case stories from across the country. For best view, use a desktop.
Total Communities
Engaged
Communities Received
Direct Assistance
Communities Accessed
AFA Resources
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown/Lehigh County have launched a comprehensive multiyear workforce and economic development strategy, Allentown Works. As part of AFA and Opportunity Insights’ Insights Into Action cohort, the city validated prime-age unemployment and household income trajectories for children from low-income families – and used that data to craft an investment strategy to increase access to childcare.
Hinds County, Mississippi
Through the U.S. DOT Thriving Communities Program, AFA and our partners helped Hinds County unite around roadway safety concept plans and successfully pursue a $1.3 million Safe Streets for All (SS4A) grant to fund improvements to two of the county’s most dangerous corridors and intersections. AFA’s capacity building work helped produce greater collaboration from federal, state, county, city, and community stakeholders that supported the winning application.
Kansas City, Missouri
AFA received a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in 2025 to enhance connections among workforce and training providers in Kansas City. The goal is to increase the participation of women and people of color in skilled trades and advanced manufacturing job training. The grant builds upon AFA’s history of economic and workforce development assistance in Kansas City.
Riverside, California
AFA developed an Inclusive Development Action Plan (IDAP) that lays out how local leaders can capitalize the region’s economic strengths to benefit all residents. The IDAP will serve as a model for similar work in other cities. AFA supported Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson, Chair of the California Big City Mayors Coalition in their first ever Summit, facilitating discussion and policy planning on important issues like affordable housing, homelessness, and economic competitiveness.
St. Louis, Missouri
We continue our partnership with the St. Louis Development Corporation and the St. Louis Community Foundation to pursue new innovations in housing development and provide support for building new impact investing opportunities.
Cleveland, Ohio
As part of the U.S. DOT Thriving Communities Program, AFA's Capacity Building Team conducted research and analysis work to help City of Cleveland planning staff develop a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Social Housing Model to guide publicly owned projects and create a funding framework to support implementation. The work is a component of Mayor Justin Bibb's “15-minute city" initiative, which envisions Cleveland as a place where residents’ basic needs can be met within a short walk, bike ride, or transit trip.
Charlotte / Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
AFA sister organization, Accelerator for America Action, worked closely with the Yes for Meck coalition and Mecklenburg County leaders to secure a victory at the ballot box in November 2025. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County voters approved a ballot measure that will generate $19.4 billion over the next 30 years to support greater investment in transit and infrastructure in their community.
Mercer County, Kentucky
AFA began working with Mercer County officials to align ongoing efforts to establish and build out a mega site for redevelopment, bringing new jobs and economic growth to the area. The work, part of the U.S. DOT Thriving Communities Program, includes analyzing nearby infrastructure and creating materials to support state infrastructure funding requests and business attraction efforts.
Phoenix, Arizona
Through its relationship with AFA, Blackstone Charitable Foundation is able to connect to mayors who are focused on making progress in their communities, including Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. In 2025, Blackstone committed $3 million in Phoenix through Arizona State University, Maricopa Community Colleges and local nonprofits, including supporting workforce development programs for the skilled trades.
Tacoma, Washington
Pierce Transit and partners in Tacoma, Fircrest, and University Place sought guidance for long-term planning, housing, and economic development in the "Four Corners" neighborhood, which borders the communities and sits next to Tacoma Community College. Through the U.S. DOT Thriving Communities Program, AFA and partners identified opportunities to increase housing, plan necessary infrastructure, and improve coordination on housing, economic development, and infrastructure. The project team helped stakeholders consider possible structures and produced case studies highlighting how similar neighborhoods were able to successfully manage and fund long-term cross-juridictional collaboration.
AFA Welcomed Nine Mayors to Our Advisory Council
We are led by an Advisory Council of 38 forward-thinking mayors and other elected officials, labor leaders, corporate CEOs, philanthropic leaders, and nonprofit executives. In 2025, AFA added nine passionate and action-focused mayors to our Advisory Council who offer fresh perspectives and expertise on the most pressing challenges faced by our nation’s communities:
- Mayor Andre Dickens of Atlanta, GA
- Mayor Lauren McLean of Boise, ID
- Mayor Justin M. Bibb of Cleveland, OH
- Mayor Daniel Rickenmann of Columbia, SC
- Mayor Steven Reed of Montgomery, AL
- Mayor Freddie O’Connell of Nashville, TN
- Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson of Riverside, CA
- Mayor Bryan Barnett of Rochester Hills, MI
- Mayor Corey Woods of Tempe, AZ
AFA, AFA Action Adopted First Strategic Plan
The AFA and AFA Action Boards of Directors adopted the organizations’ first-ever, multiyear strategic plan, which will guide our work through 2028.
The plan includes strategies for achieving the following four goals, as well as current and proposed examples of AFA and AFA Action initiatives that align with each:
✅ Turn Insights Into Action
✅ Build Capacity and Deliver Resources
✅ Maximize Local Impact for Communities
✅ Maintain Organizational Excellence
Economic & Community Development
AFA helps local leaders create more prosperous and equitable communities through strategic economic and community development initiatives. We provide resources and support to lay the foundations of economic mobility — housing affordability, thriving small businesses, vibrant neighborhoods, access to capital, and career pathways in growth industries. We identify and share innovative solutions, create collaborative learning communities supported by national experts, and deliver specialized technical assistance that drives meaningful local impact.
Founded and incubated by AFA and our longtime partners at Drexel University’s Nowak Metro Finance Lab, the National Housing Crisis Task Force brings together leaders across parties, sectors, and geographies to develop and promote innovations that increase housing supply. The Task Force is co-chaired by Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah, Mayor Andre Dickens of Atlanta, Mayor Justin Bibb of Cleveland, and Susan Thomas, President of Fifth Third Bank’s CDC, and includes 34 members who have deep expertise and experience in housing.
In 2025, the Task Force produced the State and Local Housing Action Plan, which includes 15 actionable and scalable tools that state and local leaders can implement to meaningfully address the housing crisis.
The Task Force is scaling its work to have more impact with AFA by focusing on providing direct technical assistance to local leaders who are implementing tools in the Action Plan. The Task Force continues to work across multiple fronts to distill its reports to promote quick action, to diffuse and deploy innovations across sectors and geographies, and to set a clear agenda for the next system for building housing in America.
Data for Housing Solutions
In partnership with government technology firm Tolemi, the Data for Housing Solutions cohort used advanced data tools and peer learning to assist 17 cities in analyzing local real estate markets. This effort bolstered their work to preserve and develop affordable housing, prevent displacement, and combat predatory investors. The below examples show how officials in Chattanooga and Oklahoma City used the program to inform housing action in their cities.
Oklahoma City
- Identified 60 publicly owned properties and vacant building sites for potential redevelopment as multifamily and other housing
- Combined Tolemi data with Census overlays, code enforcement citations, and ownership information to inform the development of a potential eviction prevention pilot program
Chattanooga
Broke down internal silos to launch:- $20 million revolving loan fund
- New affordable housing pilot program
- Chattanooga Land Bank Authority
- Invest Chattanooga (Replicated a model from another AFA community)
Insights into Action: Data Tools for Local Impact
The 2025 Insights into Action cohort was supported through a partnership between AFA and Opportunity Insights, a non-partisan, not-for-profit research and policy institute at Harvard University. Each city received one-on-one technical assistance and participated in group workshops to learn how data and research tools can assist with their chosen initiative, including tracking economic mobility indicators, developing a workforce and economic development strategy, and supporting small businesses.
During the three-month cohort, the cities were given free access to Opportunity Insights tools, such as the Opportunity Atlas, which provides neighborhood-level economic mobility patterns, to validate and refine their strategies, strengthen coalitions, align diverse stakeholders, and accelerate their work. Our cohort communities were able to weave together data precision with community wisdom to create greater, lasting impact.
Allentown/Lehigh Valley
The Allentown Works initiative aims to reduce prime-age unemployment from 12% to 5% by 2030. Using Opportunity Insights’ data, leaders were able to validate their investment thesis: facilitating local employment is essential to closing the gap between regional growth and Allentown’s economic challenges. They also used the Leading on Opportunity (LOO) Opportunity Compass tool to guide investments in childcare access.
Economic Opportunity Accelerators
AFA’s Economic Opportunity Accelerators network connects local practitioners with collaborative learning, expert insights, and strategic resources to help them develop and implement innovative solutions to accelerate economic mobility in communities nationwide. Amid shifting federal funding priorities in 2025, AFA centered on helping practitioners make informed budget decisions, build stronger cases for policy changes, and target interventions more effectively. AFA partnered with the Urban Institute, Results for America, and Opportunity Insights to present research-backed tools to help local leaders maximize resources.
Local Leaders
Communities of all sizes
New Growth Initiative Small And Midsized Cities Hub Partnership
New Growth Innovation Network selected AFA as its strategic outreach partner to support the Small and Midsized Cities (SMC) Hub. The SMC Hub offers technical assistance, programming, and strategic funding opportunities to support economic and community leaders in cities with populations between 30,000 and 500,000 and directly engaged with 47 cities in 2025.
Workforce Development
AFA engages with local leaders to tackle workforce challenges and create pathways to high-quality jobs — those that provide family-sustaining wages, benefits, and opportunities for economic mobility. Through our national partnerships and targeted place-based initiatives, we work to align training programs with infrastructure projects and employer needs and seek to connect people in underserved communities with pre-apprenticeships, apprenticeships, and career opportunities. Together with our partners, AFA also identifies opportunities to remove barriers that impede people’s ability to learn and work, such as the lack of childcare and transportation.
Heartland Women in Trades
In May 2025, AFA received a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to enhance connections among workforce and training providers in Kansas City. The aim is to increase the participation of women and people of color in skilled trades and advanced manufacturing job training. The grant will also support workforce development nonprofit Heartland Women in Trades.
With AFA and Kauffman’s support, HWIT hired its first full-time Executive Director, grew active membership by 78%, and saw a 115% increase in attendance at their meetings and events. Together, AFA and HWIT are working to increase awareness of opportunities in the skilled trades, grow the number of people who secure apprenticeships with local unions and contractors, and increase access to high-quality mentorship.
The Skills Initiative
AFA is partnering with The Skills Initiative, a Philadelphia-based workforce development leader, to expand its proven, high-quality, employer-led model to communities across the country. A Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action, “The Skills Initiative, Powered by AFA” leverages AFA’s network of local elected, workforce development, and economic development leaders to build workforce development capacity and launch the model in at least two new communities, helping more Americans access high-quality jobs.
Since 2011, 93% of Skills Initiative graduates have secured employment that pays an average of $12,000 more in annual wages than their previous roles, and 83% have remained employed after one year, nearly double the retention rate of the typical workforce program.
Transit & Infrastructure
AFA works with communities to strengthen mobility and economic opportunity by supporting local infrastructure funding, delivering hands-on technical assistance that turns promising ideas into actionable, community‑driven projects, and elevating best practices and practical resource guides that provide pathways toward state, federal, and philanthropic dollars. We leverage infrastructure development to create life-changing careers in construction trades and professional services and drive small business procurement opportunities.
Innovative Infrastructure
Initiative (i3)
A cohort of 10 communities worked with AFA, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP), and each other for three years to advance ambitious infrastructure projects through project delivery, tech integration and sustainability, and innovative finance models. With a total value of $2 billion, i3 projects ranged widely from supporting Johnson County, KS to improve public transportation ahead of the 2026 World Cup, to the Albuquerque Sun Port’s development of its adjoining railspur megasite, to advancing Tulsa’s implementation of the Kirkpatrick Heights-Greenwood Master Plan.
Over the three years of the cohort, as national and federal dynamics shifted, AFA and SIP worked hand in hand with cohort communities to pivot accordingly, tap into nascent and emerging revenue streams, and facilitate partnerships that kept projects moving forward. Despite the sunsetting of the formal cohort, AFA continues to work with our i3 partner communities as they progress toward each project’s finish line.
Lansing, MI
Lansing Mayor Andy Schor joined the i3 cohort with the goal of advancing the city’s sustainable power and clean energy goals. Over the three-year period, AFA worked with Lansing’s Public Service team to pursue the development and implementation of a solar array to service the city’s municipal facilities. As the city encountered complications and hurdles related to procurement and contracting, AFA linked officials with subject matter experts from Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab to explore best practices that, once applied, returned the project to its proposed delivery timeline.
AFA also provided guidance on how the city could leverage the solar array and other local clean energy projects to take advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits through the law’s Direct Pay provisions. After the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which accelerated the sunsetting of those tax credits, AFA coordinated closely with Lansing staff to ensure the solar array’s construction began before the tax credits’ final deadlines. Construction began in December 2025, with projected completion in the summer of 2026.
Thriving Communities Program
AFA’s first U.S. DOT Thriving Communities Program grant wrapped up in 2025; the inaugural cohort of 14 communities was supported by AFA and partners WSP USA, North Carolina A&T State University, and Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP). AFA was named a Thriving Communities Capacity Builder again in 2024 in partnership with COMTO and other industry leaders. AFA is now providing 16 new communities with the technical capacity and expertise they need to successfully compete for and implement federal funding, allowing them to deliver projects that catalyze economic and community development that benefits all residents.
AFA, in partnership with WSP, SIP, and NC A&T State University, brought deep, multidisciplinary expertise, hands-on technical assistance, and community-specific grant writing, strategic planning, work plans, and more to 14 communities. The partnership resulted in:
Mayor Justin Bibb aims for Cleveland to be a “15-minute city,” ensuring residents’ basic needs are met via short walks, bike rides, or transit trips. This vision prioritizes transit-served commercial corridors, which are especially critical in the disinvested Southeast Side, an area shaped by population decline and the lasting effects of historical redlining. City planning staff utilized the Capacity Building Team, including AFA staff, for research and analysis, resulting in a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Social Housing Model. This model includes case studies and a sustainable funding framework to guide community-designed, publicly owned projects.
Local Infrastructure Hub
From 2023 through December 2025, AFA and Drexel University’s Nowak Metro Finance Lab produced 20 “Transformative Project” case studies and resource guides highlighting communities that secured federal discretionary funding and the programs, financing tools, and strategies that have guided their success.
As the federal government has shifted priorities and focus areas, so did our LIH resources; we highlighted the programs that continued to provide local governments with opportunities to advance their infrastructure goals, and amplified local strategies and alternative infrastructure funding and financing methodologies, including ballot measure referenda, implementation of long-range plans, and more.
Our Work in Action
AFA staff was on the ground in dozens of cities across the U.S. in 2025 to provide hands-on technical assistance, collaborate with partners, and participate in and speak at conferences. We also kicked off a new partnership with How To Really Run A City, a podcast co-hosted by The Philadelphia Citizen’s Larry Platt, former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, and former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
AFA Advisory Council in Nashville
Our Fall 2025 Advisory Council meeting in Nashville was hosted by Mayor Freddie O’Connell. The meeting focused on the collective challenges faced by cities and organizations and insights and replicable solutions to these challenges.
Much of the convening centered on collaboration, resilience, and strong local leadership as economic uncertainty, federal policy changes, and the emerging technologies such as AI are reshaping the way we live and work.
The meeting also gave us the chance to celebrate the success of Nashville’s “Choose How You Move” ballot measure, supported by AFA Action, that will generate $3.1 billion in new investments in transportation and transit infrastructure.
Accelerator for America Action
As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, AFA Action is uniquely positioned to help local communities build innovative projects that connect neighborhoods, create good-paying jobs, and foster a prosperous and thriving future, including at the ballot box. Since its founding, AFA Action has helped communities secure nearly $95 billion for transit and infrastructure through ballot measures, serving as trusted advisors to mayors and other leaders and playing key roles in campaign development and execution.
In 2025, AFA Action actively supported the successful, $19.4 billion ballot measure in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County through research, polling, and messaging. The measure will fund new rail lines, expanded bus service, and improved pedestrian, bike, and road infrastructure that will ease congestion, make people’s lives easier, and promote job creation and economic development.
United for Infrastructure
United for Infrastructure, the creator and leader of Infrastructure Week, is the nation’s leading advocacy organization for federal infrastructure investment and is a project of AFA Action. Last year’s Infrastructure Week highlighted the need for permitting reform, bipartisanship, energy reliability, infrastructure resiliency, and the need for more funding.
With the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act set to expire in September 2026, UFI and our partners are calling on Congress to continue to provide sustained investment to boost our nation’s economic competitiveness and security, benefit our logistics and supply chain networks, ensure resilience in the face of natural disasters, and bolster safety for all Americans. Specifically, we are asking them to:
- Maintain robust, sustained federal funding
- Ensure Highway Trust Fund solvency through modern user-fee models
- Streamline permitting and approval processes
- Prioritize investments in resilience, innovation, and workforce
As federal leaders debate reauthorization, UFI is serving as both an information hub and engagement engine for stakeholders, policymakers, and industry leaders.
Our Financials
Thank you to our funders
We are deeply grateful to our supporters whose partnership and continued commitment fuel our impact in communities nationwide.
AFA FUNDERS
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Kresge Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation
Bloomberg Philanthropies and Results for America
U.S. Department of Transportation
U.S. Department of Labor
NEO Philanthropy
Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners
Blackstone Charitable Foundation
JP Morgan Chase
St. Louis Community Foundation
New Growth Innovation Network
Milken Institute
DRK Foundation
WSP USA
The Rockefeller Foundation
Community Foundation Opportunity Network
National League of Cities
American Airlines
Tolemi
Next Street
AFA ACTION / UFI FUNDERS
HNTB
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Business Roundtable
Meridiam
Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners
Bentley Systems
Florida International University
Stantec
U.S. Water Alliance
Global Infrastructure Investor Association
American Society of Civil Engineers
National Association of Counties
HOUSING TASK FORCE FUNDERS TO AFA
New Venture Fund
George Gund Foundation
Cleveland Foundation
Rocket Community Fund
City of Cleveland
American Institute of Architects
Akron Community Foundation
