Riverside is a city with deep cultural roots, a strong sense of identity, and a clear commitment to building a prosperous future. And, Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson reminded attendees that Riverside, at nearly 328,000 in the city and over 4.6 million in the Inland Empire, would be the largest city in many other states!
Mayor Lock Dawson is also the chair of the California Big City Mayors Coalition, and many of the coalition mayors joined our Advisory Council meeting. The California Big City Mayors Coalition is an influential, non-partisan group representing the 13 largest cities in the state. The Coalition is working closely with the governor and state legislature on housing, homelessness, and economic development policies and funding strategies.
We enjoyed Riverside’s history and creative spirit through multiple experiences in its Arts and Cultural District, including a visit to The Cheech, home to actor Cheech Marins’ art collection, which is the largest private collection of Chicano art in the world.
Thanks to its thriving orange groves, Riverside was once the richest city in America on a per-capita basis, growing and distributing nearly 1.6 million boxes of navel oranges annually by 1898. Now, Riverside is growing its green‑tech sector and building partnerships with companies and its R1 research institution UC Riverside.
Riverside has attracted six international companies to open local operations in the past two years. Mayor Lock Dawson said the city shows its commitment to companies locating in Riverside by becoming early customers. Riverside has purchased 20 vehicles from electric vehicle manufacturer Voltu Motor Inc., which has established a manufacturing and research facility in Riverside.
Voltu CEO George Gebhart described Riverside as a “green technology powerhouse” with a stable workforce, strong partnerships with UC Riverside, and a civic culture where everyone is “looking and working toward the same goal.”
Riverside’s story — a city leveraging its assets, institutions, and collaborative spirit — set the tone for the broader themes of our convening.
Across discussions, one message was clear — cities are navigating a period of profound economic, political, and technological transition.
Bruce Katz, a longtime AFA partner and founder of New Localism Associates, framed the moment: With reshoring of manufacturing, rapid technological advancement, and shifts in global energy, the U.S. is entering an era of economic nationalism during which “we have been given permission to build a country in our own image — from the ground up. We need to not just resist but create.”
And this is all set against the backdrop of an affordability crisis for Americans and the pressure mayors face to demonstrate tangible results quickly: “It’s hard to talk to my residents about three years from now. They are trying to make it through this week and next week,” said Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed.
The call for cities to shape their own futures includes embracing innovation, new financing models, and emerging technologies to meet local challenges head‑on.
Local leaders must prepare now to position their cities to benefit from Opportunity Zones 2.0. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and in partnership with Rvesta Consulting and Bruce Katz, Accelerator for America is developing a toolkit and other resources to help local leaders identify areas most likely to attract OZ investment and to align those dollars with community priorities. The goal is to build pipelines of projects in “goldilocks zones,” areas that balance investment readiness with urgent local needs.
Since Opportunity Zones are now a permanent incentive, cities have the opportunity to organize their local capital ecosystems and use public dollars to attract private investment. One participant noted that local leaders need to make it as easy as possible for private investors to fund community priorities. Opportunity Alabama, a nonprofit and Community Development Financial Institution, is a prime example. Using Opportunity Alabama, state and local leaders brought together private and civic sector investors to coordinate OZ work, invest at scale, and attract outside capital for key projects, including housing. Alabama ranks in the top ten nationally in the aggregate (not just per capita) for OZ investment.
As federal funding priorities evolve, P3s are valuable tools for delivering essential infrastructure. By engaging the private sector in financing, construction, and long‑term operations, P3s help cities reallocate risk and accelerate project timelines. Successful examples, such as the Long Beach Courthouse, which was highlighted in a discussion featuring Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, show how P3s can modernize aging public assets, ensure faster build times, and maintain assets for decades. Participants in the breakout discussion emphasized the need for strong collaboration between the partners and a shared vision for community value, particularly as most funding models require a 30-year commitment. As a result of the Long Beach project, the city is looking to P3 partnerships to potentially fund additional community priorities.
Technology was another throughline of our convening, especially the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in local government. Riverside’s own AI‑powered chatbot, Rivvy, helps residents quickly find answers to common questions, illustrating how cities can use AI to improve accessibility and efficiency. While tools like voice agents for 311 calls can streamline operations, they do raise concerns about social isolation and reveal a tension between responsible implementation and the need to act quickly.
AI is seen as both a threat and a solution as it can help workers be more efficient but also threatens to eliminate jobs in the workforce. The discussion emphasized the need to train workers on AI, increase their comfort with the new technology, and set guidelines for use.
Workforce development has always been at the core of AFA’s work, and it has never been more important. Local leaders need to ensure their city’s workforce ecosystem is aligned around providing workers with the right skills for and access to the jobs that employers need now and long-term.
Philadelphia-based The Skills Initiative works directly with local employers to understand both the technical and soft skills participants need to fill vacant roles, while also working with participants to understand their barriers to employment such as child care and transportation. “It is not a lack of education; it is a lack of access,” Cait Garozzo, Executive Director of The Skills Initiative, said during a workforce panel that also featured local labor leaders and discussion about how cities can partner with local unions to create new opportunities and support workers.
The consensus: cities must engage, take calculated risks, and pilot new technologies, financing tools, and local workforce initiatives with priority and care.
Housing continues to be one of the most urgent and universal topics of our convenings. Cities from across the country described the pressures they face: rising costs, limited supply, workforce shortages, and the need to balance growth with community character.
Nicki Hellenkamp, Boise’s Director of Housing and Homelessness Policy, shared how the pandemic transformed the city almost overnight, driving rental vacancy rates below 1% and creating a housing crisis in a place that historically enjoyed naturally occurring affordable housing. The city is working to balance new development with the natural spaces that define Boise’s identity, she said.
Angela Brooks, Chief Housing and Urban Development Officer for the City of Philadelphia, underscored the connection between housing, high-quality jobs, and economic growth: “It’s a housing problem, but it is also an economic development problem.” The city approved a $800 million bond aimed at building and preserving 30,000 homes in four years to keep existing residents in stable housing and to attract the skilled workforce of the future.
During the housing panel discussion, when asked what they would change with a magic wand:
Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly called for greater philanthropic investment in housing.
Allentown Mayor Matthew Tuerk sought more equitable distribution of incentives no matter the size of the city; cities big and small need support for housing construction.
Philadelphia’s Brooks would expand by‑right zoning.
Hellenkamp of Boise reminded us, “There is no silver bullet for housing. You have to do a lot of little things.”
AFA continues our work through the National Housing Crisis Task Force, and we encourage local leaders to use our State and Local Housing Action Plan to advance innovations in your community.
During a fireside chat, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, CEO of the Latino Community Foundation, reminded us of the national impact of local innovation: “Local communities are at the forefront of progress today. The models you set really do go beyond the limits of your city.”
Castro, also the former Mayor of San Antonio, noted that national and place-based philanthropies are always looking for ways to partner with civic leaders on projects. Mayors should proactively reach out to philanthropic organizations with an understanding of their cities’ needs and how they align with that organization’s funding goals and priorities.
Our meeting discussions were significantly enriched by the presence of representatives from Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Inland Empire Community Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, Kresge Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, The Rockefeller Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
One national philanthropic leader encouraged mayors and their teams to seek out philanthropy for its expertise, not just its money. Philanthropic organizations have a synoptic view of what works and what doesn’t after decades of grantmaking. Innovation is messy and experimental, the philanthropic leader stated; communicating what didn’t work is just as important as talking about what did work. As the adage goes, you learn more from failure than success.
Philanthropic organizations can also serve as conveners, bringing together people and experts from across the country.
Industry and elected officials continue to both push for another round of infrastructure funding and new revenue options. Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins shared the importance of building relationships with federal staffers as infrastructure projects often span multiple administrations and highlighted a recently opened Bus Rapid Transit line that has spurred billions of dollars in housing, office, and retail development. She called on fellow mayors to communicate the need for sustained federal infrastructure investment.
Discussions highlighted AFA’s work through United for Infrastructure to advocate for continued federal investment and how our 501(c)(4) sister organization, Accelerator for America Action, can work with more places on ballot measures and other revenue options. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego offered learnings from her many ballot measures and how they collaborate across multiple local governments and agencies to deliver transit and transportation investments.
Riverside offered more than a venue; it offered a model of a city investing in its people, its institutions, and its future. Cities are innovating. Communities are leading. And together, we are creating national change from the ground up.
Our convening also marked a bittersweet milestone as we applauded Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who is stepping down as Co‑Chair of the Advisory Council after more than four years of extraordinary service. Together with Co-Chair and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, he has guided AFA through an incredible period of growth and evolution. Mayor Lucas will remain an active member of the Advisory Council and the AFA family. Mayors Lucas and Gallego took the baton from AFA’s Founder and first Advisory Council Chair, former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti who also joined us in Riverside to lead an important discussion with the California Big City Mayors Coalition.
Mayor Lucas played a pivotal role in expanding AFA’s place‑based work in Kansas City, including new workforce development models, designation as an EDA Tech Hub, and tens of millions in federal investment put to work for Kansas City residents. He also regularly represented AFA on the national stage and helped shape the organization we are today.
We are forever grateful to him and look forward to more good work together.
