Here is the official announcement on what we reported earlier this week:
The MICD Just City Mayoral Fellowship is a program of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design in partnership with the Just City Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Over a semester-long program, the Lab’s Just City Index frames dynamic presentations and dialogues with experts in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, art activism, housing, and public policy.
The 2023 Fellowship will help mayors develop and strengthen approaches to embedding justice and equity goals within government policy and practices, as well as help mayors design strategies for achieving more just and equitable outcomes within their communities.
“As I’ve said since my first day, Pensacola will be at its best when it’s a city not just for some of us, or most of us, but for all of us,” Mayor Reeves said. “I’m honored that our passion for creating an equitable community resonated with MICD and Harvard University, and I look forward to learning more about incorporating innovative design practices and equity goals in the City of Pensacola.”
City of Pensacola Transportation Planner Caitlin Cerame and Urban Design Specialist Rachel Bennett will be joining Mayor Reeves for the fellowship to assist the Mayor in developing key takeaways from the program, along with practical ideas for implementation in city policies and best practices.
Throughout the Fellowship, mayors and their staff identify how injustices manifest in the social, economic, and physical infrastructures of their cities and develop manifestos of action for their communities, applying the language and tactics of racial justice to the neighborhood’s future. The curriculum is adjusted for each cohort in response to the most pressing issues of the time.
This year’s cohort of mayors will be introduced to the concepts of social impact and justice-centered design, equity framework measurement tools, and innovative design practices that increase just and equitable outcomes. Building from past Fellowships, this year’s program will continue to explore ways to create lasting, transformational impacts from new federal funding streams such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the American Rescue Plan Act.
MICD is a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in conjunction with the United States Conference of Mayors. The initiative strives to educate mayors on city design and connect them with thought leaders providing collaborative assistance to municipal challenges.
The 2023 program will run from February to April 2023 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and virtually.
The 2023 MICD Just City Mayoral Fellows are: Albany, NY Mayor Kathy Sheehan; Albuquerque, NM Mayor Tim Keller; Arlington, TX Mayor Jim Ross; Kansas City, MO Mayor Quinton Lucas; Monroe, LA Mayor Friday Ellis; Pensacola, FL Mayor D.C. Reeves; Santa Fe, NM Mayor Alan Webber; and St. Louis, MO Mayor Tishaura O. Jones.
For more information about the MICD Just City Mayoral Fellowship, visit micd.org/jcmf.