Memphis Mayor Paul Young selected to join Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative

Memphis Mayor Paul Young will join the eighth class of mayors and senior municipal leaders for the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative .

The initiative is a yearlong professional management training program established by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School.

"It's an honor to be on the same list, as some of these mayors that we know they've had significant impact in their respective communities and across this country," Young said. "It certainly was an easy yes for me, because I think that the more we can build these coalitions in these networks, the stronger our city will be."

Expenses for the program are covered by the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.

Young was one of 39 mayors from the U.S. and around the world selected for the program. Notable alumni of the program include U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles.

"My goal is to ensure that we leverage our connections and networks to get more ideas and more opportunities to grow our local economy to address day-to-day challenges for our residents and make Memphis the city that we know we want it to be," Young said. "We know that Memphis is an amazing community with a great opportunity, and we want to figure out how we can ensure that every resident and able to maximize those opportunities."

The program kickoff began Sunday in New York City for four-day immersive classroom experiences. Two senior leaders from the Young administration, Chief of Staff Mairi Albertson and Chief Operating Officer Antonio Adams, will begin their participation in August.

Young said that both Albertson and Adams have responsibilities that range across all the departments and divisions and he thought it was important for them to have an opportunity to "build those networks and gain leadership skills" in the program.

What does the program entail?

The yearlong program aims to equip mayors and senior city leaders with tools and expertise to enhance their "problem solving capacity, strengthen their city halls, and improve outcomes for residents as cities confront increasingly global challenges," a press release about the program said.

Participants in the program will have classroom, virtual and field-based learnings and offerings. Young said the intensive curriculum is good for both the city and its leaders because it "keeps (their) mind sharp," and makes sure that the participants are spending their time growing as leaders.

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"When I read through the curriculum for a week...it's really, really full. It's a full binder. And I've read through it, and I really did feel like I was going back to school," Young said.

Another incentive the program offers is the ability to bring on a Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellow for up to two years. Young said there have not been any discussions about hosting a fellow yet but the city is interested.

"It's always great to have new people come into our community and, you know, look at some of our challenges and ... to help solve challenges that have been going on for a while now," Young said.

Prior to the start of the program, Young said that they were asked to identify a major challenge that his administration would like to address as a leader. Young identified public safety as being one of them, but also said he wants to bring "vibrancy" to the economic core, specifically Downtown.

"So my hope is that throughout this program, that we'll be able to get ideas on how to address that specific issue (public safety), but also get additional ideas on programs and initiatives that I'm unfamiliar with that are happening in other communities," Young said.

This will be the latest high-profile event Young has attended since he took office earlier this year. In March, Young hosted the inaugural meeting of The Black Mayors' Coalition on Crime in Memphis . The meeting was in partnership with the African American Mayors Association.

The meeting brought in numerous high-profile Black mayors from around the country and featured closed-door talks on crime and policing.

Young said that both the Black Mayors' Coalition on Crime and the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative have given his administration opportunities to connect and be engaged with other cities and learn from how they have addressed issues.

"(Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative) is another opportunity for us to connect with communities from across the world, to hear how they have dealt with leadership challenges in their community as mayors, and also specific problems that may be taking place," Young said. "Whether it's economic issues, education issues, or other challenges in their communities and learning how, as mayor can help drive towards the solutions."

Who is participating?

Information about which specific mayors are in the eighth class of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is still not public, but the program provided the following statistics about this year's class.

• The mayors come from five continents including Africa (1), Europe (4), Oceania (2), North America (30), and South America (2).
• The mayors hail from 11 countries including Australia (1), Canada (3), Colombia (1), Germany (1), Iceland (1), Italy (1), the Netherlands (1), New Zealand (1), and the U.S. (27), and the first-ever Initiative mayors from Argentina (1), and Kenya (1).
• 69% (27) are from the United States and 31% (12) are from international cities.
• 49% (19) are from cities with less than 200,000 people, 38% of the mayors (15) are from cities with populations between 200,000 and 1 million people, and 13% of the mayors (5) are from cities with populations over 1 million people.

Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at brooke.muckerman@commercialappeal.com and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter @BrookeMuckerman.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis Mayor Paul Young selected to join Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative