Providence to host for annual conference of mayors in 2027

Providence, seen here in June 2024, will be filled with mayors from across the nation come June 2027 as part of a national conference. (Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)

Mayors from across the country will come to Providence in June 2027 for a national conference.

Rhode Island’s capital city will be home to the 95th annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley announced Wednesday. The conference draws mayors from cities with populations of at least 30,000.

Approximately 1,400 mayors are eligible to attend the gathering to discuss policy, advocacy and other pressing issues that can affect life in America’s cities. The organization expects about 200 mayors to attend the Rhode Island conference. The mayors also hold a separate winter conference every year in Washington, D.C.

“Mayors in every city are tackling some of the nation’s most systemic issues with innovative, local solutions that have a tangible impact on the day to day lives of our communities,” Smiley said in a statement. “The USCM Annual Meeting brings together these mayors to collaborate, share ideas and engage with federal leaders in Congress and the White House about the critical issues impacting our municipalities.”

One major component of the mayoral meeting involves leaders sharing best practices for urban governance. Another is advice on how to find secure federal funding opportunities. Smiley has attended the meetings since taking office in 2022. Last year, he began serving on the organization’s Advisory Board as well as its Mayor and Police Chiefs Task Force, drawing attention to issues like housing, climate change and the fentanyl overdose crisis in his conversations with other mayors.

“This year, we had a number of cities competing, but Mayor Smiley’s passionate and resolute leadership ensured the city’s selection,” said Tom Cochran, CEO and executive director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, in a statement.

The first conference was held in 1932 in Detroit with 48 mayors in attendance. The mayors successfully lobbied federal lawmakers and an at-first resistant President Herbert Hoover to pass legislation that provided local relief during the intense needs of the Great Depression. Since then, the mayors have continued to focus on national-level policies and issues like predatory lending, wasteful plastics, and a proposal for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the Clinton era policy that essentially allowed LGBTQ+ members to serve in the military, so long as they didn’t make their sexual orientation public.

Providence last hosted the mayors’ rendezvous in 2009.

“I am confident that once again, the city will provide an exceptional setting for mayors to collaborate and get things done for the nation’s cities,” Cochran said.

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