2023 Menino Survey of Mayors Release Event

Date & Time: Thursday, March 7, 12:00-1:30 pm ET
Location: The Rockefeller Foundation, 420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
Lunch will be provided
Registration Required

Attend an exclusive briefing on the 2023 Menino Survey of Mayors, the 10th year of this annual project led by the Boston University Initiative on Cities and supported by The Rockefeller Foundation. The 2023 Menino Survey is based on live interviews with more than 100 mayors from around the country and explores their views on topics ranging from land use and permitting, to clean energy and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), to government accountability and control.

Passed in 2022, the IRA features unprecedented federal investment in environmental initiatives, providing $370 billion in resources for clean energy technology. What progress has been made towards this federal initiative and what is to come in 2024? The Menino Survey found that mayors believe that lack of public knowledge about the IRA’s provisions is a key obstacle to widespread uptake of climate-friendly technologies, and that local permitting processes also pose a potent obstacle to adopting these technologies and building new infrastructure projects.

Following the survey briefing, hear from a panel of leading mayors and experts on ways local governments are taking advantage of IRA funds to move toward carbon-free, climate resilient cities – as well as some of the challenges in doing so.

Speakers & Panelists

More to be announced soon!

As the 58th Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, Justin M. Bibb is committed to putting people and neighborhoods first, delivering high-quality city services and leading bold change. The Bibb Administration is building a stronger and safer Cleveland and modernizing City Hall to improve outcomes for all Clevelanders.

Mayor Bibb and his team have made major progress on a wide range of initiatives including unprecedented support for public safety through the Raising Investment in Safety for Everyone (RISE) Initiative and a robust plan for the revitalization of Cleveland’s Southeast Side.

Mayor Bibb serves as chair of the national bipartisan coalition Climate Mayors, vice president of the Democratic Mayors Association, and is a proud member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors advisory board, the Ohio Mayor’s Alliance and the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition.

Mayor Bibb’s vision is for Cleveland to be a national model for city management, public safety, and neighborhood revitalization.

Michelle Roos is the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Network (EPN). EPN harnesses the expertise of over 600 former EPA career staff and political appointees from across the country to serve as a trusted resource, answering calls for objective analysis, scientific rigor, and a vision for a transformed 21st century EPA.

Michelle has over 25 years of experience in project management and environmental protection and is an EPA alum who co-founded and co-managed the West Coast Collaborative – a public-private partnership that implements projects to reduce emissions from diesel engines along the West Coast, Alaska, and the American Pacific Islands. She also led a national work group to better incorporate environmental justice into the federal environmental permitting process. After she left EPA, Michelle worked as an independent environmental consultant for a variety of clients including E4 Strategic Solutions, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and EcoMedia.

Jamal Lewis is the Director of State & Local Policy for the Mid-Atlantic & South for Rewiring America. Rewiring America is the leading electrification nonprofit, focused on electrifying homes, businesses, and communities. They develop accessible, actionable data and tools, and build coalitions and partnerships to make going electric easier for households and communities.

Previously, Jamal led the energy and climate initiatives at Green & Healthy Homes Initiative and worked with states and localities across the country to advance electrification, healthy housing, and energy efficiency programs and policies. He has multiple publications outlining pathways to promoting equity by retrofitting our existing housing stock to be healthy, energy-efficient, all-electric, and affordable. He is a Young, Gifted, & Green 40 under 40 award recipient for his leadership in Environmental Justice.

Ryan Whalen is Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor for Implementation, leading state and local coordination for the Inflation Reduction Act. Ryan joined the Biden-Harris Administration from Bloomberg Philanthropies, where he launched the Local Infrastructure Hub, a national platform that has empowered more than 1,200 communities across the country to leverage the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, and also co-led the American Cities Climate Challenge.

Katherine Levine Einstein is co-author of the Menino Survey of Mayors, Associate Professor of Political Science at Boston University, and Associate Director at the Initiative on Cities. Her most recent book (with David Glick and Maxwell Palmer) Neighborhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America’s Housing Crisis explores the politics of housing development. Her research on local politics, American public policy, and racial/ethnic politics has been published in the American Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Perspectives on Politics, and the Urban Affairs Review.

Maxwell Palmer is co-author of the Menino Survey of Mayors, Associate Professor of Political Science at Boston University, and a Civic Tech Fellow in the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences. His work on Congress, the judiciary, redistricting, and local political institutions has been published in journals including American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, Perspectives on Politics, the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, American Politics Research, and Social Science History. He also works as a consultant and expert witness on questions about voting rights, redistricting, and representation.