Congressional City Conference
- Date: March 8, 2014 - March 12, 2014
- Location: Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, D.C.
- Category: Annual Conference
Schedule
Monday, March 11, 2013
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11:00 amInnovation Clusters and Business Accelerators: Leveraging Federal Resources (Show details)
Alejandra Castillo - Minority Business Development Agency
Michael Chodos - US Small Business Agency
Terry Richards - Minority Business Development Agency
It’s usually private sector businesses, large and small, that tap the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) for resources to develop and promote innovation clusters and business accelerators. However, these resources are paying off for local officials and their cities too. Join this session to learn about EDA’s investment priorities and how your community can take advantage of them. Collaborative regional innovation; access to capital for small, medium-sized, and minority-owned enterprises; local economic adjustment; and business accelerators are among the priorities that will be discussed.
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11:00 amBuilding Better Water Infrastructure: Financing for Local Governments (Show details)
Jon Pawlow, Esq. - Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Services,
Local governments construct, operate, and maintain the vast majority of the country’s water infrastructure networks, which are essential for economic development and quality of life in our communities. But cities face a backlog of projects and challenges funding much needed water infrastructure improvements. Federal mandates, along with the amount of aging infrastructure, are straining local resources to make these investments. Meanwhile, federal options for grants and loans are dwindling. This session will explore alternative financing mechanisms for water infrastructure projects that are being considered in Congress.
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11:00 amCan Government be Smarter About Housing? (Show details)
Danielle Bastrache - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
John Bohm - National Association of Housing and Redevelopment
Meg Barclay - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Saul N. Ramirez, Jr. - Nat'l. Assn. of Housing & Redevelopment
Tammye Trevino - U.S. Department of Agriculture
Tammye Trevino - U.S. Department of Agriculture
Housing market recovery and the immediate challenge of helping homeowners prevent foreclosure have largely pushed federal rental assistance programs into the background for local officials. However, the costs of subsidizing rents for families in need continues to climb, requiring larger shares of federal funding and squeezing federal resources available for neighborhood development programs like the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME programs. In this session, experts from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Agriculture will provide an overview of housing assistance programs across the rural-urban spectrum, through the Section 8, rural housing, and other programs, and share their insights on ways local officials can help more families in an environment of fewer federal resources.
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11:00 amReducing Gun Violence in America’s Communities (Show details)
Nancy Chaney - City of Moscow
Hon. Pete Constant - City of San Jose
Steve Hogan - City of Aurora
Every day we are reminded of the toll of gun violence whether by mass shootings, homicides, drive by shootings, or accidental gun firings. And every day thirty or forty more Americans die because of gun violence. Can anything be done to stop this? In this interactive session, a panel of experts will discuss local action being taken to reduce gun violence and the effectiveness of current federal policy and proposals being considered to support those efforts.
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11:00 amBuilding Healthy Communities (Show details)
Caya Lewis - Department of Health and Human Services
Donna Cohen Ross
Heidi Goldberg - National League of Cities
Rick Elumbaugh - City of Batesville
Tracy Wiedt - National League of Cities
Cities are healthiest when their youngest residents have access to healthy food, exercise and recreational opportunities, and health care. This session will offer participants information about opportunities for cities to connect to federal and NLC initiatives and/or funding that promote access to healthy food, opportunities for physical activity and access to health benefits for families. Hear from experts about what is happening in these areas at the national and federal levels, and learn from a peer city about local efforts to improve the health of children in their local community.
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2:00 pmWinning Advocacy Strategies (Show details)
In this informative and entertaining session, city leaders will learn some of the latest strategies for advocating for NLC’s legislative priorities on Capitol Hill or at home. With Congress poised to consider legislation this year that could have significant impact for the better or the worse on local communities, you won’t want to miss out on this special opportunity to learn how to be an effective advocate for your communities during the Conference and the other 51 weeks of the year.
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2:00 pmFederal Agency Round Robin (Show details)
Anthony Wilhelm - U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Broadband Technology Opportunities Program
Brian Ketz - U.S. Department of Labor
Bruce Kelly - General Services Administration
Chris Thomas - CH2M HILL
Curtis Coy - U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs
Danielle Elkins - CH2M HILL
Donna Cohen Ross
Eleanor Blume - Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Gretchen Gooding - U.S. Census Bureau
Janet Gordon - Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Janet Quist
Jed Herrmann - Corporation for National and Community Service
Kerry Duggan - U.S. Department of Energy
Kevin Nelson
Kim Allman - Corporation for National and Community Service
Leslie Wollack - National League of Cities
Louisa Quittman - U.S. Department of the Treasury
Mandana Yousefi - U.S. Department of Agriculture
Patricia Overmeyer - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Robert Reynolds - U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs
Stephanie Turner - General Services Administration
Stephen Fletcher - National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Steven Hicks - U.S. Department of Education
Tim Gilbert - U.S. Census Bureau
Timothy Green - U.S. Department of Labor
Travis Loop - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Veronique Pluviose-Fenton
Wendy Wasserman - U.S. Department of Agriculture
In this session, participants will have opportunities to connect with representatives from federal agencies about various federal programs and opportunities available to cities and towns. The representatives will answer questions about federal resources, tools, grants, and programs of interest to local governments in a series of 20 minute facilitated small group discussions.
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2:00 pmDETROPIA, Film Screening and Discussion (Show details)
This award-winning documentary by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady explores the complex challenges of globalization, race relations, urban decay and the disconnections between citizens and government facing cities today with a focus on the City of Detroit. This special sneak peak screening of the film precedes the May release to national public television stations. A discussion of the film and its major themes will follow the screening.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
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8:30 amEducating America -- How City Elected Officials Can Influence School Reform (Show details)
Mark Glaze - Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Randi Weingarten - American Federation of Teachers
For many years business leaders, educators, politicians, and advocates have decried the “sorry state of education” in our country, and numerous reform proposals to improve the nation’s education system have been enacted or considered. At the federal level, in 2001, “No Child Left Behind ” became law and committed millions of dollars to improve student test scores, teacher training, and school system outcomes. Despite these investments, dropout rates remain too high, testing scores are too low, and disparate school systems are emerging. Even though generally not responsible or accountable for the day-to-day management of their city’s school system, mayors and other city and town elected officials have been trying to help make a difference. This plenary session will examine the state of federal education policy and efforts underway to improve it, and explore the role that local officials can play in improving their local school systems.
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8:30 amComprehensive Immigration Reform – What Does It Mean for Cities? (Show details)
Andres Jimenez - City of New York - Office of Federal Affairs
Ann Morse - National Conference of State Legislators
Audrey Singer - Brookings Institute
Brad Johnson - Department of Homeland Security
James Bueermann - Police Foundation
Steve Tobocman - Global Detroit
America's immigration system is broken with the burdens falling on local governments and the failure to take action to fix the system increasingly detrimental to the livelihood of our cities and towns. As the nation’s leaders begin to consider proposals to reform the system, city leaders call for comprehensive immigration reform to help stimulate the economy, grow the nation’s workforce, and remain competitive in the 21st century global marketplace. A comprehensive solution also must include eliminating illegal border entry, increasing enforcement of visa overstays, strengthening the worksite enforcement capacity, supporting a process to allow undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States to earn legalized status and providing local governments with financial and technical assistance to alleviate the local impact of new immigrants. This session will look at the current prospects for reform legislation and prepare attendees to be a champion for it.
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8:30 amProtecting Cities in the Federal Budget Debates (Show details)
Betsy Laird - International Council of Shopping Centers
Ed Rendell - Fix the Debt
John Marks - City of Tallahassee
Mr. Ralph Becker - City of Salt Lake City
As debates over how to reduce the federal deficit continue, city leaders call on Congress to adopt a bipartisan and balanced approach to address the deficit and avoid the harm that would result from automatic across-the-board spending cuts, also known as sequestration. While eliminating or capping the federal income tax exemption provided to interest paid on municipal bonds (debt) is not part of any active proposal, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and the White House continue to consider it as a source of revenue to reduce the deficit or fund new programs. If the federal income tax exemption is altered, cities will pay more to finance projects, leading to less infrastructure investment, fewer jobs, and greater burdens on tax payers who will have to pay higher taxes and fees. At the same time Congress is looking to close the federal deficit, it has an opportunity to provide cities with authority to collect sales taxes already owed on Internet and other remote purchases by supporting the recently introduced Marketplace Fairness Act. Come to this session to learn the latest on these proposals and others impacting the federal investments important to cities, and how you can protect your community as these debates move forward.
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10:15 amExtreme Weather Events: Preparing Cities, Engaging Leaders (Show details)
Brendan Shane - District Department of the Environment
Cindy Lerner - Village of Pinecrest
Craig Thurmond - City of Broken Arrow
Henrietta Davis - City of Cambridge
Joe Lerch - Virginia Municipal League
Kate Barba - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Margaret Davidson - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Matthew Appelbaum - City of Boulder
While cities across the country are seeing the devastation associated with a changing climate, recent extreme weather events have brought renewed attention to the need for cities to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to these events. This workshop will give an overview of the federal government’s efforts to address climate change and available federal resources. A panel of mayors will discuss their experiences in preparing for and responding to extreme weather events and share their perspectives on how these issues will impact cities across the country.
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10:15 amEPA Integrated Planning and Affordability: Working with Local Governments (Show details)
Arnita Hannon
Christine Guitar - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Connie Bosma - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Dominique Lueckenhoff - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Kevin Weiss - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Michael A. Sesma - City of Gaithersburg
Rachel Herbert - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Sarah Hospodor-Pallone - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Shawn Garvin - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun efforts to help local governments meet their Clean Water Act requirements in an efficient and cost effective manner and examine the fiscal impact of regulatory compliance. This session will provide an overview of EPA’s integrated planning framework and the local government affordability dialogue and allow attendees to engage directly with Agency officials and other local elected officials on how to take advantage of these new flexibilities for local governments.
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10:15 amProper Venue? The Courts’ Effects on Local Authority (Show details)
Charles W. Thompson
Nancy Prosser - Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Timothy (Tim) Lay - Spiegel and McDiarmid
In addition to advocating on the Hill, cities increasingly have turned to the court system to preserve local authority and ensure judicial deference to policy determinations made by local governing bodies. In this session, attendees will get an update on cases important to cities pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, including the FCC “shot clock” case, and those already decided that involved public official immunity, takings, and local government taxing authority. Attendees also will learn about the state court battles against online travel companies and how the decisions in those cases affect local tax revenues.
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10:15 amWelcome Home: Ensuring Veterans Are Successfully Reintegrated in Your Community (Show details)
Col. Anthony Henderson - Warrior and Family Support Office of the Chairman
Mike Monroe - Points of Light Foundation
Lt. Col. Randall Smith - Warrior and Family Support Office of the Chairman
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10:15 amAmerica’s Multi-modal Transportation Network: What’s Ahead? (Show details)
Daniel P. Gilmartin - Michigan Municipal League
Daniel P. Gilmartin - Michigan Municipal League
Drew Preston - U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Drew Preston - U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Joanna Liberman - U.S. Department of Transportation
Therese McMillan - U.S. Department of Transportation
America’s interconnected, multimodal transportation network supports economic growth and community vitality. Our national system of airports, ports, railroads, transit systems and highways move goods and people with substantial contributions from local governments and their citizens. What is the federal role in supporting these vital networks? How do we ensure that the local voice is part of the decision making process so that these crucial transportation infrastructure investments fit into larger community goals such as economic development and creating vibrant downtowns? Congress will take up several important transportation programs this year including reauthorization of Amtrak, sustained transportation funding for highway, transit and bridge programs and renewal of the nation’s federal aviation system. Come learn what these key legislative proposals mean for cities and how to make sure your voice is part of the debate.
Registration
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