10 Top Highlights from NLC in 2025

First up – we’re grateful to Mayor Steve Patterson of Athens, Ohio, who did a tremendous job as National League of Cities President this year.

Check out a recap of our favorite moments this year with Mayor Patterson and join us in welcoming our 2026 leadership, led by Councilmember and NLC President Kevin Kramer of Louisville, Kentucky.

In March, we welcomed more than 2,800 attendees to Washington, D.C. to engage on policy, learn from experts and advocate on local priorities at NLC’s Congressional City Conference (CCC) 2025. 

Learn more about the conference, which featured US Vice President JD Vance in his first remarks to local officials as second in command.

#CCC26 is quickly approaching. Learn more and lock in your rate for the premier advocacy conference for local leaders.

City Summit 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah, was a remarkable conference, welcoming more than 3,000 local leaders to the Beehive State.

Learn more about City Summit 2025 —Creating Opportunity in Uncertainty—and how it came to life through a variety of workshops, mobile tours, and dynamic general sessions.

Looking forward to next year? We are too! Save the dates for City Summit 2026, in Nashville, Tennessee, November 18-21.

For more than 100 years, NLC has advocated for the interests of cities, towns and villages on Capitol Hill. That was truer than ever in 2025, as NLC led state and local government organizations in urging Congress to end the longest federal shutdown in United States history.

Visit NLC’s Advocacy Center to learn more about how to make your voice heard on Capitol Hill in the coming year and beyond.

Recent advancements have brought AI to the forefront, with opportunities to revolutionize the workforce, expand productivity, and transform aspects of society and governance.

Learn more about NLC’s work to empower local governments in the efficient, ethical and scalable use of AI to support their communities.

At this year’s City Summit 2025 conference, we welcomed Tim Shriver, chairman of Special Olympics and co-creator of The Dignity Index:

“My hope for you is that you will at least consider this: that there is a new issue amongst us in our country,” said Shriver. “It’s not immigration. It’s not education. It’s not policing. It’s not emergency management. It’s not taxes. It’s how we treat each other.” 

We also welcomed Utah Governor Spencer Cox and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham – two leaders from opposite sides of the political spectrum – for an inspiring discussion on building trust, connecting with residents and the importance of being kind, honest and open regardless of political differences.

In 2025, NLC continued to build its resources for housing, homelessness and community development.

Along with a wide variety of housing resources available in NLC’s Resource Library, we hosted the 2025 Housing Supply Accelerator Summit, launched the America’s Housing Comeback group and welcomed mayors and community stakeholders to Washington, D.C. for a bipartisan discussion spotlighting how the housing supply shortage is straining local economies.

Discover more resources on how to support communities in navigating their housing supply challenges through NLC’s Housing Supply Accelerator Playbook.

In 2025, we added more than 150 resources to the NLC Resource Library. Among the most popular were Presidential Actions’ Impact to Local Governments, the 40th annual City Fiscal Conditions Report and the 2025 State of the Cities Report.

Before the end of the year, keep an eye out for a CitiesSpeak blog post highlighting the top 10 resources published in 2025.

This year on the CitiesSpeak blog, we explored the local impacts from Congress’ One, Big Beautiful Bill, explained non-compliance for cities behind on the ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program, reviewed the growth of data centers in communities and more.

Before the end of the year, keep an eye out for a CitiesSpeak blog post highlighting the top 10 blogs published in 2025.

Looking for a New Year’s resolution? Join one of NLC’s leadership groups in 2026! Each provides elected officials with a community of people facing similar challenges to engage with. Join a Constituency Group year-round, and apply for Committees and Councils in Fall 2026.