Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative

The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is a collaboration of Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Its mission is to inspire and strengthen city leaders, equipping them with the tools to lead high-performing, innovative cities. The program offers leadership and management training to mayors who lead cities with vision and purpose, and to two senior officials from each city who are most crucial to affecting organizational change. In addition to an intensive classroom experience, the program works with each participating mayor and city leader over the course of a year to foster their professional growth and the advancement of key capabilities within their city halls. Over four years, the Initiative aims to enroll 240 cities from around the world in its program. Harvard faculty, students, and staff will work with these cities' mayors and senior leaders in the classroom, online, and in the field. The Initiative also aims to identify and fill gaps in research on city leadership, and to generate new and customized curriculum. The products of this research and curriculum development, including findings, assessment tools, videos, cases, and instructional technology tools, will be made freely available to the world. This approach is designed to help unlock the full potential and optimize the performance of cities. If mayors and their organizations thrive, cities can adapt, endure and thrive as well.