Set-up task teams for all three stages (Respond; Stabilize; Transform)

In addition to building teams for the Respond stage of the crisis, city leaders should create teams to address the policy issues that will emerge during the Stabilize and Transform stages. These teams should engage city staff, business and philanthropic leaders, elected officials, community leaders, and residents, and be tasked with proposing policies and programs that will support the city to manage through the crisis. Various sub-teams can be created to tackle specific policy areas.

ASSESSMENT

Some questions to guide your thinking

  • How will teams be structured?
  • What types of policy issues should teams focus on?
  • What stakeholders should join the teams?
Reading

Establish a Financial Oversight Committee

City of Nashville, TN 5 minutes

Mayor John Cooper of Nashville, TN appointed six leaders to a committee responsible for collecting, considering, and recommending appropriate uses of all federal and state funds provided to the metropolitan government specifically for COVID-19 relief and recovery (including, but not limited to, US …

Reading

Establishing lasting task forces involving community leaders

Brookings Institute 10 minutes

How can cities leverage community participation in recovery task forces? This report features the experience of Charlotte, NC, which launched a task force composed of council members and community business leaders to deploy a consolidated strategy for helping local businesses. The plan involved two …

  • In Charlotte, establishing the task force and devising a strategy took weeks of work but provided a unified strategy aligned with businesses' needs.
  • The "Survive" phase includes an information-sharing platform, ecosystem/partner support, access to capital, and workforce readiness programs.
  • The "Thrive" phase encompasses workforce resiliency and business innovation and resiliency.
Reading

Taking risks responsibly and innovating in real time

Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative (BHCLI) 10 minutes

This reading summarizes a session by Harvard’s Mitch Weiss in which he describes a new approach (“Possibility Government”) to increase experimentation and learning while managing risks responsibly.

  • Leaders need to generate new ideas, try them, and scale these efforts up.

Reading

Establish a Financial Oversight Committee

Mayor John Cooper of Nashville, TN appointed six leaders to a committee responsible …

icon/Link Go to link

Reading

Establishing lasting task forces involving community leaders

How can cities leverage community participation in recovery task forces? This report…

icon/Link Go to link

Reading

Taking risks responsibly and innovating in real time

This reading summarizes a session by Harvard’s Mitch Weiss in which he describes a…

icon/Link Go to link