Living Cities Policy Committee Evolution April 21, 2011

p2 Living Cities Strategies Leadership & Influence Research & Development Local Integration

April 21, 2011 p3 Reasons for Previous Lack of Clarity About Strategic Role of Committee  Institutional mechanism for coordinating and magnifying leadership/influence work important.. but  Not likely interested in influencing particular pieces of legislation; and  Most content specific issues derive from and addressed by committees and working groups So, What does the Policy committee do?

April 21, 2011 p4 Clarified Strategic Role of Committee  Insures that the impact of committees and working groups work extends beyond the direct work itself  Takes a ‘balcony’ view of all LC work and the changing external environment to ‘connect the dots’ and identify opportunities growing out of our work  Builds and maintains an influence network to stay current, distribute knowledge/ideas, and expand relationships

April 21, 2011 p5 Extending the Impact: Establishing an 'influence network' of people & organizations Make it easier to have impact beyond the work and keep ahead of trends/horizons: 1.Stay current on new trends/perspectives and better monitor external environment 2.Expand LC distribution channels for our knowledge/ideas 3.Expand LC's relationships across the political and geographic spectrum 4.Increase capacity of public sector to innovate/collaborate

April 21, 2011 p6 Ways to Use the Network  Undertake “permanent activities” for the organization (like 2x year PMI) to cement key relationships  Enable activation for opportunistic activities (like boot camps) often proposed by working groups/committees  Facilitate partnering on papers, convenings, or other activities proposed by this committee or other working groups/committees  Call on periodically for assessments and forecasting of emerging conditions in external environment

April 21, 2011 p7 Defining the Network: Current Relationships & Gaps Government Local- PMI/HKS State - Ohio Federal - Ad hoc Living Cities Thought Leaders Liberal – CAP Moderate - Brookings Conservative – None Geographic - None Business Ad hoc

April 21, 2011 p8 Network Partners: Local Government Level  Harvard’s Kennedy School and our Project on Municipal Innovation (PMI) is best-developed network partner  35 mayoral chiefs of staff that convene twice a year at Harvard  PMI has extended our organizational impact by: expanding dissemination of our ideas increasing our knowledge of relevant trends increasing public sector’s ability to innovate expanding our relationships

April 21, 2011 p9 Network Partners: State Government Level  No systematic partnerships at state level  Some ad hoc engagement at state level (Ohio work)  Possible partners: National Governors’ Association National Association of State Budget Officers State-level version of PMI (or joint sessions with PMI) for gubernatorial chiefs of staff, policy directors, or budget officers

April 21, 2011 p10 Network Partners: Business Community  Currently no systematic engagement  Possible partners? Business Roundtable Committee for Economic Development TechNet U.S. Chamber of Commerce

April 21, 2011 p11 Network Partners: Thought Leaders with Ideological and Geographic Diversity  Broaden this network to increase access and diversify perspectives informing our work?  Moderate spectrum? Bipartisan Policy Center and New America Foundation  Conservative spectrum? Manhattan Institute, American Enterprise Institute  Geographic diversity? High-quality state-based think tanks like Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) and MassInc

April 21, 2011 p12 Non-traditional partners or networks?  Are there emerging, non-traditional partners or networks – which go beyond the “usual suspects” – that are relevant for cities and that we should build connections with?  For example, groups working at the intersection of data, technology, and civic engagement like Code for America, Civic Commons, and Expert Labs?

April 21, 2011 p13 Next Steps in Building the Influence Network  At July Policy Committee meeting, staff will present members with menu of options for building out the influence network, with a focus on potential partners, activities, and resources required  Policy Committee members will identify a limited number of top priorities for building out the network  Staff will then move forward to implement specific activities with specific partners to expand the network