“Being a mayor is always about growth mindset,” said Missoula, Mont., Mayor Andrea Davis. She is one of many past alumni of the Program for New Mayors: First 100 Days from the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University. Also in collaboration are the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School.

Mayors from large and small cities on each side of the country have traveled to Cambridge, Mass., to take part in this growth and learning opportunity. Though they represent vastly different cities, participants in the First 100 Days program focus on the similarities in their communities.

Davis participated in December 2023 after being elected to her seat in November, when the previous mayor passed away.

“You just have to be curious about things consistently and growing and this program helps you do that,” she said.

While she was still in the campaign phase, Davis was contacted by a representative of the program who asked if she would be willing to join the upcoming class should she win the election. She said she felt lucky to be selected for the program.

Davis credits Michael Bloomberg, three-term mayor of New York City and a Harvard alumnus, for instituting the Center for Cities at his alma mater in 2021 to guide those in leadership positions. For a city with limited resources, the generosity of Bloomberg Philanthropies offers the chance to learn crucial leadership skills from Harvard University professors, she said.

“There’s so much support given to CEOs of companies, for example. But the mayor starts, and even though it’s such an important role, there’s really nothing there. That’s really what Bloomberg has filled in,” Davis commented.

The immersive sessions focus on three areas: navigating the transition to mayor, team building and reflection. Instructors use case studies to demonstrate new principles and encourage creative thinking. Breakout sessions with other mayors round out the experience.

“The beauty of what Mayor Bloomberg saw is that so much action is at the local level, the city level. There’s more and more demand and need for us to figure out really complicated local and global issues, and all these things lead to greater governance.”

As Davis had never been elected to a city leadership position before, one system she put in place after learning about it during the program was a tangible work schedule that prioritizes and maximizes her time. She stated that this has made her more proficient in leading in a strong mayoral governing style.

Similar in size to Missoula is St. Cloud in central Minnesota, a city of roughly 69,000 people. Mayor Jake Anderson was elected last fall when his predecessor, David Kleis, chose not to seek reelection after nearly 20 years as leader of the city.

Prior to his election, Anderson was on the city council for two years and had served his community in other capacities as well. He attended the Program for New Mayors in early December, before his term began. He was contacted to join the program shortly after being elected mayor.

He found the two-day experience an opportunity for growth and gaining knowledge. “The sessions were highly informative and the ability to interact with newly elected mayors from all over the country was excellent,” Anderson commented.

Like Davis, his greatest takeaway was time management skills. He said the program helped provide him some baseline information on how to prioritize things.

Anderson joined the third class to graduate from the program. Eleven different states were represented by 24 newly elected mayors last year, with a total of more than 5 million residents within those cities.

“Obviously, nothing prepares you for the role into you actually step into it. But the foundational aspects of the program and getting to hear about the experiences of other mayors, both newly elected and former, was worthwhile.”

Anderson and Davis noted the sad lack of support most mayors encounter and said that the Bloomberg Center seeks to change that. Organizers of the Program for New Mayors connect mayors through WhatsApp and host virtual follow-up sessions. Through these communications, cities can tackle major issues in collaborative ways.

“The networking with other mayors was invaluable,” Anderson said. “Someone once said that being mayor is the loneliest job, and there’s some truth to that.”

He said he has found the program helpful and would recommend it to any new mayor from anywhere in the country.

Graduates of the program have already applied the strategies they learned at the center to implement changes in their communities. Mayor Brett Smiley of Providence, R.I., used techniques learned in the program to build his team and to boost morale for city hall workers.

The mayor of Newport News, Va., Phillip Jones, had to deal with a crisis even before he began his term, when a 6-year-old shot his teacher at a local school. The youngest-elected mayor in the city’s history and also a Harvard graduate, Jones immediately turned his attention to school safety. Then, utilizing tactics he had learned at the center, he worked to build relationships within the school district and created two new positions to promote positive change in Newport News: chief innovation officer and a federal lobbyist position.

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