Jackson Mayor John Horhn issued the following statement.
Mayor John Horhn today announced being selected as one of the 46 mayors from 15 countries for the tenth class of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. Through the nine-month professional management program, Mayor Horhn, alongside two City of Jackson officials who will begin in August, will gain strategies to improve how local government works and move residents’ chief priorities forward.
“I’m honored to be part of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, and I’m eager to bring what I learn back home to improve city services for the residents of Jackson,” said Mayor John Horhn. “I plan to use this experience to sharpen our approach to problem-solving and deliver a more effective government for our city.”
The flagship Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is at the center of more than 10 years of work led by Bloomberg Philanthropies through its Government Innovation program to strengthen mayoral leadership and local government across the globe. Today, it is where the world’s mayors come to learn and to lead. Mayor Horhn will join them.
Established with Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School, and housed at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard, the Initiative will have now served 447 mayors, including eight in ten of America's big-city mayors and nine of England's mayoral strategic authorities alongside over 3,000 municipal chiefs.
“Mayors sit at the first and last mile of every major problem we face, and we built the Government Innovation program to ensure they have the capacity required to lead,” said James Anderson, who leads the Government Innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is at its center, and in a moment that demands more from public leadership than ever, this class will have that world of support behind them. We look forward to these mayors putting it to work, and all that their city halls will do.”
Through the Initiative, Mayor Horhn will work alongside Harvard faculty, policy experts, veteran managers, and fellow mayors—periodically in classrooms, virtual sessions, and in the field—beginning with a multi-day convening in New York City this week. Participants learn to organize teams around outcomes, ground decisions in evidence, and collaborate across departments and sectors—applying lessons directly to the issues at home, from housing and affordability to economic growth, public safety, and emergency response.
Once the coursework ends, Jackson remains eligible for more: professional education for senior officials in economic development, human resources, procurement, and civic engagement; a Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellow, placed for up to two years on a priority the mayor sets; and research and instructional material developed across the program's first decade.
“Leading a city is among the hardest jobs in public service anywhere as the demands on mayors—and the complex challenges they face—continue to grow," said Jorrit de Jong, Director of the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University and Emma Bloomberg Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Management at Harvard Kennedy School. “Meeting those challenges requires city halls to continually strengthen how they work, and with Michael R. Bloomberg’s unwavering backing, we built the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative to help them do just that—and every mayor teaches us in return. With a decade of that insight and research behind this tenth class, we expect their city halls to deliver at home and push the program’s work—and the field itself—further still.”
The tenth class of mayors represents 28 U.S. and 18 international cities, home to more than 22 million residents. They include: Mayor Dorcey Applyrs of Albany, NY; Mayor Ron Bernal of Antioch, CA; Mayor Sean Ryan of Buffalo, NY; Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui of Cambridge, MA; Mayor Stephen M. Morris of Concord, NC; Mayor Shenise Turner-Sloss of Dayton, OH; Mayor Mary Sheffield of Detroit, MI; Mayor Sharon Tucker of Fort Wayne, IN; Mayor John Horhn of Jackson, MS; Mayor James Solomon of Jersey City, NJ; Mayor Christal Watson of Kansas City, KS; Mayor Jaime Arroyo of Lancaster, PA; Mayor Eileen Higgins of Miami, FL; Mayor John Ewing of Omaha, NE; Mayor Keith Wilson of Portland, OR; Mayor Marsha Judkins of Provo, UT; Mayor Angela Birney of Redmond, WA; Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones of San Antonio, TX; Mayor Michael Garcia of Santa Fe, NM; Mayor Van Johnson of Savannah, GA; Mayor Jake Wilson of Somerville, MA; Mayor James Mueller of South Bend, IN; Mayor Lisa Brown of Spokane, WA; Mayor Kaohly Her of St. Paul, MN; Mayor Christina Fugazi of Stockton, CA; Mayor Sharon Owens of Syracuse, NY; Mayor Anders Ibsen of Tacoma, WA; Mayor Spencer Duncan of Topeka, KS; Mayor Maude Marquis-Bissonnette of Gatineau, Canada; Mayor Sophie Barker of Dunedin, New Zealand; Mayor Mahé Drysdale of Tauranga, New Zealand; Mayor Sam Nujoma of Khomas Region, Namibia; Mayor Fatiha El Moudni of Rabat, Morocco; Mayor Richard Shakespeare of Dublin, Ireland; Mayor Stephan Keller of Düsseldorf, Germany; Mayor Mathias De Clercq of Ghent, Belgium; Mayor Carlos Moedas of Lisbon, Portugal; Mayor Helen Godwin of West of England, UK; Mayor Tomislav Tomašević of Zagreb, Croatia; Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán of Bogotá, Colombia; Mayor Agustín Iglesias of Independencia, Chile; Mayor Andrew Swaby of Kingston, Jamaica; Mayor Felipe Alessandri of Lo Barnechea, Chile; Mayor Esteban Allasino of Luján de Cuyo, Argentina; Mayor Sebastián Sichel of Ñuñoa, Chile; and Mayor Ramón Lanús of San Isidro, Argentina.
Alumni of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative include Pete Buttigieg, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation and mayor of South Bend, IN; Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and mayor of Atlanta, GA; Mayor Muriel Bowser of the District of Columbia; Andy Burnham, Member of Parliament for Makerfield and former Mayor of Greater Manchester, UK; Mayor Misty Buscher of Springfield, IL; Mayor William Cogswell of Charleston, SC; Uruguay Vice President Carolina Cosse and former mayor of Montevideo, Uruguay; Mayor Patrick Farrell of Huntington, WV; John Giles, former mayor of Mesa, AZ; Claudia López, former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia; Mayor Tiffany O'Donnell of Cedar Rapids, IA; Mayor Brandon Scott of Baltimore, MD; and Mayor Paul TenHaken of Sioux Falls, SD.
The flagship Initiative has also informed parallel efforts worldwide. The most recent is the Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initiative, whose inaugural class included 30 mayors and 60 senior officials from 17 countries.
Through these leadership programs, Jackson enters Bloomberg Philanthropies’ broader Government Innovation portfolio and global community of practice, tens of thousands of mayors and municipal officials strong, who draw on each other’s work to better the lives of the hundreds of millions of residents they collectively serve.
21 comments:
He will need to know the location of the safe space upon his arrival.
I'm going to say something about Horhn. Many people do not agree with the choices he's made thus far but I'm going to lay down some reality. This guy has taken on a challenge a lot of people wouldn't have the energy for. He's inherited a busted city, created by years of grifters and criminals, and if not solely those, people that have been complacent and non-qualified for duties that they were charged with. At the least, 20 years of it. Two generations of my family have lived in this house in Fondren and we've weathered a lot. We've seen things to completely stupid and witnessed those situations right themselves. Therefore, we see, daily, what's happening and not happening in this city. There is a mix of progress and concern. Real worry. Still, there's some balance. There are a LOT of people working hard here. There are repairs everywhere, there are mitigations occurring and it's being reflected in the populace. Homes that I've seen in states of progressive neglect and rot are being renovated and cleaned up (my own included). That means there's a lot of hope happening here.
I made the comment to a co-worker that any effort to turn this city around would first have to rely on a level of transparency that we haven't had in a long time. Albeit not the perfect scenario, we're seeing some of that, and we're having to accept some hard truths. I've also made the comment that any real traction towards the revitalization of Jackson, should it be possible, will take at least 10 years. It's very easy for neighboring counties and municipalities to condemn Jackson, but no one seems to understand that those areas are still brand new. The structure, the infrastructure, etc. Jackson is old and while building something new is hard enough, rebuilding and repairing is much harder.
This is our capital city. I understand that the consensus in our metropolitan area is fatigued by the same stupid shit we keep seeing. But those of us that have been in the world for quite a few decades understand that life is a pendulum and where effort is made, it still swings. Ups and downs and backs and forths. I think Jackson is in and sideways but "forths" mode. The reality of funding is being made very clear and for once, it's not being hidden. In order for progress to be made as a community, the not-so-palatable truths must be shared, and even more so, accepted. There are truths about the state of JPD that are being communicated, where they weren't before - maybe overly shared. Still, truth is progress. As a former JPD officer from the 90's, it makes me cringe. My hope is that it returns to something resembling the force it used to be. Until then, Capitol Police is helping the lift. We'll see. Crime will make or break us, ultimately.
I'm not a fool and I live in the tea leaves here, so I have a plan and an ultimate decision to make. As of now, everything is honestly pretty good, my neighborhood is mostly quiet and I'm still comfortable. A few younger folks have bought the houses that the old folks I still remember by name have long left behind. I'm on the fence, but I'm still rooting for this town. I wish others would too. I wish people would stop being so nasty about it. Horhn is not Lumumba by any stretch and if he is, it hasn't come out yet. I don't think we'll see that. He has a constituency to appease, but he knows more than anyone is giving him credit for. He's reading the terrain and he's making next to impossible decisions with a measure of grace. He carries himself and conducts business professionally.
I may not stay here forever but I'll root for him and his efforts until he gives me too many reasons not to. He's a former state senator but he's a first-time mayor. I think he deserves his chance. He's run repeatedly and he didn't give up until he got it. Let's please try to be patient with him. Sorry for the long post.
I hope he learns something. One question: who pays for the trip. It sounds like the City of Jackson can't afford to pay attention.
Well there is always hope. Chock man attended the same program during his first term. Here's to hoping that John will actually learn how to run a city.
I guess it can't hurt but I'd rather hear he was going to Huntsville,
Austin, Charlotte, Nashville, or some other city that might give him some practical pointers on how to be successful. Maybe even Tupelo. But I guess he could never turn down Haaavard.
What a joke of a mayor and a city.
Oh my gosh. What a joke this past month has been for this admin. IT’S THE CRIME. IT. IS. THE. CRIME. STOP THE CRIME AND YOU’LL BE A GOOD MAYOR. YOU DON’T HAVE TO FLY TO HARVARD TO LEARN THIS.
Horhn is a flat out disappointment at this point. Jackson will just get to fester through this lame duck admin. Until the next Chokme Antard radical shows up from Detroit.
Did I miss where it said who was paying for this lizard-people session? Hopefully not the city… right? Surely not after he came out to say they are broke today… right???
The alumni of this “course” are not anything to brag about. Keisha Lance Bottoms has been an absolute disaster for Atlanta.
As a former English major would it be in allowance to say....WTF?
Maybe should have done that BEFORE becoming mayor as to be competent and qualified.
Good. Don’t come back.
(Harvard Horhn)
That is too funny.
Is this the same little podunk school that honored Chokwe with their prestigious leadership award?
Is he gonna be gone for the whole 9 months?
who are the 2 city officals going?
6:27pm I totally agree, but we have to get rid of these liberal judges thats getting people killed by their catch and release tactics.
The only real problem with this is that Harvard is in a land of make believe. I am curious if any of the Harvard instructors can comprehend the realities of present day Jackson?
6:55 I agree wholeheartedly. But I bet we are both practical problem solvers.
This gig will emphasize preening and and pontification because this is Harvard after all.
Da (new) Mair will excel at this this waste of time as he experienced years of "oppression" in the MS. Senate. The esteemed faculty will mentor him on how to cultivate and exploit those with white guilt. I'm not sure he'll take them up on their offer, but if he does he'll be Chok 2.0 as I believe Baby Chok is an alumni of this program.
Hopefully Da New Mair will take an elective titled "How to Avoid Embezzlement." I'm thinking it may be a 4000-level course.
Can you even imagine what they will “teach” them up there? Can you imagine that any of it will be applicable to the successful running of Jackson Mississippi? I’ll be the first to admit that John inherited a mess; however, for him to produce virtually no conspicuous changes in his first year is, I fear, indicative of the type of Mayor. He will be in the following three years. Why would anyone believe a 31 year state senator would still have the energy to take on what needs to be taken on in this city. As one commentor said above, crime is the single biggest issue that needs to be addressed, and as of this writing, it only seems to be getting worse during his first year.
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