Jefferson - The Next 10 Years
The purpose of this event is twofold: We will host special guests and renowned urban experts Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak, authors of The New Localism. They will discuss their new book, which devotes special attention to Erie, revealing where the real power to create change lies and how it can be used to address our most serious social, economic, and environmental challenges in Erie.
Too, we will detail our exciting plans for the next 10 years. While the Jefferson team is proud of our many accomplishments in our first decade as Erie’s think tank for community progress – sponsoring more than 1,000 programs on local, state, national and global issues – looking ahead to the next 10 years is both exciting and important to the entire Erie community.
What do we have in mind? Here is a glimpse:
-Offer additional programming at Jefferson Satellites throughout the area so that location is never an impediment for adult education;
-Institute a Scholars-in-Residence program in which experts in various subjects will conduct research, author publications, and hold public presentations;
-Expand our rapidly growing Civic Leadership Academy with the Raimy Fellowship Program;
-Announce the lineup for the Jefferson’s Global Summit X*, scheduled for Fall 2018,
*featuring former Director of the National Security Agency and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency General Michael Hayden, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, former deputy assistant to President Trump Sebastian Gorka, among many others.
Bruce J. Katz is the co-author (with Jeremy Nowak) of The New Localism: How Cities Can
Thrive in the Age of Populism and (with Jennifer Bradley) of The Metropolitan Revolution:
How Cities and Metros are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy. Both books
explain why cities and their networks have emerged as the world’s leading problem-solvers.
Katz’s experience extends to policy-making at the national level, as well. He was chief of staff
for U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros during the Clinton
administration and was the senior counsel and then staff director for the U.S. Senate
Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs. After the 2008 presidential election, he co-led
the housing and urban development transition team for the Obama administration and served
as a senior advisor to the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary Shaun
Donovan, for the first 100 days of that administration.
Katz left government employment to join the Brookings Institute as vice president and
founding director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. From 2016-2018 he was the
Institute’s first Centennial Scholar, focusing his research on the challenges and opportunities
of global urbanization.
He is now a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation and the
co-founder and inaugural director of the Nowak Metro Finance Lab. Also a visiting professor
at the London School of Economics, he regularly advises global, national, state, regional and
municipal leaders on public reforms and private innovations that advance the well-being of
metropolitan areas and their countries.
In 2006, Katz received the prestigious Heinz Award in Public Policy for his contributions to
understanding the “function and values of cities and metropolitan areas and profoundly
influencing their economic vitality, livability and sustainability.” He is a graduate of Brown
University and Yale Law School.
