~Renamed program also launches new blog~

The Urban & Regional Policy Program will continue to foster connections between urban policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic, but will also conduct relevant urban policy analysis and develop programming to apply this analysis to the practical problems faced by practitioners at the local level.

“This new name more accurately reflects our focus, expertise, and vision for the program,” said Urban & Regional Policy Program Director Tamar Shapiro, who joined GMF last fall. “Cities on both sides of the Atlantic face a staggering set of challenges as they confront changing demographic, fiscal, and environmental pressures. Our  new focus will allow us to tackle that agenda.”

The Urban & Regional Policy Program empowers local leaders to introduce innovative strategies to their communities by building networks of local and regional policymakers and practitioners who can share best practices and lessons learned. The program provides a means for practitioners and experts to produce analyses of challenges and solutions in multiple regions.

The program is also launching a new blog, Urban Current, to provide analysis on programming, partners, and places of interest to urban policymakers and academics.

Additionally, this past fall, the program launched a new multi-year initiative on Cities in Transition. Through this program, GMF will link practitioners and policymakers from older, industrial cities in the United States and Europe as they work toward solutions to their common challenges. As part of this initiative, the program will support the development of a closer partnership between Detroit and Turin, Italy, and connect city and civic leaders from five U.S. cities (Detroit, Flint, Cleveland, Youngstown, and Pittsburgh) with their counterparts in Europe through study tours, policy workshops, peer exchanges, and policy research.

At the same time, the Urban program continues it work through the Transatlantic Cities Network, which brings together representatives from two dozen cities in the United States and Europe for ongoing exchange and analysis in key areas of urban policy, including sustainability, affordability, integration, and education. 

The Urban& Regional Policy Program will put added emphasis on issues of particular concern to cities these days: tight budgets and soaring deficits. In partnership with the Urban Land Institute, GMF will sponsor a Mayors’ Roundtable on the municipal financial crisis in late June. In addition to convening mayors from the United States and Europe, this event will bring together representatives from key sectors – philanthropic, non-profit, private, and government – for a discussion about the changing roles and responsibilities of each of these sectors within the new economic paradigm facing cities.

The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a non-partisan American public policy and grantmaking institution dedicated to promoting better understanding and cooperation between North America and Europe on transatlantic and global issues.

GMF does this by supporting individuals and institutions working in the transatlantic sphere, by convening leaders and members of the policy and business communities, by contributing research and analysis on transatlantic topics, and by providing exchange opportunities to foster renewed commitment to the transatlantic relationship. In addition, GMF supports a number of initiatives to strengthen democracies.

Founded in 1972 through a gift from Germany as a permanent memorial to Marshall Plan assistance, GMF maintains a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to its headquarters in Washington, DC, GMF has six offices in Europe: Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Belgrade, Ankara, and Bucharest. GMF also has smaller representations in Bratislava, Turin, and Stockholm.