time. cox, bringing us closer. >> cox supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> transportation secretary pete boda judd spoke at the u.s. conference of mayors about infrastructure and how to access funds for the 1.2 trillion dollar law. this session focused on childhood health, food security broadband connectivity. it's my great pleasure to introduce to all of you president and ceo of the american beverage association. and president of the american beverage foundation for healthy america board of directors who will announce the winners of the 2022

obesity prevention/environmental health and sustainability awards. 2022 marks the tenth round of awards we have made to this amazing partnership. as of this year we've made more than $5 million awards 260 plus cities across the country. that is a $5 million in cash funding direct to cities because we mayors understand andhe the american beverage association understands the best public-private partnerships deliver critical resources directed to where they are neededd most. [applause] and of course that is also the place is the best solutions get incubated which are at the localma level. not only mayors but residents and small businesses and institutions and other community stakeholders playing along. as you know, last year in 2021, right when cities needed

it most we lost a major expansion of this awards program. not only did the amount of fundingri distributed decreased dramatically but we open up onthe types of programs that were eligible reaching beyond childhood obesity and family help to include programs that address environmental health and sustainability as well. i am proud to count my own city in that number. last year in 2021 the city of miami was awarded $500,000 for innovative interactive multi lingual virtual reality recycling program. yes. come onno now. it let's people transform art on mammy's recycling bins into a virtual reality experience using their smart phones. the goal of the program is to encourage more and better recycling habits in miami by highlighting the benefits of recycling offers to biscayneic bay. the largest estuary on the

southeast florida coast and a local and regional treasure for its role in food provision transportation and commerce and the boundless recreational and other opportunities it provides. today, and another nine cities will share threes quarters of a million dollars in grant awards supporting existing and new programs that address child, family, community andth environmental health and wellness in american cities. now, before i bring catherine to the podium to bring the presentation i felt duty bound to note like me, catherine gripp understand the t importance of cities and the importance of addressing issues at the local level. her father in law, as many of you may know was the great d richard who served this distinction in the united states senate for nearly fourre decades. but before that, more and partly was a two-term mayor of the city of indianapolis.

and life we are called the service for many reasons. but one of those reasons as example our elders set for us.yo catherine thank you for your service, for continuing your family's great legacy of service. and for this great partnership the stage is yours. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> thank you merritt suarez. i feel like you should have been happy doing my part of the program. certainly that passion he speaks with. so thank you. it is an honor and frankly

just really good to be here i hope you'll join me to the mayor's staff. under the leadership of the infamous tom cochran and mayor for pulling this meeting off. i am preaching to the choir when i say a strong country is built on strong community. the work you do every day to build safer, healthier more vibrant cities and towns has never been more important as it has been in the last couple of years. on behalf of the beverage industry, let me say thank you for your leadership and for all that you do. the beverage industry as many of you know has a long and rich history and deep roots in communities from coast-to-coast.

the men and women who make up america's nonalcoholic beverage companies, work every day to ensure their communities are healthy, sustainable and economically strong. i would like to begin with a short video that illustrates how. >> every day in every town in every corner of the country, men and women wake up and go to work to deliver something real for their communities. putting food and beverages on store shelves so america's families can put them on their tables. making sure every stadium, every restaurant every small business in between has what they need to provide people what they want from across the food and beverage industry folks doing these jobs aren't moms and dads, daughters, uncles, have always managed to get home in time for dinner. you find the time to coach little league after work. you can make time to give back whatever they are needed. when the world around us changed, they did what

they always do, they kept showing up for their neighbors. every day they're making a difference in their community. they've always been committed to that. and they always will be, here for you. >> alright, delivering, thank you. delivering essential goods, providing family supporting jobs and let me remind you that america's beverage company make our product here in the united states with american jobs bring them to in yourere communities every day. we assist with recovery eckert's comment times of natural disaster support charitable causes. most importantly we simply show up for neighbors because that is who we are at our core. meaningful solutions to some of our nation's toughest

societal challenges. our members include companies like coca-cola companies, dr pepper, pepsico, they put their fierce competition aside to focus their time, resources, and passion to solving these important challenges together. and we are so proud of what we are accomplishing. communities are stronger when consumers have more choices in more to find this is especially true balance colors initiatives to reduce sugar americans consume of her beverages. we are now halfway towards our goal. since we made the commitment, beverage calories consumed during per person is dropped 10% that is real impact. but i am not done. today's consumers have more choices with less sugar in

smaller portions than ever before. just think about what your grocery store aisles look like now. our industry has innovated three to formulate our beverages to contain less sugar. we have developed more and zero sugar options from flavored sparkling water to 0-calorie sports drinks, zero sugar soft drinks and more. we are encouraging consumers to trade these options through our marketing efforts. we are working with our retail partners to make them more available. the numbers speak for themselves. today, nearly 60% of the beverages purchased have zero sugar at all. it is working. innovation is driving the change americans are taking advantage. let me say communities are stronger when they are environmentally sustainable. roadsides are cleaner that is

why we are also hardom at work advancing a circular economy for plastic so that every bottle back initiative that bottles do not end up as litter, or frankly in landfills for there were never intended to be. reminding people we are designing one 100% recyclable plastic bottles including the caps, and we won them back because they can be remade into newhe ones. to help make the school possible we are making significant investments through a fun truth the recycling partnership and closely partners its investing and directing nearly half a billion dollars to improve recycling and infrastructure and education across the country. we are partnering with the leading environmental and sustainability groups including the world wildlife fund and a commitment to use less new plastic and ensure transparency in measuring our

progress against that commitment. we are working with policymakers, environmental stakeholders and others across the country to discuss new ways to successfully improve the collection or plastic bottles. in fact i want to take a moment to think former mayor steven benjamin of columbia, south carolina. [applause] and rick, of course chaired the environmental committee fromfl st. petersburg, florida for their leadership in advancing recycling leadership at lester's meeting. they and so many of you worked with us to conduct outreach to capitol hill and the administration and as a result , to gather we secure critical recycling infrastructure and education investment as part ofts the law. these will positively impact your community, so thank you. all of this supports our

efforts to reduce or plastic footprint to reduce plastic wastes of future generations can enjoy healthy and sustainable environments. our work district committees across this country will remain a strong focus. it is at our court. i do hope you'll take a moment to stop by our booth and connect is one of her team members and learn more. our rights, shifting gears. to date we are here for a really important reason. that is to share our industry support of my oriole programs through american beverage foundation for healthy america this is a mouthful but stay with me. we arere announcing our 2022 childhood obesity prevention and environmental health and sustainability awards. it rolls right off the tongue. our foundation is another example of our commitment to local communities. we are so proud to support the great work of mayors to take

bold steps to improve the physical and environmental health of our communities. in high-impact grant program. so let's announce the winners. all right, third place winner in each category will take a $15000 grant program. the second place winners will take home $50000 going to have to first place winners, going to start of a small winners. so, for small 83rd place goes to merrick derek henry of daytona beach, florida for the mayors of math and fitness boot camp. [applause] and second-place recognition goes to mayor karen alexander of salisbury north carolina for-1 the 5210 prescription program. this assesses patient

lifestyles using healthy habits survey. they write a prescription to make referrals for patients and families to get on track and living a healthy lifestyle. let's congratulate the mayor. first place winner goes to mayor thomas roesch of white plains, new york for the. advocates for healthy living program. mayor roach will be receiving $125,000 grant for this program. let's take a moment to watch a video and learn a little more about it. >> white plains ises a city 60000 residents. thirty-four minutes from midtown on the express train. we are very diverse, people of every economic level everyan ethnic background. we have an approach in our community we want to get the most out of every child. part of that is going to be feeling good about yourself.

covid has highlighted just how important is to stay healthy. obesity was a major risk factor more serious illness from the virus. and so i think that is a signal we really, really need to work on. >> is the gem of white plains. at any given time in her 45 -- 50 different programs running. you name t it is the one stop shop for youth programming and white plains. the. advocates for healthy living is a program or we employ high school students, to be. advocates and promote healthy living to their younger peers we know from research that little kids look up to their older counterparts. the older kids with the staff

we talk about nutrition, we will talk about physical education, will talk about social, emotional wellness. once we have a good understanding each one of those topics they will then be trained to go to the lower grades into the same thing. you guys feel like working out? >> that benefits are going to be multiple in terms of health and nutrition this is really a unique opportunity to the next level. we think that's going to be a homerun. we are really excited. facts and want to think that conference of mayors for awarding us this honor.

want to thank the american beverage for healthy america the fact this grant is available is why this program is happening. we're thrilled to to take advantage of it. what i hope for is the benefits when they grow up. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> all right. what an innovative program. i am pleased mayor roach is here with us today to accept the award. please join me in welcoming him. >> thankea you. the mcpherson it's great to see everybody. i want to thank the u.s. conference of mayors the beverage association, or the

best in new york state. the outcomes are amazing. we have an aviation program i flight some leaders to take kids out to the airport to make sure they are aware of the career opportunities out there. solace grants come across our desk we sent it on made this proposal which i think is fantastic. going to give us a fantastic un youngity to teach our people. gettinghe that young people learn the same times the coaches are learning their learning leadership responsibility. and so i want to thank frank williams the director of our bureau there my friends they work so hard. and i want to thank our young people most of all. it's our confidence in them us to put this forward. thank you all and enjoy the rest of the conference.

[applause] >> all right, thank you mayor roach. now for the award winners. goes to mary jo gannon of bridgeport connecticut seven minutes to help with the park challenge. second-place goes to mayor steven reed of montgomery, alabama for the clear path gardening program. this initiative is a hybrid of childhood obesity prevention activities and environmental sustainability initiatives that will build gardens and food for us and facilitate outdoor participation. join me in giving them a round of applause. and now for our first place winner this year goes to des moines, iowa mayor for the polk county produce prescription program, let's learn more.

♪ ♪ >> a lot of people called des moines the heart of iowa. t the capitol city, it is the largest metropolitan area in the. state. we have done a lot of work over the last few decades to make des moines but we thinkg, more exciting, more inviting. we know across this country that obesity is an issue, diabetes is an issue and it all has to do with qty of life for the future. >> polk county produce prescription program is a means to provide food prescription for patients. howis things been going since the last visit? looks pretty good but. >> be targeted patients with diabetes, hypertension and chronic condition and provide them with food vouchers to

purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. while $30 with each individual that is in their household. more people are recognizing if you put in bad gasoline and a vehicle you get bad outcomes. if you put in a bad food and about it you're going to get bad outcomes. with this project we impact the entire family. so the children and parents can go to the grocery store, pick out healthy foods that they want to eat. and then we empower them to make healthy choices and impact both the barrett's help and the children's health. >> which is incredible. really have to pat yourself on the back that you are doing such a good job.

♪ ♪ we are bringing us together but what is exciting about this opportunity how to prepare this differently. have the social interaction. >> you want to thank the american beverage foundation for a healthy america and the u.s. conference of mayors for this award. we are so proud to get it. you're going to push it out to our community and our deepest thanks to both. >> ♪ ♪ >> here is the fun's part. $175,000 grant to support this important program. so please welcome mary to the

stage. >> it is good to be back in person. it's good to see all of our mayors face-to-face. and after going on two years. i want to tell you, want to thank the beverage association the conference of mayors for this award. we are going to push this award out to help fund healthy foods for young people and families to get young people started on a good path to a healthy life and healthy diapers again i want to thank everybody. let's all stay together, work together, have a more healthy, better country and thank you again, appreciate it.

>> r8 thank you you mayor. i will now finally move on the award for large city. the third praise award for large city goes to baltimore mayor brandon scott and community connections baltimore problems. for the use of beekeeper training program. hands on provides students beekeeper certification. and finally our first place winner for large city goes to denver, colorado mayor michael hancock for the food matters solutions for food waste reduction initiative. >> we are wasting food food that could be used as a direct

solution to food insecurity. today, one third of the people are food insecure. we have got a lot of work we have to s do to stay dedicated to the issue of making sure people have access to decent healthy food. >> the food matters program is a behavior change campaign, meant to be an effortless way for people to reduce the amount of food that goes to waste. especially too tell people they can take time and money by eating their leftovers. >> we are testing to see what are the messages that impact actual behavior change. and, so for us we really want to evaluate. we are doing that maturing waste audits, doing canvassing speaking with community members to really understand what works. >> we are also giving you

threer reusable stickers, attach them to containers of food or on a shelf. >> the other part of our efforts to reduce waste and to address the food insecurity is to work with our restaurants, to donate surplus foods that they have. we get to her food pantries and our shelters carrying forward our values and objectives for. >> getting any sort of program is going to take and distribute it. i would be all for it. >> it's all the food it's out of the landfill. that should feed people. it's going to involve a lot of outreach, relationship building.e we are looking to prevent food waste before it incurs in announcing the negative climate impacts were not seeing the food that's being wasted. we are hoping to send

materials to essentially every singlen restaurant in the city. really nail down something that is going to work so that it becomes easier to reduce the waste. >> on behalf of the city of denver want to give a very sincere thank you to the american beverage foundation for healthy america and the u.s. council of mayors to help get on d the path of providing sustainable food choices and opportunity for people. not only denver throughout the united states. >> ♪ ♪ >> all right, we are proud to announce mayor hancock will receive $250,000 for this program. please join me and welcoming mayor hancock. [applause]

yes, we have got some money now. [laughter] remember when your mama used to say eat all of that on your plate? there are kids in africa who are starving. well, if you are like denver, colorado, pre-pandemic one in ten were food insecure. today as a result of the pandemic, one third of oure residents are food insecure. and so we do not take this moment likely as those great city employees he saw in the video said your mining everyone and everything on your plate matters. and there are indeed people who are hungry. so eat this first. if you have surplus food in your home or in your commercial kitchen, lesson donate it to one of the pantries or food bank so we can help those who are struggling.

most spend a special thank you to the beverage foundation i want to thank is been on all thele other mayors who work with the beverage association to remind them that cities and mayors are the ones who are closest to thehe people. and can also help solve the issues that are most important to the people. we are honored to be your partner, very excited to take home this $250,000. thankr, you again for your support of denver, colorado. [applause] >> all right, thank you mayor hancock. to all of today's winners, congratulations. we cannot wait to hear more about hownt these grants help make your community stronger predictor to encourage all of you have not submitted grant

applications, please consider doing so in the next round. and finally, on behalf of the beverage industry, thank you for the critically important work you do on the front lines every day. when you go back to her hometowns, know that you have a willing and committed partner in our industry will continue. with that, thank you enjoy your lunch. ♪ ♪ : [applause] how is everyone feeling? everyone feels good about being

together? on behalf of the nation's mayors i would also like to thank the american beverage foundation for a healthy america and the american beverage association for their sustained partnership and support to improve the health and well-being of our city. finally, mayors, i encourage you all to apply for this award. we will announce the details of the award cycle in early summer. for nearly 40 years, the united states conference of mayors into cities across the country have worked with nationwide retirement solutions side-by-side to coming together helping city employees save for retirement. a platinum partner of the u.s. conference serving the retirement safety needs of city workers. nationwide has a commitment to the public sector market and we are excited to partner with the largest and most innovative company in this industry. as a us-based company nationwide and its employees have a

commitment to its communities to volunteerism and a corporate philanthropy. employees donated time ands dollars to causes and charities including the american red cross, feeding america, nationwide children's hospital and the united way. to tell us more is the program director with nationwide retirement solutions. please join me in welcoming roland. [applause] >> first of all, thank you. i appreciate that introduction. and good afternoon to america's mayors. it's an honor and privilege to stand before you and share a little bit about nationwide. nationwide has been a platinum partner with the united states conference of mayors for 40 years now. we've grown from a small mutual

insurance company one of the largest insurance and financial service companies in the world. our mission has never been clearer. we want to make sure that we provide and protect people, businesses and futures with extraordinary care. through our partnership with the conference of mayors, nationwide offers uniquely designed for 57 be and 4o1k defined contribution retirement plans and cities so that they can keep him so their employees can save for retirement with confidence. we record and keep approximately 37,000 plans and serve more than 2.7 million participants. we manage and administer over $1.2 billion in retirement access, and we partner answers

cities like miami, chicago, baltimore, tampa, las vegas and scottsdale just to name a few. we believe our value driven culture createsur associates committed to serving your employees and the communities in which they live. we are more than a business. nationwide and its employees believe in giving back to the communities that they live in. nationwide employees donated over 14,000 units of blood since 2019 through the american red cross. we've also raised over 3.1 million males through feeding america since 2019 and pledged over $7.7 million to the united way since 2013 and contributed over $120 million to the nationwide children's hospital, through the nationwide foundation since 2026. let me conclude by thanking all

of you for your partnership. if your city is not a partner, please, let's talk. and remember, nationwide is on your side. [laughter] [applause]e] thank you all very much. enjoy your lunch. ♪♪ you know you have a good ad and you can see the first part and everybody knows the second part. whoever made that up ought to get a raise. i'm especially pleased to introduce the next session of broadband connectivity and digital skills on a pathway towards a more equitable future. nothing can be more timely. at the pandemic reminded all of us about the importance of broadband to our overall economy and to our overall lives. the pandemic also exposed to

some shortcomings, which the new bipartisan infrastructure law seeks to address. we will talk about these with a representative of a longtime partner, comcast corporation. more thane a decade ago, comcat stepped forward long before others to address some of these shortcomings. it's internet essentials programs now in its second decade and serving more than 10 million people has been a model for so many others. and it's been a difference in the cities, in my own and so many others represented here today. i am so pleased to have broderick johnsone with us tod, executive vice president of policy and executive vice execue president of digital equity. he served as a senior official in president obama's administration and currently sits on numerous boards including the board ofor directs of the obama foundation and the black economic alliance. a particularly notable, he

currently serves as the chair of my brother's keepers alliance advisory council. let me ask broderick johnson to please, join me for our discussion. ♪♪ >> my man. >> it's great to see so many friends here. it's been a while. it's been too long but it's great to be here. so closest to the white house again. like the fifth anniversary of my dinner there. >> may be the president will be walking over tomorrow. who knows, you never know. one of the greatest learnings from the pandemic there or areas we cannot get back to normal and we need to lean in to truly

address the inequities and imbalances. improving people's ability to access and use the internet is one of them. we are hurting various forms and phrases about the digital plan. myto question to you is this in your role you are focused on digital equity and public policy, so how are you distinguishing and defining the divide and that challenge for the country? >> i can take this liberty on the university of michigan alum and we played in miami and i skipped that game. anyway, i am a proud go blue. [inaudible] we are good. >> the director is the georgia bulldogs, so i just have to be careful. >> okay so let's get to the subject at hand. [laughter] >> go, dogs. that's okay. again, i'm so proud to be your fantasy friends and be here to talk about this incredibly important issue about how we

close the digital divide. i joined comcast six months ago basically in this capacity and to be brought in as such a senior level to address these issues working with great colleagues into folks like fred perkins who's been with comcast for just a couple more years than i've been and tony williamson and others i appreciate, and it is a great team. i want to start off with three important concepts. one, because these are important to keep in mind as we go forward. first investments in broadband i have positioned the united states very well. a lot of times people sort of look and say the united states isn't doing so well when it comes to broadband but in fact, ksour networks on average or faster, more resilient and more widely deployed within those in europe and now we have as you mentioned the infrastructure bill that will deliver even more in terms of the investments that need to be made to close the coverage gaps and make sure all

americans can have not just accesss, but use and improve the lives as a result of broadband. comcastca as you said we've been in this for a long time and our internet essentials program we go into the second decade it'sou made such a difference but we have so much more to do. we will continue to invest other private sector actors and continue to invest you all in the cities and work with us and invest. we now have unprecedented money coming through the federal government to address these problemsst as well so we need to keep in mind the investments in the broadband networks are essential. adoption though, and that is where i'm going to spend time talking, the option is the biggest problem. there is such access out there but in the communities all across this country, folks don't seem tose be aware where they ae inhibited for whatever reasonn f signing up for internet essentials or for something else. so, this is something we need to especially be focused on and the

third thing is that we have a generational opportunity. weel haven't seen this level of commitment and addressing the digital divide so let's make sure we don't waste this opportunity. for all of us as mayors, these support them with levels of accountability. our needs are also great and with more transparency than ever before, there is a zero tolerance wasting money or proceeding with increases. as for companies you are facing the great resignation fighting to attract and maintain the best talent and competing for customers while responding to pressures to constantly innovate. given the gravity of this moment in time what is the true opportunity here that we are

facing? >> this is generational opportunity that we can't waste and that we can't take for granted. we can build a digital future for folks across the country wherever they live. and as i mentioned, adoption is a big challenge and so many of the country and urban areas. we know that it's a challenge so we need to focus especially on making sure that we don't waste the money. the federal resources are not stwasted and we are not building or paying for systems that are needlessly redundant and that we don't lose the opportunity to invest in adoption programs again to make people aware of what is available to them, to help them sign up and then to also make sure they understand what a difference it can make in their lives whether it has to do with telehealth or access to business opportunities. we know during the pandemic the impact of course the pandemic has had on education. and for so many of our children, we know they get left behind

under normal circumstances, but the pandemic certainly made it an even greater challenge but again we have the opportunity that we need to be wise about how the money is used and held accountable at every level. federal government, state government,ke private corporatis like comcast to make sure we spend the money and we spend the money well. >> now usurped into you served o administrations most recently under president obama as cabinet secretary and also as the chair man of his my brother's keeper task force. the work on my brother's keeper continues as a core program of the obama foundation where you continue to play a leading role. it continues on the national effort into priority executing partnership with cities, tribal land, nonprofits et cetera. the overreaching and overarching goal is to identify and address the disparities that hamper the success of boys and young men of color and to improve the lives of all youth. many parallels can be drawn from that effort to the state of

affairs when we talk about disparities for young people and today when it comes to the skills and technology to participate in this digital economy. that said, where should we be focused to drive the most impact in change? >> in my work that continues and has brought me in contact with many of you all in your cities, we have been so focused on disparities and bridging the gaps. those gaps as i think all of you know started particularly for boys andth young men of color ad girls and young women of colorfe and being focused with data on where those gaps are and where solutions lieed is essential. we know even with the availability of broadband in so many of our communities there are the disparities based on race, income, where they don't need to be. millions of people can now get a

broadband essentially for free. we know there are levels of distrust and frustration people have, lack of awareness. we need to in a very focused way look at how we can help folks understand broadband is available to you now. the program we've been at this for ten years. we are making a billion-dollar commitment at comcast moving forward to continue to reach 50 million more people, but i think it's so incredibly important that we do this with an eye towards closing the gaps. again, focusing on where those gaps exist so that we can get past the point where we look at opportunities made available to people and say that's a shame they didn't take advantage of it. it's up to us and i know in cities like yours and cities like chicago the internet essentials work has gone on

great partnerships and that will certainly continue. i know whenyo the mayor comes before this group, she will talk about chicago connected and what a difference that's made. so it is making a difference in communities across the country. again, great in your city. been at this a long time, but we have to do a lot to build on it to take advantage of this incredible generational opportunity. we can't leave people behind. >> we absolutely can't. and i really want to thank you, roderick, for this discussion and your partnership with the mayors into the conference. they are lucky to have you. >> thank you. thank all off you. looking forward to working with you and seeing you as we hit the road. thank you. [applause] ♪♪ all right. it's 2:00 and i still haven't gotten my coffee. things are about to become a little chaotic here.

don't worry, we will figure this out by reno. it's my pleasure to introduce someone that has become a good friend very, very quickly. a sister. the mayor of the great city of chicago, mayor lightfoot has been a leader in the conference and criminal and social justice issues following the murder of george floyd, breonna taylor granted to many others into the demonstrations that occurred in the cities throughout the summer of 2020. she guided the working group of mayors and police chiefs that produced strong practical recommendation that mayors could implement to reform the police departments and work towards achieving racial justice. from day one as the mayor of chicago she's made equity her northstar and has made a commitment to all 77 of the city's neighborhoods. she is here to tell us a bit more about her work in communities. a great kick off to the discussion we will have with our federal partners leader.

please join me altogether and welcoming the chicago mayor. [applause] good afternoon everyone and thank you so much. i want to talk a little bit about what we've been doing in the city of chicago to address some of the long-standing disinvestment and racial inequity in the cities but i do want to start by thanking all of our federal partners for the leadership in getting through the american rescue plan as well as the bipartisan infrastructure legislation and in particular listening to this conference and making sure the cities got a direct allocation. it's going to make a world of difference, transform people's lives not only in cities likele chicago, but we are going to be able to do something really

powerful that will have generational impacts on the issues in the city. as said, coming into my tenure almost three years ago, i focused on equity and inclusion because what i knew in my city is that there were too many people that had been left behind. chicago is a great prosperous city but not all of our communities and people were benefiting from the economic prosperity that we had achieved so i put equity and inclusion as the key northstar for my administration which means as we think about coming out and addressing the economic meltdowns that are followed, we have to make sure the recovers are inclusive. chicago had a decades long history, economic policies that were made along racial divides which manifests itself in the present day challenges of

violence and poverty and many of the issues and challenges that we see in the city of the answer to it is poverty and the solution, the long-term solution is investment and people and strategies. there's no doubt that you've all heard about the challenges that we've had over c the last few years in particular with violence, but it should also be recognized it's the same areas we see high rates of violence or the same where we see high rates of poverty. it's almost a one-to-one match. and i'm sad to share that for example 8.6% of the city's enpopulation has been identified as living in extreme poverty when an individual makes less than $5,000 a year and 90% of the city's population are living in poverty. poverty creates and fuels violence. i don't thinkcr there's any dout about that andea it leads to lie expectancy disparities, achievement, wealth and health care gaps. we all saw that in the early

days of the pandemic in particular when we saw the pandemic falling disproportionately o on black ad brown communities. so, the solutions to the violence also have to address poverty. by centering equity inclusion in the efforts to revitalize neighborhoods and provide pathways to economic stability, we can begin to right the wrongs of the past and help the residents live healthy, prosperous and healthy lives. i am deeply grateful for the federal resources in the infrastructure package to supplement the work that we were already doing in chicago and on initiatives like when i'm going to talk about here called invest southwest. if you know chicago, when you talk about the south and the west, you're talking about a black and brown communities, so let me take you back to the fall of 2019. we launched a neighborhood economic development program to

revitalize 12 commercial corridors on what wewe called te front door to the neighborhoods in ten high needs neighborhoods on the south and west side where we see the most detrimental effects of poverty and violence. a fewo, months ago, commemoratig that anniversary i am happy to tell you that we exceeded the 750 million-dollar goal in two years, not the three years we originally said and we now have $1.4 billion in commitments from the city of chicago but importantly from our business and philanthropic partners. that is going to be a massive boost for the communities. and importantly this program leverages private and public sector dollars into investment commitments and we employ a multiplier to accrue these dollars by ensuring every one dollar of public investments leads to the philanthropic investments and i'm happy to say

that so many businesses in chicago havebu answered our call to come into these neighborhoods. these bring job opportunities to the neighborhoods by establishing necessary amenities and infrastructure improvements including new public spaces, affordable housing, mixed-use development and more. i'm going to show you a couple examples in a moment. so, we've done a number of things with the resources. this is one example in the neighborhood on the west side of chicago where we took a vacant lot working with the community and turned it into a community space designed by the community to help facilitate with resources that we were able to gather to help this community thrive. next the b headquarters will be situated in another headquarters adding to the economic development in that community.

this is a complex and the bronze neighborhood of chicago. again, it used to be the mecca of black chicago but was decimated by years of disinvestment. this is a mixed use development where we have affordable housing as well as retail space at the bottom that is bringing new life to this particular area of the city. end of this i think is an area that i want to talk about. a call center in an abandoned target that left this particular neighborhood. this was one of the most magnificent moments that i've experienced. this call center now is one of the best in the country and paying high-end wages plus a benefits package that the ceo of the company has and his commitment to the community and

making sure that they are hiring has just been incredibly phenomenal. so, we've created through this call center a thousand jobs, 80% of which were hired in a 5-mile radius of a call center. and this is an inclusive $50 million investment that was committed to by discover. what you will find as you look through these developments is a lot of difference envisioning of the vacant spaces, abandoned buildings. not one andnd done but creatinga corridor and revitalizing the various communities on the south and west side. the time doesn't permit for me to go into much more in terms of details, but what we've tried to do is be thoughtful and intentional working with the community is to re- envision what their futures look like,

and i say this to folks all the time. with the resources we have been fortunate to receive fromfe the federal government, this is our moment, this is our opportunity to really think about how we can transform people, places and lives for generations to come by being smart and intentional but alsomu in empowering communities to believe thathe they've got ownership and control over the geographyra under their feet. i'm excited about what the new year is going tot bring for us because of our partnerships that we forged and also the economic firepower that these investments are creating in our communities. thank you very much for your time. enjoy the rest of the conference. [applause]

>> i finally got coffee. crisis averted. a tube included the session today i'm especially pleased to introduce a former colleague, current friend and former mayor. the first time i met the transportation secretary, pete ,we were on a panel and that is the first and last time i was ever called a millennial and been on a few panels since then and very blessed and happy to call him a friend. he serves all of us is the 19th secretary of transportation having been sworn in as the secretary in february. he brings our perspectives, that of a mayor to his job as secretary. he was such aa leader on the issues as the trigger of the special task force and advantaging, he was always involved in the important work of this conference and we are so blessed to have him in this

position at this critical time. as a new point person on so much of the funding being provided under the new infrastructure investment and jobs act. the department of defense is slated to receive about 660 billion in total transportation funds. so, essentially more than any other sector. he also knows that our state colleagues received a substantial funding and he understands what that means for us. in the past they used the flexibilities to fund the key priorities of the good news is that it gives the secretary control over about 100 billion of this total funding. folks, he has a big checkbook. as such, we are fortunate to have our former colleague in this position at this time. we know he will be looking for ways to make sure these

discretionary funds will be allocated to help us in american cities advancing our important priorities and help us with of these new resources to transform the transportation system and our cities into the future. before i invite him to share his remarks i would like to invite another one of my good friends, denver mayor michaelor hancock o come up and join me. he's been such a leader on the transportation infrastructure as the chair man of the chairman oe transportation and communications committee. please, come join us on stage. [applause] after he makes opening remarks, mayor hancock and i will engage our former colleague and a discussion of key issues pertaining to this massive transportation investment.

with that, please put your hands together and give a big round of applause to the former colleague and friend,pl transportation secretary, mayor pete. [applause] ♪♪ thank you. it feels so good to be back in a room full of america's mayors. i can't tell you how excited i am. the last time i was here i think it was as a presidential candidate and a mayor at the same time. going back to the first time i was here when i was going up and down those stairways in the lobby and i could see folks eyes moving toward my name tag trying to figure out who i was interning for.

[laughter] and since then it's only becoming more important organization to me and the country. when i was a mayor i was convinced of the local government is the one to get the most done, closest to the people and most critical in shaping people's lives. when i was mayor i believed that to be true and now that i'm an official, i believe know that to be true and we are counting on that. [applause] >> and that is especially true in what we are working on right now when it comes to getting the presidents vision for getting a better america done. let me take 50 seconds to walk through the top priorities and then jump into conversations. our focus is on safety. of course that is why the department exists. economic development and good infrastructure to create jobs. on equity and the knowledge that we can either do harm or enormous good in terms of who

gets the opportunity to create and where they go. it's recognizing every transportation decision is a claimant's decision whether we acknowledge that or not and it's about preparing for the future at a time when it's going to impact the future of transportation in ways more transformational than any time since the 50s or earlier. with all that in mind the other thing you realize very quickly in the cabinet is we are not actually playing the instruments, we are conducting, and you are the symphony. most of the dollars that are allocated, those are not the dollars that we spent, that's dollars we get out to the states, our friendstm in the ste transportation department and then just in case there are

things our friends don't see or figure out for themselves, there is a very healthy flow going out to our local partners and that is where so much of the action is. [applause] i'm so pleased to be here and look forward to jumping into the conversation. >> without further ado i would like to deeper to my good friend. >> glad to be up here with you and it's good to see my good friend the secretary of transportation.yo secretary pete and i were fellows together in aspen. i didn't plan this but i was showing him backstage the memory board that pops up on your phone every morning, he was sitting at the piano playing showtunes. it was five or six years ago. let me ask you there are a number of great programs and bipartisan infrastructure laws. but one that mayors are

particularly excited about is reconnecting the communities program and it would be a topic of discussion in a special session after this luncheon with the acting highway administrator deputy. would you please talk about what it means for your department's strategy around transportation equity? >> this is a critically important part not only of the infrastructure law but the vision for transportation. the point of transportation is to connect. we also know sometimes transportation has a history of dividing literally the expression wrong side of the tracks tells us something about how a piece of infrastructure has sometimes been a socioeconomic or racial dividing line and sometimes that happens in intentional ways. if a discriminatoryat housing policy or hiring policy is changed, that takes effect l immediately. but when you have the legacy of a decision made even if it was

generations ago when it comes to physicalho infrastructure, neighborhoods and families and communities live with that for 100 years or more. we have the responsibility to use federal dollars to reconnect especially in places the same federal dollars were used to divide and so many of you have i know on the top of your mind right now specific examples of where federally funded transportation and assets did cut off one neighborhood from another. this isn't a southern thing we've seen everywhere from syracuse to pittsburgh to birmingham andin i'm not saying this to make people feel guilty but we can do something about it and that is what this program is about, funding with these transportationon dollars sometis it can stay right where it is that we need to bridge across it or aroundd it and those are the

ideas so this billion dollars will be for discretionary programs to meet that but if we get it right the other discretionary dollars we have, this can be one of t the featurs of the investments we make and i would say definitely for the leading and more forward thinking state partners and again i don't mean to wink at this too often but different states have different levels of alignment between the state capital and the city about an enlightened state will do this and we will hopefully work with you to do it and we will do whatever we can to encourage that. >> you mentioned this other leg of thehe claimant and you've sad publicly every transportation decision is also a bipartisan infrastructure law including the $106 billion for transit. what are some of the other

programs and how can the mayors take advantage of that? >> it doesn't have to be called a claimant program to haveac climate impacts. the simple fact no sector puts more greenhouse gases into it then transportation which means it has the responsibility and opportunity to be the biggest part of the solution so what does it look like? a big part of it is transitive it's making sure peopleat don't have to bring 2 tons of metal with them everywhere they go and that's true in small communities when you have the right kind of transit options just as it is in the big cities but it's also making sure when you are in a car that is cleaner and greener that's why we are excited about electric vehicles. electric vehicles or going to happen with or without us. there's three questions though will it happen quickly enough to meet the climate challenge, will it happen and an equitable way so low and middle income families and rural families with of the most to gain from the fuel savings can afford these to begin f with? and third, will it be made in america. it's in order to make those

three things true that there has toef be a policy role and that r us according to r this law includes investing in a network of 500,000 electric vehicles across the country. a lot of you have already been promoting or installing or sometimes municipally owning and operating the infrastructure and that's good because i do not mean to say that we will have half a million federally owned a vehicle charging stations around the country. our job is to guide on the difference so that they are actually equitable and to provide you with the tools to figure out where they should be cited so we are teaming up with the department ofsi energy to gt that done through the joint office of energy and transportation and also when it comes to climate i have to talk because you all everybody in a different way sort of in your neck of the woods also we are not just talking about preventing it from getting worse but dealing with what is already happening. that's what the project grants are. it stands for resilience.

[laughter] it is a dedicated fund. when we have more frequent extreme weather and sea levels, wildfires whatever it might be that is with the protected grants are all about. i know i'm name dropping a lot of programs and i'm asking you to be ready for more to come out of these programs. our job is to try to make it user friendly because you shouldn't have to keep track of the 40 programs we are about to create and i'm not saying that as an example but that is literally how many just in my department, just out of the stall. our job is to figure out how to make it user friendly and we

need to be able to be in touch with you on how that works. what we want to get to is a level where the cities and local communities can tell us what you are trying to achieve and we can guide you into the kind of things instead of you having to master that federal roster of every corner of every program that you might go in for. that is a big promise to make into something easier said than done but i believe we can get that done in partnership and it's one of the reasons i'mon excited to be a mayor in this role because i know what it's like to be knocking on the door of the building i now sit in and asas you see the biden harris administration is a densely populated with a lot of people that have that experience as mayor and to have that local government and know what it's thlike trying to engage with the local government from that perspective because we want to be a better partner. >> thank you, mr. secretary. by the way, we are not going to quiz you on acronyms, but as you know, this is a large program, and we as cities are now in the implementation phase along with

you, mr. sec. what can we do to make implementation easier for you? how can we collaborate with you to make the implementation seamless and beneficial for our residents? >> so again, this is ultimately going to be delivered by you, by you and by the states. we need to make sure first of all that it's accountable. everything is on time, on task, on budget. the president is laser focused on this. we just came out of a meeting on this. and of course as you might expect, he's focused on making sure the tax dollars are well spent. we have to make sure that from the transportation perspective, the american people see $600 million plus in results of all of that money going in because another thing that i think every mayor is experiencing is the big dollar amount and it doesn't automatically translate into that sense of results. so we need to work on making sure that the applications are prioritized, that the projects

are delivered efficiently, and honestly the bottom up is where we are going to get some of the answers on how to overcome an issue that is problematic for spending and american infrastructure spending in general which is the tendency to go longer and cost more than it ought to in the original plan. that means being transparent, smart, accountable and conservative in the proposals on the front and and then every step of figuring out how to tear down the barrier and if we are the barrier, you've got to let us know. and again, as a mayor i know a thing or two about how the federal process can contribute toto that challenge. >> you know we are very shy here. [laughter] mr. secretary, you've talked about so manyy of the new opportunities to fund the local priority. what can you share with us here today that we can take back to our staff and cities to work on so they can be ready to capture some of the new funding and help

solve the transportation problems of tomorrow? >> so, first of all i would say start with the priorities and then we will get to the programs. so, safety just to pick one example. a safety might mean in an incredibly sophisticated advanced technological implementation across the corridor. or it might be implicated in a traffic complete street staying you aremp trying to do and everything in between. across each of those pillars that we identify or your policy priorities, i share mine but this is about supporting. let's identify the priorities and then fit them into the list of programs. we don't want this to be a compliance exercise. we wanted to come on the backend of the priorities. the next thing to do is a lot of feedback, so it's one thing if we have a program like formerly known as tiger. [inaudible] [laughter] >> don't ask me to tell you what they stand for of course.

on programs like that, you or somebody that would be happy to consult with you knows what to expect and how to navigate the programs. others we are literally standing up for the first time and i promise we will take your inputs curious on how to stand them up so that they are user-friendly, easy to navigate. at that engagement and that conversation is so critically important in the first design program and i know you won't be shy about it. our job is to organize getting that across. we have a great team. charles small, if you haven't gotten to know him, if somebody fully dedicated to making sure you will get the information you need. i fed the senior advisor in my office who is the chief of staff and i myself and a lot of others in the agency want to make sure wee are having that conversatin in an official and a kind of less structured meeting to get a handle on it so we can build it right and build the program's right, not just for roads and bridgesd right.

>> mayors, please putig your has together and joining me to think mayor secretary buttigieg. [applause] ♪♪ british prime minister johnson has been under pressure over alleged parties and gatherings he held at his residence at downing street while the uk was under strict covid restrictions. this comes as london's metropolitan police say they are investigating a number of those social gatherings held during the pandemic. paris minister johnson will face questions from members of the british house of commons wednesday at 7 a.m. eastern on

c-span2. you can also watch online on c-span.org or with our new video app, c-span now. ♪♪ at least six presidents recorded conversations while in office. here many of those conversations on c-span's new podcast, presidential recordings. >> season one focuses on the presidency of lyndon johnson. you will hear about the 1964 civil rights act, the 1964 presidential campaign, the gulf of tonkin incident, the march on selma and of the war in vietnam. not everyone knew they were being recorded. >> certainly, johnson's secretaries new, because they were tasked with transcribing many of those conversations. in fact, they were the ones who made sure that the conversations were taped, as johnson would signal to them through an open door between his office and mayors. >> you will also hear some blonde talk.

>> i want to report to the number of people that were assigned to kennedy and me now [inaudible] i promise you i want to go anywhere i will just stay behind of these gates. presidential recordings on the c-span now mobile app or wherever you get your podcast. ♪♪ ♪♪

the u.s. conference of mayors hosted a conversation on immigration issues, including the u.s. relationship with mexico and the resettlement of afghan refugees, particularly children. this is about one hour and ten minutes. >> thank you, c-span for being here. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]