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Mayor-elect Ashleigh Aitken was one of 25 mayors selected to participate in the Program for New Mayors last week, offered by the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University together with Harvard’s Institute of Politics and the US Conference of Mayors to build on the longstanding tradition of a seminar for new mayors that originated at Harvard in 1975.
“I’m grateful to the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University, Harvard’s Institute of Politics, and the US Conference of Mayors for inviting me to participate in this important program,” Aitken said. “Anaheim voters elected me reform City Hall, reduce homelessness, and improve the quality of life in neighborhoods, and this program will help me focus my leadership and my team to start strong.”
Aitken joined a select group of newly-elected mayors to attend classes taught by Harvard University faculty. Professors from Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Medical School/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health led in-depth classroom discussions. The coursework was designed to help new city leaders make the most of their new roles, gaining strategic insights for leading cities and building out their city hall team and organization in the first days and months of their administrations.
The program specializes in leadership, management, and building the capacity to solve problems. It does not offer specific policy recommendations, and it is non-partisan. The program offers insights to mayors after the in-person sessions and into the first months of 2023. Aitken’s tuition, accommodation, airfare, and meals came at no cost to the city thanks to a gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Aitken will be sworn into office as Anaheim’s 47th mayor on Tuesday, December 6. She will be the first woman to hold the position.
