it looks like this, where americans can see democracy at work where citizens are truly informed a republic thrives to get informed straight from the source on c-span. unfiltered unbiased, word for word. from the nation's capitalerever you are. because the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span powered by cable. >> next minnesota senator tina smith acting labor s su and transportation secretary pete buttigieg participated in the national league of cities conference in washington, d.c. they each talk about separate topics including mental health, jobs and the economy and transportation safety. this is an hour and a half. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> thank you clerks, and thank you present standards.

congratulations to our founding state municipal league winners. let's give it up for them one more time. [applause] ernow several other speakers this morning help us recognize the important role that intergovernmental relationships play in the history of cities, towns and villages over the years. and her speakers this afternoon are going to die even deeper into the power of those started. we are going to kick things off here with a very important topic, a topic in which how leaders like us can develop and support strong mental health resources and services for our own communities. the great news -- [applause] >> the great news is that we have partners in congress.

we truly do have partners in congress on both sides of the aisle who are a ready to help us do the work through the bipartisan senate mental health caucus. and today it is my true conversation with one of the caucus cochairs, senator tina smith from the state ofm minnesota. [applause] >> senator schmitt was once chief of staff to the mayor of minneapolis and has a long history with a partnership here at nlc. today, we areed to welcome her back home. so please put your hands together forba senator you for joining us, store smith, here today. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ >> i'm looking for the

minnesotans. [cheers and applause] >> they are in the house. >> very nice sock. >> do you like the? >> that's great. >> they go with my ukraine tied. now we come together, i'm curious, how did you come together with your colleagues, senator joni ernst senator thom tillis as well as senator alex padilla to launch the bipartisan mental health caucus? >> so as you were saying in your opening comments, i think there is an increasing focus on mental health in c also said it's not a democratic or republican thing it's a bipartisan thing. i don't have all of you view but my view of it is that mental health has been and the need for access to better mental health care has been issued for many, many many years. but i do thinkfted it to the forefront both in terms of addressing, the kind

of starting to overcome some of the stigma about addressing mental health and also just it's become such a big thing. i think we have an epidemic of mental health challenges in this country right now. so those of us, alex andave all been working on this. we all had some experience with some mental health challenges and her own lies, and so coming together just made ultimate come made such great since and it's been i think it's helped to focus us in a lot of ways mental health in congress is so spread out around so many different committees. it is providing a locus for effort which is really important. >> that's great. amid the national mental health crisis we all recognize we are in a mental health crisis, how would the caucus worked to prioritize which areas they want to focus on in terms of developing policy? >> so everybody brings their own

kind of priorities. senator ernst for example who served on i believe she serves on armed services and is very focused on veterans issues and especially women veterans issues brings am my particular focus is on improving access to youth mental health care, addressing the tremendous shortage of mental health care providers. i'm also quite focus on making sure mental health care is covered at the same ways, at the same levels as physical althcare. making sure insurance companies and medicare and medicaid are covering mental health care as they should be so people can get help paying for what is expensive. >> right. for the past 20 years past several years anyway, i want iseral years caucus has worked on a

bipartisan basis to implement crucial and critical mental health services, and things that are included in this action are like establishing the ninthded suicide and crisis hotline, expanding access to suicide prevention programs -- 988 suicide -- and building out the infrastructure or k-12 system. last year caucus took the a stork step forward in passage of the bipartisan safer communities act which includes major investments in community-based mental health services. so my question to you would be how will the caucus work to ensure those investments are effective and improve the lives of american families? >> as you say congress over the last couple of years had made with a significant new improvements investments in mental health care. i'm sure many of you in this room can appreciate the value of

community health centers in your community provide basic health care to folks who might struggle to afford it. we were able to pass a huge expansion of community behavioral healthcare centers which i think will benefit so many states in this country a huge benefit to minnesota of my home state. to help make sure when people are going into a clinic that the middle healthcare resources as well as physical healthcare resources right there for them. so making sure that gets supplemented correctly and it is expanded as a should be as i think is a huge opportunity for improving access to care. another area weather is so much opportunity is in school-based mental health i want to give an example of what that looksi like. i bet anybody in this room could tell a story about how you were seeing school-based care really rise to the forefront. i know that my friend mayor kim norton from rochester

minnesota, is here. i saw her just a bit ago. not sure where she is in the audience today but in rochester, minnesota at john marshall high school there such a good example of what this looks like. when you go into the school, right near the opening the front door of the school there is a center that anybody can go into. you might go into because you need help with tutoring. you might go into because there's a food bank, or, and when you go in the door then there's somebody who can do a a bit of triage and figure out whether you need, what you might need when it comes to mental health care. and the triage can get you connected up with the school nurse program or whatever kind of care that you need. what's great about it is that there is again there is no stigma no shame. you just walked in the you might not want everybody to know why you're going in there but you can get the help you need. of course that's where students hours of their day.

removing the barriers like transportation barriers that can be submitted for people, how do you think of how to leave school and middle of the day when you did to get care is really just awesome. those providers are also helping to connect with the students parents so there is a kind of a holistic to their that i think is just such an of the things that happens in communities is there are provided at the often they are not able to work in schoolso i been working on legislation that would improve that and allow them to be able to be in schools more. of course fundamentally it is a local issuesur local school boards and cities are all try to figure out as well. what i want to do is make sure the federal government is a good partner, is resources is not providing too many hurdles that make it difficult for small districts or small communities to participate and get involved. it's just a great example of what i think we can accomplish.

>> an awesome example. i have twin 12-year-old daughter in school system switches sink almost sounds aye wraparound service. you come in and you get everything that you a level of counseling. >> part of it is also, i bet you've all seen this in your work to. adult counselors, but also peer-to-peer counseling. so they have trained a cadre of youth who can go out and talk to their peers and say hey you might want to go in and talk the counseling center and she might be able to help you. then the student is going to hear that from their peer in a way they might not be abl a teacher or even a parent. >> that is amazing. he's also been a member of the on health education labor and pension. known as speeded we like to name our commi right the longer they

are the more important they are. the other way around. how is a committee working on these very important issues? >> again this is a committee that has a real history a tradition of bipartisanship and trying to move things forward. so in a variety of ways, this this is a primary health policyic committee of the senate, and so it is very influential when itl health. i've been working on this in a variety of ways. this iss where the rubber meets the road when it comes to addressing mental health workforce challenges. i've been working very close with my colleague lisa murkowski from alaska to try to address how we can get more people trained across the continuum in mental health care. as you well knowll there's a real shortage i from a substance use disorder counselors and family therapists, children's therapists psychologists

psychiatrists, all across the continuum. and someone the education need in order to work in this field is quite expensive and that can be a barrier for people moving into the field. so lisa and i have worked on specific programs for loan forgiveness for people going into mental health counseling or training that would give them loan forgiveness especially and when they're willing to practice in areas of the country or in fields where there is a really significant shortage. i don't know how many here represent sll communities where is a shortage of mental health care providers is particularly acute. >> nlc we're going to be up on capitol hill wednesday. we are going to be up there. we often have other clients to where we're engaging. i want to know how can local leaders support the work of the caucus to ensure that the challenges and the successes with implantation are consideredd by congress as current programs

are evaluated and what are created? >> well, your voice isy powerful and having you here talking to my colleague colleagues in the senate and the house and to their staffs is very important. because we listen to you. we care what you think and we know that you have a better idea than we do about what is happening on the ground in your communities. so theirst thing is just getting as the lay of the land in terms of how things are going, but then also bringing forth the beste ideas. pointed out that i was once the chief chief of staff for the mayor of minneapolis, i've been a little bit about what that job is like. there's no job that is too big or too small for the mayor of any city in this country right? to be a pothole or it could be tional incident, and it's still something your constituents expect you to work on andts have a solution to. so yourn knowledge about your

communities is that huge value. tell us when somethings are not working, to cook when you see it's too hard, there's a grant but is too hard for my committee to apply for that grant. that's a big problem. whatever itt is, let us know and then we can work to try to fix it. is great for that 3000 attendees to hear. also ways in which we can help. tina smith, thank you so much for being here. i know you are very busy and we really appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to come and join us here at nlc. welcome home. >> thank you so much. i want to thank all of you for the work you do to make our communities work all across minnesota and the country. i am so grateful for you. and what i love about mayors and city administrators and city

councilmembers is that you are problem solvers. you are not, it's just a question of trying to make government work for your communities and we really need you, so thank you so very much. [applause] thank you. [applause] >> thank you. >> goodbye everyone. >> all right. now we would like to share a quick video with you. in a recent gallup poll, 63% of americans describe crime as either extremely serious or very serious as a problem in our communities. the cities, towns and villages across the country are proving that collaborative community centered violence prevention and safety strategies can absolutely lead to real results. last year the national homicide rate dropped 13% from the prior

year with many city saying significant drops.adia is an example. homicide rate dropped 21%. baltimore dropped 25%. the national incident -- nationwide instances of aggravated assault were all down, too. earlier this month nlc hosted a a webinar focused on successful strategies for advancing and reducing violence, and we wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the ways local leaders are making a real impact. with that, let's roll the video. ♪ >> from the a truly safe community is a community that is not fearful of enjoying the assets that are part of the fabric of our t community.

>> a safe community is one that everybody can be free. a safe community to me is one where we are aware of each other and we care for each other. >> i find whether his crime -- but when we start moving forward and changing the trajectory of public safety, i see a community where there is hope. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> prevention is a huge programat's worked for us develop a program, that's mental health services.opeful and healthy umbrella, we have reimagined and refrained public safety by focusing o pillars of law enforcement mental health and community engagement. more opportunity to reduce violent crime in the committee to create pathways for young people out of situations that he could not get out.

>> trying to be successful in this world and the challenges. >> they help remove that barrier. >> engages young adults, and paid training opportunities to connect the long-term careers. we do that with specific focus for job in the future so climate related jobs, clean energy infrastructure.cl >> people have too have access to opportunity, access to clean water, fresh food, retail into neighborhoods, good-paying jobs in the neighborhoods in order to thrive. if we this in whenever going to disrupt the crime cycle. >> our alumni recidivism rate is under 10% far lower lower tha >> supporting things like can embrace the young adults. we see you we love you it's more than about guns or

violence. we know you just need some help figuring how to putno all those pieces together. ♪ ♪ >> i ran on a platform of transforming public safety and putting the public back insf public safety. to me that meant deploying the right resources to the right calls. >> the diversion program in philadelphia a program that combines social service providers, law enforcement and the city agencies to really help help for people. >> reimagining policing means that we are only limited by our imagination. we want those who areited to solve the problem come to join in the process. >> the job developer all at the same time, all the stuff engaged in our communities. we use the police budget so we not raising your taxes to do it. we're just trying to look differently alldo of the players that are involved in public

safety. >> we have found based on the data that our trajectory is one that is leading us in the right direction. >> everybody benefits, whether it's the neighbors the clients. >> rise and fall together, work together. there's nothing we cannot accomplish for we will not get out of it without the hard work without anyone come together holding up their sleeves to invest in our communities. >> and the only way you will build trust withay anybody is really building something together and working together and going into the trenches together. ♪ a ♪ ♪ [applause] >> was at fantastic? we need to keep this great work moving forward so let's keep up with the great work that is being done. for the next segment we're going

to shift gears again and dive into the topic of workforce development. anyone who's been involved in nlc over the last year or so has undoubtedly heard of an amazing program called good jobs, great cities academy. it began through a through a partnership with the u.s. department of labor, and under our immediate past president mayor wittersship and is engaging with 33 communities across the united states and developing innovative are upscaling and re-skilling workers in quality high demand jobs in infrastructure, clean energy and manufacturing. the industries that are truly going to help build tomorrow's economy. we already seen the results of many participating cities. with the academy support the

city of missoula, montana -- yeah. isn't limiting a program that connects low income women to local renewable energy jobs. and the city maryland -- okay. has launched a new city office to connect formerly incarcerated residents to good careered opportunities. and there is so, so much more. to getet a better the program please turn your attention to the screen for another short video. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> most people who run for mayor do it because they want to improve the lives of people in their communities. we are seeing unprecedented fund

income for the federal government for us to do things we have not been able to do for decades. we have a once in a generational opportunity to really change the trajectory of all of our cities. the job great cities is the best way to do that. >> there are two types of mayors. the ones who understand the workforce development is the most important thing they are doing and those who have yet to realize that workforce development is the most important thing you are doing because ifou really have a long-term strategic focus on how to fix your city, it always comes back that to creating wealth and opportunity and closing the gaps in the community. >> one of the biggest things i love about having a close partnership with the national league of cities and being part of the program is there is no monopoly on good ideas being able to learn from our counterparts a help the team bring back additional ideas to the city government as well as academic

institutions on the companies we partner with each day. women, veterans, the reentry population, will benefit tremendously from the partnership. i pe all the time i think that when you are the mayor, you are in the future business while trying to set up the community to be a better place over the next 5, 10, 20 years. >> what we are struggling with in the city of duluth is we need more workers consider workforce adjacent life experiences. reliable public transportation and in for her are all in our wheelhouse and at the same time they are not all things we control so thewith the national league of cities, with good jobs great cities is really about how do we bring all of it together? we do not extra staff to experiment with. we have to innovate while we are doing. and the concrete application

means somebody can be connected into a pathway of economic independence. ood jobs is what we do when we want to take care of each other. it's what we do when we want to be sustainable in the community. and is what we all want for the people in our lives. we want people to feel like they have opportunities for good work, making afe diftheir community and living with dignity and respect. ♪ [applause] >> none of the great work that good jobs great cities academy, none of it would've possible without support and collaboration from the u.s. department of labor. we are so thankful for the agency especially acting secretary julie su for

championing the project and seeing it through with us. so with that, please join me in welcoming acting secretary of the u.s. department of labor julie su. [applause] ♪ >> thank you very much. how is everybody doing? [applause] wonderful. thank you so much, mayor patterson, for that and -- introduction and for your leadership in athens and i want to acknowledge this year's president of the national league of citiesrom my home state of california, mayor sander. i know california is well represented today, including city leaders for my hometown. hello. [laughter] it is great to be here with you all, especially as you celebrate

100 years. i am proud of that partnership we built, you just saw the amazing video called good jobs, great cities. it is a partnership that really goes both ways as we work to build a workforce infrastructure. i will say more about that in a second but i really want to acknowledge the force the phenomena, that is mayor woodard. mayor woodard, are you here? for your leadership, your vision, for launching good jobs great cities with us and with your ongoing work to make sure it succeeds, it is truly a privilege to get to work with you. i know you heard from my boss already today, president biden. so i am not going to belabor how we have created nearly 50 million jobs in just three years. focus on the historically low unemployment rate of less than 4% for two years and running.

the longest in 50 years. i am not going to talk about all of the job economic growth except to say that none of it happened by accident. leadership matters. and president biden came into office determined to build an economy from the middle out and the bottom up. and he knows that behind every new job is a story of a worker, a family, a community. workers like rose evans from a few years ago, rose was not sure how she was going to provide for her kids. but she started an apprenticeship program 10 years after her c-section. women are amazing. and she became a worker with the sheet metal workers union and her daughter diamonds, as she was growing up she saw what a good union job means for a family, because she lived it.

with the help of rent from the department of labor, many years later, diamond followed in her mom's footsteps so she is now a first year apprentice w indiana. and mother rose is helngo she just started working on her second project funded under president biden's investing in america a is in indiana where she works alongside her daughter. lives. they bring dignity and respect. they build intergenerational wealth and pride. you will know this. i hear stories like this every time i come and visit your cities. from milwaukee to montgomery alabama, jackson mississippi

eugene hillsboro springville oregon to new haven, connecticut, from cleveland and pittsburgh to columbia, south carolina, these are all cities i have been in in the last month and wherever i go, i tried to sit down with you mayors who are making it happen every day. our countries economic growth and historic investment we are making across america has created a moment of tremendous possibility. mayor woodard said it in the video, a once in a generation opportunity. and they are not just investments for today, they are investments that will shape our cities for decades to come.

make sure every american terms on the faucet gets clean drinking water and every community has high-speed reliable affordable internet. all of this means jobs. so some of you heard me say this before. but i think of her workforce system as infrastructure, too. it's the roads and bridges that connect people to do they want indeed, and employers to the people they want and need. need. but like our physical infrastructure our workforce infrastructure needs some work.

it's got some potholes. it's got some cracks. it doesn't reach every community the way that it should. some have to go a long way to find that on-ramp to the middle class. not this biden's america alongside all of you we are building workforce infrastructure that is as strong as our physical infrastructure. a system that reaches all communities and we are opportunity doesn't depend on the zip code in which you were born or the circumstances in which you grew up. now, as city you know better than anyone your specific workforce needs. each community is unique i know we all face a common challenge how to build a workforce infrastructure that reaches every community including people who have been left out in the past. we have to get this right. this isn't just about training. it's abouty and that's what i i say it's a form of infrastructure. soso for st. louis that means

building a new advanced manufacturing innovation district right there in -- in birmingham it's about connecting trade programs to jobs advanced manufacturing and clean energy and making sure women and people of color are included in those programs. you just heard about frederick maryland wears city leaders are focus on making sure young people those are not connected to schools or jobs, as well as have been incarcerated are getting jobs in their communities so one day they can buy their own home. at a time when our economy is growing and as we create millions of new jobs across the country we cannot leave the rs building an inclusive economy is not just the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do. one way that happens ise think about our workforce as infrastructure then registered apprenticeships are like superhighways. apprentices earn a paycheck skills

needed for a job in your community. this month we announced another $200 million in grants to continue to expand and diversify and strengthen this proven earn and learn training model. just last week i was in madison wisconsin, with the vice president -- [shouting] >> we were promoting breast of punishment programs. at the department of labor we are on aon mission to reach 1 million apprentices a in 2024. we want people in your city to be part of that million. please go to apprenticeship.gov to learn how to expand apprenticeships across industries for young people and even within your own city government. good job obviously isn't it up if a worker does not access to reliable affordable childcare. san antonio recently conducted a survey and found that nearly 60% of workers cannot afford

childcare in a given week. so last month my team was proud to taken part in san antonians equity summit with mayor nuremberg where the topic was affordable. and the conversation was about the most feasible options and that as result n of that summit the city is working on on a budget proposal that will help families withpr a childcare needs. another, issue know you're all grappling with, and the center talked about this, health.ng creating good just isn't enough if workers are not well enough to do them. in the thought of mental health issues a separate from jobs issues. we can't do that anymore. and we do have resources accessible about how to workplaces to prioritize mental health. last week we launched a section devoted to young peoples mental health specifically. so all of us have a part to play

in keeping our communities healthy. i'm going to close by doing we always go the experts i'm going to quote a story i heard about a mayor who is sitting in a meeting, february was arguing and the mayor interrupted and said spare me your sermons and i will fix your sewers. that's right. you've all had some version of that. let's stop talking of a stuff and let's get it done. i love that. it sums up our local leaders roll up your sleeves and get to work to solve real problems, and get real results. it's what this organization has been doing now for a century. so we celebrate that progress, and i know we have a lot of work to do. the biden-harris administration is investing in your communities to do transformative things, and in your ability to do transformative things.

to turn possibility into real opportunity, and we can't slow down. as you all look at the next century, i'm going to leave you with a challenge and a promise. the challenge is to make sure that the jobs that are coming to your cities are good jobs, where workers can make a real living, why didn't have to work two or three jobs just to survive where theere they can go home healthy and safe at the end of every workday, and where they can retire with dignity at the end of a career. and then build the infrastructure to connect all communities to those jobs, especially those who were left out in the past. and my promise to you is that we are committed to doing our part. president biden is all in. i'm all in. and as you continue to roll up your sleeves and fix the real problems that you see every single day to do the real work of the american people, i

promise you that we're doing that too and the biden-harris administration has your back. so thank you so much for you are doing to improve the lives of all the people across this country every single day and i look forward to seeing you in your city very soon. thank you so [applause]yo ♪ ♪ ♪ >> thank you, thank you, thank you, so much. now we're going to shift gearseen shifting a lot of tears today for the next segment that delves into the topic many of us are just so, so familiar w crisis. but opiate involves overdoses deaths nearly quadrupled over last decade. the unfortunate truth is that nearly america has had some experience dealing with this issue. while this is an incredibly,

incredibly difficult challenge there's a lot of cities, towns and villages in what they can do to combat this trend in partnership wit officials. and more races are becoming available to deal with it, too. with several major financial settlements recently awarded to states counties and municipalities to redress the harms caused by pharmaceutical companies in creating this crisis. so today we are going to have a discussion with some leaders who have really been on the front lines putting these settlement funds to work, saving lives from all levels of government. to moderate that conversation please welcome our very own nlc vice president alongside our panelists executive director of the arkansas municipal league,

mark hayes attorney general of the state of alabama steve rshall and my dear friend and partner in the state of ohio, mayor don mason from zanesville, ohio. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> good aon everyone. i have an opportunity to speak with a fantastic group o of leaders today and thank you all for joining us. before we get things started i do just want to mak aware of a new resource that nlc just published in partnership with the national association of counties wvides an overview of how opioid

supplements are being allocated across states and local government and sheds light on how cities and counties can collaborate to maximize the impact of these funds. you can check thatmi out at nlc.org/opioid settlement. now let's get our conversation started. thank you all once again for joining. attorney general marshall, under your leadership, the state alabama has taken the opioid crisis head-on and is reached manufacturers and others for the roles in the crisis took this past november you send a letter to local l implementing long-term strategy for these funds. so can to shut the guidelines and restrictions that have been established regarding the use of the f settlement fund? >> thank you, mayor.

thank you very much for the opportunity to be here. but we do of a baseline setting for us all because although i think we understand the issue and what it is we're attending to accomplish, i think about the gravity of the challenge before us. .. year. we know that beyond just the fiscal issue that we face we face, it's really about the lives and the stories that we see in our communities when over 130 people every day die from an opioid-related matter. ome of us on this panel as well as for many of you in this room. and maybe no other issue that we face in our unique as the opioid problem because it transcends geography it transcends all aspects of the differences among the people that are here. and the reality is this is something we've got to get right. and for those of us that were remember this was not about

recouping money that we've lost or for the efforts that we've made in the past. this is forward-facing money to try to save that collectively the state level9 and the city level that we're going to address this problem and we're going to be problem solvers. and one off the things i think is you folk is you raised your hands and said we want to be a part of the solution. that is not wonderful testament to the people here, but it's also your accepting responsibility. because uniquely, you're saying at the local level we have knowledg the skills and the exper if tease as well as the strategy to be able to -- expertise to be able to deal with what's own going on in our communities. and i can telle are watching not only because cities are not uniquely those that address the public health i crisis but also the other issues that you face where you'reot seeking funds to address solutions, those appropriators are looking to see whether or not you can be successful here. and so one of the things that i'm most excitedsuccess stories that a we're going toex be able the lives saved and the communities tar enriched because

of the work of the people in this room. the one thing that we attempt to do in crafting a settlement is to be flexibling in the approach but also to learn from the mistakes of the tobacco settlement where for example in alabama, tobacco proceeds went to be able to build bridges to to fund services unrelated to causing people to stop smoking. and we said we're not going to do that here. and withdrew anemically, we put guardrails around the use of these funds to be able to say it's got to go toward abatement. we have to direct these funds to the problems we're having but also recognizing at the people in this room understand best what your t solution is. around the buckets of prevention treatment recovery and harm reduction you understand what you ultimately need. and here's the i think the beauty of that. is that, for example if you're in chicago and you see your homeless population, that that you need to be able to pull them from the streets and to put them in recovery when they're

suffering from addiction. you understand that's a where you need to go whereas my mayor in alabama saw a drug treatment program that was effective in investing the funds there because that was the way that they could be most successful. we wanted to give flexibility but with we also wanted to be able to make sure that that money was targeted specifically for those purposes. and i think the beauty of the fact that all 50 states are in is not everybody's going to do itat the same way. i was excited to hear the efforts in both ohio and arkansas. a little different approach, but yet all behind the same idea is that local officials know the problem best and that they're ones that are uniquely qualified to be able to do it. whereas in alabama we've got $100 million coming in, every state is a little bit unique in the distribution that they received. but the reality is for the first time we have money to do good things in solving the opioid problem, and now it's up for us to move forward and be able to do it. you basically said there's not a

one size fit ifs all for -- fits all a for using the settlement dollars. >> can you think about or share with us perhaps if some is other programs or initiatives that states and localities are encouraged or or required to support such as a addiction treatment programs and prevention programs or other support for individuals and their families? >> i think the critical issue is when you're developing your strategy there's that nexus to solving the addiction issue. we all know that it has multiple tangents. it may be that you're targeting a certain population most at risk. for example the inmate population or justice involved population veterans we know are uniquely impacted. the idea ithose solutions that work best for those individuals. we obviously know that treatment is significantly important and and it may be that we're investing in naloxone to make sure that we can deal with first responders and those in communities that deal with overdose uniquely, but also to make clear that on t back side we have opportunities for treatment down the road. so i think the list is truly

unlimited, and it's up to the creativity of the group to figurepe out what works best in their community. >> thank you. mark the arkansas opioid recovery partnership founded by the arkansas municipal league and the arkansas association of counties represents a collaborative approach to combat the opioid end dem you can by allowing -- epidemic by allowing local governments to pool their resources together to support a more effective response to opioid use disorder. so can you share background on how this partnership came to be and how you think it has and coordination -- collaboration and coordination in arkansas to maximize their impact of settlement dollars? >> happy arkansas' a state of only 3 million people, so we knew individually neither county nor things. finish so my counterpart at the

county association chris line, and i sat down and had a conversation with lawyers that were involved, and with we agreed to create a partnership. and in that processly one in the country i'm aware of, where all of our 75 counties and all 499 cities and parties to the litigation. we filed it in state court we filed it in a county where it was the worst -- i'll just say that they spent more time getting people out and into unfortunately to coroner's office than they did doing anything else. it was a dreadful situation and and that seemed like the appropriate place to pilot. ing so we created the partnership. and in that process all of the cities and all of the counties were invested. but without getting specific monies for each one of those entities. finish and it's been very

successful. we we hit the ground running. we're already putting money out across thenn state all 75 counties have either in the cities thatav are there or in the county itself all have programming now. and i'm happy to tell you that some of them have as many as a 5-10 is grants that we've approved. it's a very simple process. it's has to be sustainable. goes through a process we've hired a couple of employees to actu them's a former police chief, so he looks at everything with a suspicious eye makes sure it's going to work. and then there are only two people that make the decision about the money and it's myself thand chris. that's it. so we. have clawback provision. we've only had to use it once, and we're doing extremely well. and i'm happy to tell you that the local governmental officials, that's the start they have -- at the start they have to sign off on the application before it ever gets into the system.

the idea being that a major your -- mayors and county judge the people and the programming than anybody else. so that's herbally how it works -- essentially how it's work and it's been very, very successful. >> i'm going to come back to you with because i think we have a little bit more that we want to talk about. >> we do. >> mayor don mason youently serve as chairman of the one ohio recovery foundation a private-nonprofit organization tate and local leaders. and it was tasked with distributing 55% of the settlement funds in your state. so could you share how the one ohio system is set up and how you're working withst each region to help them determine what approaches are best for them when implementing these funds? >>th yes and thank you very much for the question. and as a stated earlier this is probably no to if one size that it's nice that our states each have their respective paths they're trying to, to go through in order to address the

situation. in ohio we have term limits in the general assembly as a well as in the executive offices so i believe the assembly then realized what we had to have was that continuity you get of leadership you get at the local government level. so the 29 membe board include 2 senators and 2 state reps, one from each party includes appointees from the if governor and the attorney general and then 19 members from each of the regions ohio. some of the regions are as compact as cleveland columbus cincinnati, and then i represent one of the more rural areas of southeastern ohio which is also a part of ap or appalachia, i get into those debates on how -- [laughter] how we define it. but what we have now k and it's taken us two years to get to the point where we first opened up our grant port ifal last week. it's taken us two years to get to the point where we could adopt ourur rules identify our priorities and really stress

that we want to work on forward-looking programs and services so that we can address this. and, again we feel blessed that the general assembly, the governor and the attorney general have given us this flexibility. going back to what was indicated, out of the over $800 million, 55% will be add a mored through our boardful -- board. 30% will go to local governments, andl as a your of -- mayor of a city of about 25,000, for the past two and a half years, we have about $90,000 that we've been saving, putting aside because it's our plan here shortly in my hometown to take ideas in terms of how to use that $100,000, but then there's 15% being left for the sta government to allocate. so again 15 for the state 30 for local government and 55 for our one o board. one ohio board. >> thank you. attorneyu. general ma metrics --

what metrics or indicators should local officials use to assess the effectiveness of the programs and initiatives being funded by the opioid settlement? >> y'all i think this is one of our greatest challenges. i can tell you that the alabama effort began not only with me initiating litigation against multiple companies to be able to that we were talking about earlier but also we did a deep dive with an opioid with counsel trying to figure out really where we were in the state of alabama. and one of the things we discovered is that our data was remarkably siloed so that while there'sta public-facing day that we've all kind of heard about particularly around kind of prescriber data per capita and alabama number one mt. country relating to opioid prescriptions per capita, but one of the things that we saw was while we had an awful lot of data around the issue we simply, number one, weren't share siloed. but also that there were unique privacy issues that limited us in being able to bring that all together. the other thing that, frankly

was a deefficiency for us, is that we weren't allowing our researchers to be able to come in and take a deep dive into our data to figure out trends, to figure out causation issues and ultimately see whether or not we were making progress moving forward to make a difference i ouoff this concept of data-driven decisions really needs to be embraced at a local are level. one of the big issues you're going to have is where are we going to collect it and and what are we going to ultimately look for. the one w thing that i pushed at a national level with my a.g. colleagues around the country and frankly lost was what i referred to as an intensity the model and how it is that we were distributing money as opposed to really looking at and that -- the question really i think is most important i already referenced opioid prescriptions per capita, and i think that rated important. and and hopefully we're seeing that around the country arkansas has had similar progress to alabama. but we also ought to be looking at opioid uses per capita and

also unfortunately the tragic data which deals with opioid-related deaths per capita. if you can look at that a trend line, that's going to to tell you whether or not we are beginning to make a difference through the work that we're doing. but also so much of data needs to be isolated to the locality where you are. and ultimately, this is going to be a local effort, going to want to look at your hospital admissions that are relate related to this, number of people that are ultimately going into treatment. and the only thing i would tell you is sometimes you may say that we want to make sure that all those numbers are going down. and i referenced earlier those that are going to treatment. but the reality is because of the work that you're doing you may actually see that number go up. and why would that be? because common sense basically says gosh, don't we want to reduce the number of people or that are subject to seeking treatment? but what we do know is one of the difficulties we face is creating a pennsylvania away for people to access care.

disadvantaged communities or other areas that haven't had the ability to get people into treatment in the past as a result of this funding now are going to be able to do the it. so what -- to do it. what you may end up seeing are lines like that going up, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. and it's n one of the reasons why local officials immediate to bee in constant contact with the provider group -- need to be -- to make sure you understand what's happening on the street. so i think uniquely the decisions you make need to be data-driven based on what your understanding is the reality in yourr respective communities but also i think we have to accept this: that if we're making funding decisions over the next several years -- and y'all this should be for most states, you know, really about a 15 a-20-year time frameit in which money is coming in -- is that if we're not seeing the data going the right direction i think we have to reassess. and we have to recalibrate what we're doing. we also have to look and see whether or n we s partnering with different groups and different associations to be able to make

a difference. because itan may be that through this initial investment in dollars and y'all, the way that some ofen these settlements are structured you're seeing more money on the front end than you may see on the back end. it may mean that you want to shift your foafntle maybe you initially that we really need to be investing in naloxone and putting that in the hands of firsted responders to be able of those who are engaged with the community that otherwise are suffering from addiction. but once you've made that initial investment, you want to be able to move to a different area whereme you're going make a difference. and so i think the greatest challenge you face,e, and it is, i can tell you candidly for us in al that that we do have that good data but that we're driven by that and not ---- and i think many of y'all have seen me become very popular with vendors. suddenly are everybody has absolution and a one welcome back-stop shop to how it is -- one-stop shop, and the reality is they in being able to help you make that decision, but if grow look to local officials to help you understand what they're seeing, that's where you're going to9ly i make

the biggest difference. >> thank you. mayor mason real briefly could you tell us some of the ways that the one ohio recovery foundation spotter supporting the state in implementing some of the funds through recovery services prevention, etc. >> yes thank you. our grant registration opened up last week for $55.2 million which we have set aside for this year. and in about three weeks from now is when we'll start being able to accept -- to start accepting grants. so what a region might look for in the eastern part of ohio where it's rural might be different than what cincinnati or columbus files for. all should be forward-looking evidence-based strategies. and, for example there's 10 approved sources -- uses of the funds, and we have a expert panel that will rate the grants when they come in. but even of the -- each of the

regions will determine which of the programs they want to fund. so this won't be a top-down, but a approach. it might be in treatment and health a care. they might be in intervention and crisis support. might be for recovery services. it could be for basically criminal/legal support. it could also be for i've indicated earlier harm reduction. can'tt tell you -- i can't tell you how much we are all moved when we hear the need for help for our children and other services so those children are in school. so basically there are about 10 approved categories. i know that a one of the counties to the east of me indicated they have to drive 60 miles for treatment. for them, that might be a priority versus, again something might be in a a met are propoll tan area. so we are very excitemented, and i really warrant to start of restate s the something that was said earlier in arkansas. many in our state the county and

the cities are working really hand in glove on this together. i know personally as a mayor i'm a great county commission association in ohio that really has been really firm in this, which is why i believe the breakdown is of 30, 15 and for us 55 5 a %. >> well, i know we are runnings is such a so lieu how many issue -- voluminous or issue. i would be remiss, mark, if i didn't ask you to share the personal connection you have with this. >> i've done this now probably 30, 40 times across the country. so is i'll be very brief. we are running out of time. my son died from a fentanyl overdose inn april of '20. that will be the 4-year anniversary in just a few weeks. heil died quite literally 30 feet from me. he was down stair ises. my wife and i -- down stairs. my wife and i assumed he was

using again based on his behavior. we were right. went downstairs that morning to confront him and i found his bathroom door locked and heard the fan on. i kicked the door in, and he was laying on his back, blood coming out from underneath his e head where he had fallen, vomit all over his face and in his mouth which i cleaned out and then began to do chest come depression -- compressions. sodo the context of all this needs of to be remembered. programming is great but we need to remember the pain that a families have and just how problematic this is across the country.pr i don't use the term epidemic lightly. daughter to write down very quickly people that he knew who had died from an overdose and in less than a minute she who down 20 names. i asked her to write down names of people who had overdosed but

had been somehow miraculously saved, within the same amount of time another 20 names. what i'd like w to tell you is that second list, that they're all still alive? they're not. half of them are gone now. this is a chronic problem throughout our country and i'll just tell you no pain is like a mother's pain when they see their child laying dead in front of them. the screams from my wife, the noises the just absolute emotional meltdown is a horror that that i will carry with me all the days of my life. that is the real context of what's happening here. families are being torn apart. we are losing a generation of people and it knows no boundaries. no economic if boundaries, no raceo boundaries, no gender

boundaries. it is a horrible plague that the industry put on us and did so was -- they made a profit they said, essentially we're going to make money over people. finish and that's what they d so the upside of this is we now have monies if from those bad actors to begin to attack this problem. and like i very, very happy and my family's very happy with the efforts that we've made in arkansas. and i will leave you with this. when my if wife and i9 sat down with the lawyers that were involved representing cities and prcounties she sai please get this right there shouldn't be anymore mamas that have to suffer what i suffered. that's the context we all >> thank you for sharing that very personal story. thank you all for sharing. [applause] this is an important issue -- ms. you for your

commitment to -- >> a thank you. >> -- finding a solution. thank you. [applause] ♪ ♪ >> all right. thank you to that amazing panel. moving right? yeah. but it also energizes us. there's a lot that we can be doing. finally, to conclude this afternoon's i've been saying shifting gears a lot so this time we're should having it into overdrive -- shoving it into overdrive at this we're forchew nate to be joined by an extremely special guest in my opinion. from the biden administration, i know many of you are excited to hear from.

he's a former mayor himself. a mayor from where? that's right. [laughter] serving two terms in his hometown bend, indiana where he works across the aisle to transform the future in indiana. today he servesan as the 19th secretary tear of the u.s. department of transportation where he is working to build a world class transportation system that a centers on safety, jobs equality, climate and innovation for the united states.ti since being sworn in to the president's cabinet ifin has remained a steadfast advocate and partner of the national league of cities marley as we work to get federal infrastructure funds out to your communities.

and i, for one am so excited that he is able to join us here this week. everybody, and i mean everybody please join me in welcoming u.s. department of transportation secretary pete buttigieg. [cheers and applause] ♪tt >> thanks. thank you. [applause] good afternoon! what a warm welcome. thanks are very much. thank you mayor patterson for the kind w sanders nlc president, for welcoming us here and for the work that you do. thankk you to clarence annie who i first -- anthony who i first got to know t back in my own mayor days. thankda you to the wholetaff everyone that puts this on as you work to support cities and townes across america every day. andor a big congratulations for 100 years nlc.

[applause] i enjoy thinking about how much this has changed in a hundred years, just in my role, that's right around or when automobiles were replacing horses at the mainstream of american surface if transportation. commercial aviation barely existed. we didn't have to worry too much about a distracted driving because we didn't have dices and, actually -- devices and actually duis were not much of a problem because prohibition was going on at the time. [laughter] so a lot's changed. but a lot is the same including the importance of america's communities and organizations likeke nlc that give them a hearing in washington. that's why i'm pleased to be here. i really feel at home more than anywhere else when i'm local leaders. back when i was mayor i believed that local government was the most dynamic difficult and rewarding venue for public service is. before i became to washington, i believed that to be true. now that i'm in washington, i

know that to be true. [laughter] don't get me love the work that i get to do on president biden's behalf and yours. before coming howen here, by former public works director back home told me that i was about to become, like, the trim rudder on a supertanker moving a big apparatus one nudge at aow sometimes how it feels. and it's an enormous if privilege to be building the future and to be working in such scale. but even now working in this department and operating across this country i know that the work is closer to home. and thean true e measure i believe, of our success as an administration is whether making your work as local are leaders a little bit easier. certainly would have made my life a little easier back in south bend if there had been a president launching a $1.2 trillion infrastructure initiative so we're pretty excited abouty that. [applause] i'll say more about that work in a moment, but i also

say m in all humility that i know from experience that even the most generous federal programs and processes are not always a -- not always the easiest to navigate for america's communities. and i want you to know we're working to change that on everything frome paperwork and environmental processes the matching funding to make sure that we are a user-friendly u.s. d.o.t. for america's cities and towns of all a citizens. we understand the -- of all sizes. we understand the capacity restraints that every city and certainly smaller or or communities face. so we have expanded our local technical assistance programs in every state. we've relaunched our tribal technical assistance program stood up the new center for excellence on project delivery. and we're supporting dozens of communities with full-time capacity builders through our new,w, thriving communities program. and i know nlc egg is doing excellent work on capacity building too. and we'll have a new round of awards to announce, by the way on our private communities program preponderance very soon.

program very soon. you want help navigating those technical assistance resources too, so we created t.o.t. navigator to do that -- d.o.t., bringing all of our project delivery systems under one roof. we streamlined the process of applying for and delivering projects forin programs like our mega projects program and ourogram. we bundled them into one application so you didn't have to fill out multiple sometimes redundant bodies of y paymenter work. for the -- paperwork: for the new electric vehicle charging program, we're using a categorical exclusion many of you veterans of knee a pa know helpful it can be. creer using that to expedite environmental approvals to start projects sooner. and for our new grant program to eplace unsafe gas pipeline we did the up-front work and streamlined the mix to more of a yesape on projects that are a clear benefit for communities and the environment. and the results were we saw

small towns and cities who had never rveunds before or winning these grants to benefit their communities. we are here to make sure in literally the most concrete terms that you succeed and we're here to try to shape the culture of this place washington d.c., to better reflect what is greatest about america's communities. back when i was running for president, i often said that we would be well served if we could get washington to worknt a little more like america's best-run cities rather than the other way around. [applause] and we're working in that so what i wanted to do with our brief time together is to share some examples of how we are following the lead of america's local leaders especially e when it comes to transportation and what that could mean for what you're trying to do. what i think we can do together. i'll start with bipartisanship and nonpartisanship because one of the things i love and honestly, miss about the city level especially important to highlight during the year like

the year we's that partisan considerations and and loyalties don't nominate everythingis that's going -- everything else that's going on at the local level.or i know i was just as likely to form meaningfuls cooperative relationships with republicans as with democrats. without pretending to be any different politically or values wise than i was. and, for that matters i was just as likely to be challenged by democrats asepublicans. you know local issues don't always have a predictable left-right shape to them x that's one of the reasons i love being at nlc ofdreds of senior elected officials from around thee country gather without particularly caring orr in some cases even knowing the partisan affiliation of the person sitting next to you. and you actually like each other, i can tell. [laughter] that's a powerful thing right now. i'd be lying if i said we've got anythi on a routine basis here in washington. but i have been struck by how much of of work we're doing today is bipartisan or starting with the very fact, of course, of the bipartisan infrastructure law.

something we passed with your help and support. the number of republicans who are willing to cross party lines and work with democrats and work with president biden and work with me and my cabinet colleagues to get it done was extraordinary, even though the idea of a bipartisan anything law was greeted with mockery with president biden first took office.. we can't w even imagine not having that legislation now and yet its obituary was written dozens of times in 2021 by people saying the president was on a fool errand trying to get bipartisan cooperation only for it to happen in ways that are now bringing results to every part of the country red blue and purple. and, b delivering results. so i decided in honor of your 100th anniversary to give an address featuring 100rojects that we're very excited about. [laughter] no? all right. my team agreed. they suggested we trim things. so instead we found another way to do it. what we're going to do is share

just a few projects that least 100 years old about the same as this organization that we're finally doing something about. and this is new territory for maine i don't usually do -- me, i don't with usually do awed quo-visual presentations but in honor of the nlc, we're going to try to get through this together. [cheers and applause] if. >> thank you! of. [laughter] >> starting with this one. folks recognize a specific bridge in the pacific northwest i see. [cheers and i-5 interstate bridge between washington state and oregon carries over 100,000 the vehicles a day. including a a lot of train traffic, so it's important to your supply chains even if you don't live anywhere near these communities.ha bun of the stands is more than 100 years old. itsor original purpose was at a time when you had a lot of horses and cattle drivers trying toad get over the columbia river

are. definitely time for a the picture on the right shows that concrete counterweight of about 900 tons which is really something when it's over your head as ahi you're going onto that bridge. that a laugh -- [laughter] this is the gearhouse when they lift the bridge when a sailboat comes through. the new bridge will have no moving parts. but building that's expensive which is why in december we were so excited to announce $600 millionn to help build a new replacement bridge that's g to serve people for decades to come. [cheers and applause] green bay there we go. some fellow midwesterners here. there's so much potential for new economic development across the entire great lakes region because ofr the proximity to major freight highways, railways. the st. lawrence seaway, which is a shipping route that can bring goods from the midwest all the way out around the world. so we're helping to build the first new port terminal in green bay in almost 100 years. we're excited about what what ithe drawing board, and and there's the drawing board.

at the port of long beach founded in 1911, we're adding on-dock rail capacity so that goods move more quickly and less pollution, bringing the rails closer to the ships means that you don't have to wait as long for trucks t to transfer them onto the rails. it sounds technical but it can make all the difference in the world especially when supply chains come under the kind of finish that they did in 2021. that theyr did in 2021. in chicago we're updating tens of thousands of feet of track on a 100-year-old elevated freight railye line that runs through the city.l's

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