City Of Nashua Accepted Into Bloomberg Harvard Innovation Track

Press release from City of Nashua, Office of the Mayor:

Jan. 4, 2021

Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess is pleased to announce the City of Nashua’s acceptance into the Bloomberg Harvard Innovation Track. Nashua joins several municipalities across the country in this immersive program focused on re-thinking problem solving and using cutting-edge techniques to engage residents in testing, adapting and implementing ideas that have a lasting positive impact in our community.

The innovation track is an extension of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. Mayor Donchess’ acceptance into the leadership initiative was announced in August. In the leadership initiative, Donchess joins 39 other mayors from across the country in learning new ideas to tackle challenges in their cities and improve the quality of life for their citizens.

Both the leadership initiative and innovation track programs are 100 percent virtual. The City of Nashua’s Innovation Track Core Team is a cross-section of city staff, who meet regularly with innovation track leaders.

The team learns collectively how to reframe a problem, learns new research methods, how to use data, as well as network with core teams from other participating municipalities. The program began in November and ends in August 2021.

“This is a professional development opportunity for city staff,” said Mayor Donchess. “It has already reinvigorated everyone’s drive to make Nashua an even better city - to connect with residents in new ways and use new skills for the betterment of all.”

The team is generating ideas as to how to attract new retailers to downtown Nashua, like a toy store, book store or a children’s clothing shop. This is part of building a stronger economy for Nashua.

The Bloomberg Harvard Innovation Track partners with the Center for Public Impact. The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is a collaboration between The Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Launched in 2017, the Initiative has worked with more than 1,000 mayors and senior city officials in 350 cities worldwide. The Initiative has also advanced research and developed new curriculum and teaching tools to help city leaders solve real-world problems.

This press release was produced by City of Nashua, Office of the Mayor. The views expressed here are the author's own.