Mayor Michelle De La Isla recently spent three days in New York City exploring the dynamics of leadership, tough challenges facing local governments, best-practices being utilized in other communities and creating a network of support that she believes will change the way she leads Topeka.
De La Isla was selected as one of 40 mayors from around the world to participate in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. A one-year program, the opportunity launched with three days in New York City that she could only assess as being “stupid, ridiculously amazing.”
The program, De La Isla said, was founded by New York City billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg who, after being elected mayor of New York City realized “there was no mayors’ school.”
In an opening address to the 40 mayors gathered two weeks ago, Bloomberg told the group he thought it was important to start building competencies in community mayors, she said.
“Because at this point in time, there is this big belief that what’s happening at the federal and at the state level is so toxic in the eyes of our constituency, that we really are depending on mayors being that one place you can see, hey, your government is at work for you, and you have access to us and we’re here,” De La Isla said.
(Read more: News – The Topeka Capital-Journal)