Lets give it up for them one more time. [applause] several of our speakers thig helped us recognize the Important Role that intergovernmental relationships play in the history of cities towns, and villages over the years. And our speakers this afternoon will dive even deeper into the po partnerships. Lets get things started. We will kick things off here with a verymp i topic that leaders like us can t Strong Mental Health resources and services for our communities. The great news is that we have partners in congress, we truly do, on both sides of the aisle who are ready to help us do the work through the Bipartisan SenateMental Health caucus. And today, it is my true pleasure to have a conversation with one of the caucus cochairs, senator tinaminnesota. [applause] senator smith was once chief of savannah chief of staff toe mayor of minneapolis and has a long history here at nlc and today we are excited to welcome her back so please, put your hands together for senator smith. Thank you for joining us senator smith, here today. [applause] ir the minnesotans. They are in the house. Very nice socks. Do you like those . Ukraine tie. We have come together, i am curious, how did you come together with your colleagues thom tillis, alex padilla, to launch the bipartisan Mental Health project . As you said in your opening comments, i think there is an increasing focus on Mental Health in congress and as you also said, it is not democratic or republican, it is bipartisan. My view of it is that Mental Health and the need for access to better Mental Health care has been an issue for many years but i think the pandemic lifted it into the forefront both in terms of a, starting to overcome some of the stigma about Mental Health and it has just become such a big thing. We have an epidemic of Mental Health challenges in the country right now so us, alex, thom tillis, joni and i have all been working on this and we all have done asked. With mental he our own lives, so coming together just made great sense and i think it has helped to focus that in a lot of ways because the work we do on Mental Health in congress is spread out among so many different committees and provides a locus for effort which is important. Amid the national Mental Health crisis we all recognize crisis, how would the caucus work to priorities which error night which areas to focus on in terms of everyone brings their own priorities. Senator ernst for example who i believe serves on Armed Services and is very focused on Women Veteran issues brings that focus. My particular focus is on improving access youth Mental Health care, addressing the tremendous shortage of Mental Health care providers, and then i am quite focused on making sure Mental Health care is covered at the same levels making sure Insurance Companies and medicare and medicaid cover Mental Health care as they should so people can get help paying for what is expensive. For the past several Years Congress has worked on a bipartisan basis to implement crucial and critical Mental Health services. Things that are included in the action are like establishing the suicide and crisis hotline expanding access to Suicide Prevention programs for veterans infrastructure for Mental Health in the k12 system. Last Year Congress took this in passing the bipartisan saver communities act which includes Major Investments id Mental Health services. How will the caucus were to ensure those investments are effective and improve the lives of American Families . As you say, congress over the last ce years has made really significant new improvements and investments in Mental Health care. I am sure many of you in the room can appreciate the value of Community Health centers to provide basic health care to folks who might struggle to afford it. We passed a huge expansion of Community BehavioralHealth Care Centers which i think will benefit so many in the country its a huge benefit to my home state minnesota, to make sure that when people go into a clinic that there are Mental Health care resources right there for them as well as physical so making sure that get implemented correctly and is expanded as it should be, it is a huge opportunity for providing access to care. Another area of opportunity is schoolbased Mental Health care. I want to give an example of what that looks like. I bet everyone in the room could tell a story about how you see schoolbased care rise to the forefront. I know my friend mayor kim norton from rochester, minnesota is here. In rochester mmarshall high school there is such a great example of what this looks like. When you go into the school, right near the front door there is a center that anyone can go into. You might go in because you need help with tutoring, or because there is a food bank. And when you go in the door, triage to figure out what you might need when it comes to Mental Health care. Then you get connected with the School Nurse Program or whatever kind of care you need. What is great about it is again, there is no stigma, no shame. You just walk in the door. People dont know why you are going in. You can get the help you need. And that is where students are four hours of their day. Removing the barriers like transportation that can be so significant for people how do you leave school in the middle of the day, its awesome. And thenhetudents parents so there is kind ofroach that i think is just such an opportunity. One of the things that happens in communities is there are providers but often they are not able to work and school so i have worked on legislation to improve that and allow them to be in schools more. And fundamentally this is a local issue and something your local school board and cities are trying to figure out as well and what i want to do is to make sure the federal government is a good partner in providing resources and not too many hurdles that make it difficult for small communities to involved. It is just a great example of what i think we can accomplish. I have i have 12yearold twin daughters in the school syndost sounds like a wraparound service. You can get everything you need. Absolutely. And part of it is also adult counselors, but also peer to peer counseling. They trained a cadre of youth who can go out and talk with their peers and say, you might want to go andal with nancy in the Counseling Center she will be able to help you. That from their peer in a way they might not hear from a teacher or parent. That is amazing. En a member of the Senate Committee on Health Education labor prevention. They like to give our committees very long names. The longer they are, the more important. How is the committee working on these impo issues . Again, this committee has a real history of bipartisanship and trying to move things forward so in a variety of ways, this is a primary Health Policy committee of and so it is very influential when it comes to issues of Mental Health. I have worked on this in the rubber meets the road when it comes to addressing Mental Health workforce challenges. I have been working very closely with my colleague lisa alaska to try to address how we can get more people trained across the continuum in Mental Health care. As you know, there is a real shortage from Substance Use disorder counselors to family therapists child therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists all across the continuum and some of the education you need in order to work in the field is quite expensive and that can be a barrier for people working into the field so lisa and i for loan forgiveness for people going into Mental Health counseling or training that would give them loan forgiveness, especially and when they are willing to practice in areas of the country or in fields where there is a very significant shortage. I do not know how many here represent small towns, Rural Communities where there is a shortage of Mental Health care providers that is particularly huge. Nlc will be on capitol hill wednesday, we often have other fly ends where we are engaging. I want to know how krelittles leaders support the work of the caucus to ensure that the challenges and successes darkened littered by congress as current programs are your voice is a very powerful and having you here talking to my colleagues, colleagues in the house and senate, and to their staff, is very important. Because we listen to you. Wee you think. And we know that you have a better idea than we do about what is happening on the ground communities. So the first thing is just giving us the lay of the land in terms of how things are going then also bringing forth your best ideas. You pointed out i was once the chief of staff of the mayor of minneapolis and i know a little about what that job is like. No job is too big or too small for the mayor of any city in the country. Ita pothole or international incident, and it is still something your constituents expect you to work on and have a solution to. So your knowledge about your communities is of huge value. Tell us what things are w as well. There is a grant but it is too hard for my community to applyfor that grant, that is a big problem. Whatever it is, let us know and then we can work to try to fix it. That 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 here at nlc. Welcome home. Thank you so much. I 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. Yo not, its 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. Goodbye, everyone. [applause] all right. Now we would like to share a quick video with you. In a recent gallupol 63 of americans describe crime as either extremely serious of a problem in our communities. Collaborative violence prevention and Safety Strategies can absolutely lead to real results. Last year the National Homicide rate dropped 13 from the prior year with the manyeing significant drops. Philadelphia is an example. Homicide rate dropped 21 . Dropped 25 . Nationwide instances of rape, robbery and aggravated assault were all dowonth nlc hosted a webinar focused on successful strategies for advancing and reducing violent and we wanted ways local leaders are making a real impact. With that, lets roll the video. For me, a truly community that is not fearful of enjoying the parts of the fabric of our community. Where everyone can be free. Where we care for each other. When we start moving forward in changing the trajectory of Public Safety, i see a Safe Community where there is hope. Prevention is a huge program a Workforce Development program, Mental Health services. Under our safe hopeful and healthy umbrella we have reimagined and reframed public focusing on Mental Health and communityadding opportunity to reduce Violent Crime in the community and create a pathway to young people out of situations they could not get f. Focus on being successful in this world. They help to remove the barrier. Young adults 18 to 30 years old with paid training opportunities to connect with longterm careers. Clement related jobs, clean infrastructure climate related jobs, clean infrastructure. People have to have access to opportunity, clean water, fresh food, retail in their neighborhoods, good paying in their neighborhoods in order to thrive. If we do not address the drivers of crime we will never disrupt the crime cycle. Giving investment into the community and embrace the young adults and say we see you, we love you its more than about guns you need help and they will figure out how to put all the pieces together. I ran on a platform of transforming Public Safety and putting the public back in Public Safety and to be that meant deploying the right resources to the right call. The program in philadelphia combines social service providers, law enforcement, and city agencies to really help. Reimagining policing means we are onlyimited by our imagination. We want those who are best suited to solve the problem in the process. Job developer and engaged in our communities and we are not raising your taxes to do it, we are just trying to look differently at all the different ways. The trajectory is one leading us in the right direction. The neighbors, clients. If we work together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. We will not get out of it without the hard work and everyone coming together and rolling up their sleeves toun the only way you build trust with anybody is really doing somethether and working together and going into the trenches together. [a was that fantastic . We need to keep the great work moving forward, so lets keep up with the great work being done. For the next segment we will shift gears and dive into the topic of Workforce Development. Anyone whoas been involved in nlc over the last year has undoubtably heard of an Amazing Program called the jobs greatcities academy. It began through a partnership with the u. S. Department of labor and under our immediate Vice President mayor woodards leadership it is engaging with 33 communities across the United States in developing innovative workforce programs that are upscaling and rescaling workers in quality, high demand jobs in infrastructure, clean energy and manufacturing. Industries that are truly going to help build tomorrows economy. We are already seeing the results of many participating cities. With the Academy Support the city of missoula montana ist connects low income women to local Renewable Energy jobs. And frederick, maryland has launched a new city office to connect formerly incarcerated residents to good career opportunities. And there is so, so much more. To get a better sense of the program, please turn your attention to the screen for another short video. Most people who run for mayor do it because twa to improve the lives of people in their communities. We are seeing unprecedented fund incomeer 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 ofur cthe job great cities is the best way to do that. 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 if you really have a longterm 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 being able to learn from our counterparts across the country will help the team bring back additional ideas to the City Government as well as academic stitutions on the companies we partner with each day. Women, veterans, the reentry population, will benefit tremendously from the partnership. I tell people all the time i think that when you are the mayor, you are in the future business while trying to set up be a better place over the next 5, 10, 20 years. What we are struggling with y of duluth is we need more workers and some of it is really what i 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 so the work with the National League of cities, with good jobs great cities is really about how do we bring all of it together . We do not have time or extra staff to experiment w