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Mayor Bell Named Founding Champion Mayor of Inclusion

Media Advisory
Contact: April Odom
Mayor’s Office of Public Information

Mayor Bell Named Founding Champion Mayor of Inclusion

The global coalition of mayors is envisaged as a “coalition of the willing”: a group of leaders who commit to promoting a more inclusive form of economic growth in cities. The founding group of Champion Mayors will be comprised of mayors who have already demonstrated a strong commitment to tackling inequality in their city.

From Angel Gurría Secretary-General OECD and Darren Walker President Ford Foundation, “You [Mayor Bell] have made the fight against inequality a driving force in your agenda as Mayor. This issue is also at the core of the work of the OECD and the Ford Foundation. Since 2012, our organizations have partnered to advance a more inclusive form of economic growth with the launch of the All on Board for Inclusive Growth Initiative, which provides national decision makers with the data and policy tools to promote equity and growth. Today, we are taking this work one step further – to cities and regions, because mayors are among the best placed to champion the policies and practices on the ground that can reduce inequality and improve opportunities for all citizens. We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Inclusive Growth in Cities Campaign and the creation of a global coalition of Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth. We would like to invite you to join Mayor Anne Hidalgo of Paris as the founding Champion Mayor.”

Members of this global coalition will work together to advance an Inclusive Growth agenda and to help pave the way toward more equitable cities worldwide. These efforts will also support the implementation of the recently adopted United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11, which calls for inclusive, safe, and resilient cities.

“This is a great honor. Our City has made such an impact on the global human rights movement as well as the efforts of global inclusion and diversity that it really is a testament to the men and women who went before us, shed their blood, sweat and tears in order to see the Birmingham of today. We will continue to push to have the world remember and recognize the movement that changed the world born right here in Birmingham,” said Mayor William Bell.

Champion Mayors are invited to:

  • Voice their support for reducing inequalities in their cities, within their countries and worldwide.
  • Exchange best practices and policy tools for more inclusive cities in different policy domains, such as housing, transport, education, economic and workforce development, among others.

The work of Champion Mayors will inform the OECD’s recommendations on Inclusive Growth, which will be presented to governments of OECD member, its Key “emerging market” Partner countries, and developing countries that are members of the Development Centre.

The Inclusive Growth in Cities Campaign aims to provide mayors with a unique platform in the global debate on inequality, enabling them to share their voices and perspectives with national governments and other key stakeholders. It will also provide mayors with the opportunity to exchange concrete solutions to address inequality and empower local governments as leaders in the transition towards more inclusive growth.

About the OECD

The mission of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. The OECD provides a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems. They work with governments to understand what drives economic, social and environmental change. The OECD measures productivity and global flows of trade and investment and analyze and compare data to predict future trends. They set international standards on a wide range of things, from agriculture and tax to the safety of chemicals. More information can be found at oecd.org.

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