Boise Mayor Dave Bieter was in the nation’s capital for several days last week at the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The gathering allows civic leaders from across the country to share ideas and learn from other cities.
Bieter calls the national gathering of mayors one of the most helpful conferences he attends all year. A topic that particularly resonated with him this year was economic development.
The mayor says he connected with someone from an organization called Rise of the Rest, which invests in new companies that aren’t based on the coasts. Bieter also spoke with a representative from one of the world’s most widely known companies.
“A representative of Google talked about their programs for IT and coding education that may not involve a full degree,” he says. “[I] made a good contact with them.”
Bieter thinks a Google partnership with Trailhead, the city’s business incubator, would be a good match. Trailhead is already operating a coding school in the City Of Trees.
The mayor says the conference offered good insight on the issue of homelessness but was vague when it came to strategies about infrastructure and transportation.
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