TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Krishna Namburi, Interim City Manager
FROM: Courtney Knox Busch, Assistant City Manager / Director for Strategy and Engagement
SUBJECT:
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Reporting on Salem’s use of the Bloomberg-Harvard Cross Boundary Collaboration framework in Downtown Salem.
Ward(s): All Wards
Councilor(s): All Councilors
Neighborhood(s): All Neighborhoods
Result Area(s): Good Governance; Natural Environment Stewardship; Safe and Healthy Community; Safe, Reliable and Efficient Infrastructure; Strong and Diverse Economy; Welcoming and Livable Community.
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SUMMARY:
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The City of Salem was selected to participate in the 2025-26 Bloomberg-Harvard City Leadership Initiative. This is the ninth cohort of the program. Since the City’s initial selection, the City launched a cross-boundary collaboration with a focus on Downtown public safety, engaged a group of 30 interested parties with a variety of perspectives on the problem, and sent a group to join other Collaboration Track cities to work intensively and iteratively on the problem with a variety of tools and iteration. This work is guided by the Bloomberg-Harvard Cross-Boundary Collaboration framework, which provides a structured approach for defining complex problems, engaging diverse stakeholders, and testing solutions to achieve measurable outcomes. While work continues in Downtown, the City will welcome a summer Harvard fellow to build the cross boundary collaboration framework for northeast Salem.
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ISSUE:
Information only.
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Information only.
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FACTS AND FINDINGS:
The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is a program of the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University and a collaboration between Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, and Bloomberg Philanthropies to cities to tackle complex challenges in their cities and improve the quality of life for their residents. The Initiative has grown to advance research and develop new curriculum and teaching tools to help city leaders solve real-world problems. For more information, please visit the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative <https://www.cityleadership.harvard.edu/> or visit LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/bloombergharvard> and <https://x.com/BHcityleaders/>.
2026 Cohort, Key Priority. In this ninth cohort, Mayors from 47 cities across the world were invited to participate. Each city chose a key priority to focus on making meaningful progress. Public safety and well-being in Downtown Salem became our priority focus (Attachment 1: Initial Problem Statement). In turn, each Mayor nominated two senior leaders to participate in the year-long program. Assistant Chief of Police, Brandon Ditto, and Assistant City Manager/Director for Strategy and Engagement, Courtney Knox Busch, represented Salem as the program began in August 2025.
About the Tracks. Over several months, teams receive deeper programming, support, and resources tailored to building organizational capacity in their city halls while advancing that priority. While all cities build capabilities across leadership, data, and innovation, each city emphasizes one of the following areas based on its current needs:
• Collaboration. Advancing the city’s ability to work across agencies, jurisdictions, and sectors to address critical challenges that a city cannot solve on its own.
• Data. Increasing the city’s capacity to use data and evidence to solve key problems, improve performance, and optimize the allocation of public resources for residents’ benefit.
• Innovation. Expanding the city’s ability to think outside of the box and more effectively tackle entrenched problems by putting residents at the center of designing and prototyping potential solutions.
Framework for Cross-Boundary Collaboration. This framework serves as a practical tool to help the City and its partners align around a shared problem definition, prioritize actions, and iteratively test and scale solutions. Along with 11 other cities from the cohort, the City was awarded the collaboration track in August 2025. The Bloomberg-Harvard work is providing a solid framework for cross-boundary collaboration, with particular focus on building a broader understanding of a problem and incorporating perspectives. While the Mayor sets the priority at the outset, working the problem is turned over to the community members. Through our collaboration, we are diving deeper into the public value of our work, inclusivity and impacts. Salem is strengthening its ability to harness the talents, resources, and energy of diverse stakeholders working across organizational boundaries to solve complex problems and improve people’s quality of life. The framework is also intended to complement and strengthen the City’s broader strategic efforts by providing a disciplined, collaborative approach to implementation.
Who are the other cities?
• Baton Rouge, LA: reduce crime/blight
• Eugene, OR: create varied housing options
• Guadalajara, Mexico: implement social care policy
• Las Vegas, NV: provide support to the unhoused
• Monrovia, Liberia: improve waste management
• North East California: fight child poverty
• Sacramento, CA: coordinate service for unhoused
• Salem, OR: strengthen public safety
• San Jose, CA: end unsheltered homelessness
• Saskatoon, Canada: end indigenous homelessness
• Sofia, Bulgaria: deliver timely, relevant urban projects
• St Louis, MO: improve customer service
Salem Kick Off: Group of 30. Our work began in October 2025 with a Bloomberg-Harvard facilitated session and a Group of 30 (Attachment 2: Group of 30) who bring unique and valuable perspectives to the problem area (Attachment 3: Kick Off Meeting Summary). The group represented neighbor perspectives, that of a business - or group of businesses - in the area, and some who have lived experience or advocate for those with lived experience, others provide direct services, some serve in a volunteer capacity that is adjacent to this work - or represent a multiplicity of perspectives. From this group of 30, members were surveyed for their preferences and broke up into seven smaller working groups on key topics among seven perspectives:
• Public safety and law enforcement
• Sheltering and housing solutions
• Business and economic development
• Addiction and behavioral health services
• Residents and neighbors
• Infrastructure and urban development
• Crisis response and service providers
Group of 7. A smaller group informed by the guidance from Bloomberg-Harvard was formed, collaborators who represent various perspectives and were willing to commit to the additional workload. Salem’s group of 7 includes:
• Tiffany Bulgin, Issac’s Room and Ike Box
• Courtney Knox Busch, Assistant City Manager/Director for Strategy and Engagement
• Brandon Ditto, Assistant Chief of Police
• Robert Garcia, Salem Leadership Foundation and West Salem Neighborhood Association
• Tige Harmon, Assistant Chief of Fire Emergency Operations
• Nicole Utz, Director of Housing, Salem Housing Authority
• Debbie Wells, Director of Marion County Behavioral Health Crisis Services Division
In addition, each of the seven members lead the small working groups to help ensure broad representation and input from across our community.
The Core Classes. Each team member (Group of 7) participated in weekly virtual sessions taught by Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School faculty, with group homework submissions in preparation for the week at Harvard. Then, the group participated in a week-long immersive iteration program from March 15 to March 20, in-person at Cambridge, MA. While there, the group experienced in-person courses taught by Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School faculty. The purpose was to help the Group of 7 step back from day-to-day responsibilities and focus on the key priority, learn and apply new theories and tools to work the problem, and continue to expand perspectives on the priority to build broader collaboration, innovation and experimentation, and using data and evidence to improve decision-making. Expenses for participation by the Group of 7 were covered by the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.
All seven members began reporting out on their experience April 1st, including reconvening the Group of 30 on April 10, 2026. The group reflected:
• Our time was divided into breakfast groups with other cities to study and prepare cases for morning/afternoon lecture; gathering our team to practice the frameworks we learned, iterated, and presented to peer cities for more learning.
• We came away with clarity of vision and scope of the problem - and a smaller, bite-sized entry point from which we can make/show progress and build momentum. At the center of this work is our public value proposition:
We will address cleanliness, unpredictable behaviors, and perceived lack of safety downtown because we want to create pride for the community, vitality for businesses, and meaningful connection for all who want to live, work, play, and visit downtown. This is the standard we are holding ourselves to, and the lens through which we will measure progress.
• To begin, we agreed on an entry point that is resourced, widely supported, highly visible, and capable of generating early wins: a coordinated Community Cleanliness Campaign. This effort aligns with our broader vision for a safe, clean, and healthy downtown core, and it gives us a practical way to build momentum for future projects that improve safety, cleanliness, and overall livability.
• The concept includes conducting early-morning cleanups each day, paired with proactive engagement of unsheltered residents by our Homeless Services Team (HST) and the Rapid Engagement Assessment and Community Health (REACH) Team. We also discussed opportunities to streamline reporting for cleanliness and livability concerns downtown, and to encourage more planned volunteer events to support ongoing cleanup efforts.
• The outcomes we are aiming for include: systematic and regular cleaning with visible improvements; better outcomes and well-being for those living unsheltered; active use of businesses and office spaces; positive feedback from visitors, residents, and businesses; increased foot traffic downtown; and growing public support that builds momentum for future projects. These are the indicators that downtown is becoming a place where people feel pride, safety, and connection, and where our collective efforts are making a measurable difference.
The work continues with every-other-week coursework through June 2026, collaboration through the Group of 30, and ongoing focused working sessions with the smaller committees.
Competing for a Fellow. With the intent to launch cross-sector collaboration in northeast Salem, using the same Bloomberg-Harvard framework, staff had the opportunity to compete for a summer fellow (Attachment 4: Scope for Summer Fellow). Salem’s fellow begins June 15, 2026 and will advance the Bloomberg-Harvard framework to build collaboration in northeast. The Fellow’s living expenses and wages are covered by Bloomberg-Harvard.
Common questions
Q: How are the City’s work around the Safe, Clean and Healthy Salem Initiative and the Bloomberg-Harvard Collaborative work coordinated to address safety, and social and business needs downtown?
A: The City is one actor in the Bloomberg-Harvard collaboration work. Membership in the broader group of 30 includes representatives from each of those functional areas represented in Safe, Clean and Healthy Initiative work. They are learning and gaining perspective alongside all of us. The efforts are intertwined. For example, we have Sgt. Morrison, who started engaging directly with Downtown area businesses before we added HST hours. We also have Fire involvement to represent REACH, an HST Officer, the Clean Team lead, and Public Works staff from operations. The City has a role but, we can’t do it alone. The collaborative work expands opportunities for us to grow more engagement and contributions from others.
Q: Wallace Marine Park is closely intertwined with our downtown, and with the safety and livability challenges that are the focus of the Bloomberg-Harvard Collaboration. Is Wallace Marine included in the discussion?
A: Wallace Marine Park is included in our problem definition and our mapping of the problem area. This recognizes the symbiotic relationship between Wallace and Downtown. I know we have been upfront about Wallace - and Bush Park - being within the scope of our problem area. The conversations tend to be more organic, less driven by the City. However, we do take time to provide some updates on City efforts and progress. We can certainly report out our progress at the next Group of 30 gathering.
BACKGROUND:
The City of Salem was selected for the 2026 Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. The program aims to help cities tackle complex challenges and improve the quality of life for their residents. The Initiative has grown to advance research and develop new curriculum and teaching tools to help city leaders solve real-world problems. Salem’s currently engaged in the Program’s Cross Boundary Collaboration Track with a collaborative group of 30 people who are bringing their perspectives as neighbors, businesses, those with lived experience and advocates, and direct service providers. The team’s focus is on downtown public safety. The City is looking forward to taking this cross boundary collaboration framework to northeast Salem.
Courtney Knox Busch
Assistant City Manager/Director for Strategy and Engagement
Attachments:
1. Initial Problem Statement
2. Group of 30
3. Kick-Off Meeting Summary
4. Scope for Summer Fellow