In 2024, the High Road Strategy Center
deepened its impact across the country—equipping mayors, state leaders, and communities with the tools to advance sustainability, equity, and democracy. From launching research and convening changemakers to helping cities secure funding and supporting worker-led movements, our programs turned ideas into action.
Explore our 2024 Year in Review to see how we’re reshaping local policy—and building a future where prosperity is shared by all.
At the Mayors Innovation Project, our commitment to peer learning means offering avenues to share and replicate good ideas. The Innovation Showcase is a lightning-round session where mayors get three minutes to share a policy, program, or practice they have implemented or are working to implement. The Winter 2025 Innovation Showcase offered many great ideas for mayors to take home to their cities, from water affordability to zoning reform to new ways to inform and engage.
State transportation agencies face some of the most urgent challenges of our time—climate change, equity, and aging infrastructure among them. The State Smart Transportation Initiative's newly released Innovative DOT offers a practical, future-ready framework to help agencies respond with clarity and purpose. Building on a decade of research and on-the-ground expertise, this guide outlines strategies for leadership, people-centered planning, and culture change.
Whether your agency is just getting started or looking to accelerate progress, this framework is built to grow with you—offering replicable solutions across diverse contexts and challenges.
Based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the High Road Strategy Center is a national think-and-do tank that promotes “high road” solutions to social problems. Learn more here, or click below to learn about our projects housed at the High Road Strategy Center:
High Road Strategy Center
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MADISON
7122 Social Science Building, 1180 Observatory Drive | Madison, WI 53706 [email protected] | highroad.wisc.edu
