​WELCOME TO CITYLABS USA  
Livable Cities for a Livable Future
Want to change the world?  Don't do it by yourself!  

Start where you live -- join others like you who share a passion for city life --
Urban challenges are opportunities wrapped in problems to solved with imagination, skill, and collaboration.

CityLabs -- in Baltimore, DC, and cities and towns across the country and around the world --
a network of local business, professional, and community leaders collaborating with
Johns Hopkins students, alumni, and faculty with a shared purpose:
Bringing the power of business innovation to build more livable cities
​and a livable future for humanity and the planet.
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​CITYNOTES

FOCUS ON HOUSING PRECARITY
SMALLTIMORE VILLAGE: A creative response to homelessness.

FOCUS ON INDIGENOUS TRIBAL NATIONS
NEW PATHWAYS TO SHARED PROSPERITY

In December 2022, the Center for Indian Country Development (CICD) at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis hosted its annual research summit focused on tribal nations, Unlocking Our Full Economic Potential. Tribal leaders. federal policymakers, and academic researchers explored a range of policy issues and innovative approaches to promoting economic prosperity in Indian Country.  A panel on lending practices highlighted access to credit and financial services as an especially acute concern among tribal nations, with panelists emphasizing the role of native CDFIs in creating ladders to equity by developing unconventional approaches to financing tribal entrepreneurship, small business, and home ownership.


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A unique feature of the research summit was tribal storytelling by Jack Gladstone, Montana Turtle Island Blackfeet troubadour. ​

focus on baltimore
digital equity and open source

As founder of Rowdy Orb.IT, Jonathan Moore walks the talk of digital equity through his business. Citied in 2021 as "Best in Tech" by the Baltimore Business Journal, Jonathan has been working for years to close the digital divide. Rowdy Orb.IT is laying the foundation for community-owned tech infrastructure and wealth building in Black Butterfly communities: 
 https://technical.ly/diversity-equity-inclusion/baltimore-tracks-digital-divide/

​Jonathan is not alone. Dozens of local organizations and many more individuals are joined together as the Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition with the shared purpose of closing the digital divide and assuring digital equity in Baltimore. Digital equity is not just an urban problem, however; a recent Abell Foundation report documents the state of digital inclusion throughout Maryland:
abell.org/digital-equity-in-maryland-is-an-urban-and-rural-problem/

Cities are concentrations of the human talent fueling the technology-integrated economy of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Digital equity is unlocking Baltimore's potential as the human tech epicenter of a powerful and expanding Mid-Atlantic Economic Triangle of business, government, and social enterprises concentrated in and around the nation's capital.  MossLabs is accelerating and scaling Open Source for Baltimore and other cities as the innovation engines of the future.

focus on kansas city
Economic opportunity and affordable housing

Cities can learn from each other -- check out this Brookings study to see what Kansas City is doing to foster economic opportunity and housing affordability:

www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2021/02/02/how-a-kansas-city-neighborhood-is-protecting-renters-while-investing-in-itself/
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