Manhattan City Manager Ron Fehr and Commissioner Usha Reddi traveled to Washington D.C. this past week to take part in the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference with more than 2,100 other local leaders across the U.S. At the event, participants had the opportunity to listen to a keynote speech by President Barack Obama, which included information on a new “Tech Higher” initiative.
“This basically promotes education on coding for students that may not be able to get into college,” said Reddi in a phone call from the event. “This is to give them some coding skills because there are so many technology jobs out there and we don’t have the skill set for some of our students that want to go into these areas.”
Reddi said the elected officials advocated for local priorities by taking part in breakout discussions to talk about tactics cities are using for community benefit.
“One of the key things I’ve noticed in most of our sessions seems to be technology and broadband and how to get more of it to our residents,” she said.
Also related to technology was a presentation by an officer from the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department who discussed the benefits of implementing it in law enforcement.
“She went on to say how they’re incorporating technology into all their police forces and how they’re doing more relationship building and community and press building,” Reddi said. “I think these are all essential for our own city.”
Reddi added that the highlight of the conference was learning about initiatives that have worked to improve other communities in the nation.
