Curt Skoog, Overland Park Mayor
by Jennifer Williams
The recent storm debris clean-up in Overland Park, Kansas caused a lot of justified backlash from the residents when they realized their leader was out of the state and unable to properly take care of his local constituents at home.
Residents learned that Mayor Curt Skoog was away at Bloomberg’s Harvard City Leadership Initiative. That sounds noble and justifiable, right?
But what is the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative?
At first glance, their public statement about the program seems like a wonderful step in the right direction for training today’s leaders for tomorrow’s thriving communities. The press release link above states the Leadership Initiative, “equips mayors and senior city leaders with the tools and expertise to expand their problem-solving capacity, strengthen their city halls, and improve outcomes for residents.”
That sounds nice, but what exactly are they learning in these global classes, and what “improvements” in the community will occur because of these initiatives?
One must take a closer look at the source of the info and the relationship to other “partnerships” to understand the dangers of this progressive program for the future of public administration across the United States of America.
The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is a global class that teaches leaders around the world the ideology and visions of the founder. The language on all promotional material repeatedly mentions climate crisis, resilience, diversity, and the global agenda of training city leaders to change their communities to be in alignment with the collective vision of the founder.
“This year’s class features a diverse, international group of mayors who are changing their cities and the world, and we’re glad to bring them all together in New York,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and 108th mayor of New York City. “Mayors face no shortage of urgent challenges right now – from poverty to climate change to public safety. This program is designed to help build their capacity to lead and empower them to act boldly. We look forward to working closely with this new class throughout the year and to seeing the results they’ll deliver for the millions of residents they serve.”
The press release announcing the global class of mayors says the class is “the flagship program of the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University, the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative brings together Harvard faculty, staff, and students, alongside experts from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ global network, to work with the mayors and their senior officials over the course of one year.”
“As our world becomes increasingly urbanized, city governments face a growing number of challenges, from protecting public health and safety, to creating jobs in an ever-changing economy, to addressing the fallout from the pandemic and confronting the accelerating climate crisis,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and 108th mayor of New York City. “With so much at stake, these leaders are responding with creativity, innovation, and a deep commitment to building stronger, more resilient communities – and together they’re helping to ensure cities remain vibrant centers of invention and opportunity, where people from all walks of life come together to build a better future.”
Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies
https://www.bloomberg.org/press/bloomberg-philanthropies-and-harvard-university-unveil-the-bloomberg-center-for-cities-to-advance-progress-in-cities-around-the-globe/
There’s a lot of Bloomberg influence here, and it’s easy to get lost with all of the names. So to summarize, Bloomberg Philanthropies has partnered with Harvard University to create the Bloomberg Center for Cities; which offers a global training program called the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. They not only partnered with them, but Bloomberg Philanthropies gave $150 million to sponsor this program so that Harvard students would emerge with new global ideologies and public policy playbooks- playbooks that they take back home into their respective communities and implement through policy, without a vote of the people.
The press release states, “The Bloomberg Center for Cities – the first center in the world to focus on strengthening hundreds of local governments and their leadership on a global scale – is part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ $150 million commitment to the University to help bolster the capabilities of mayors and their teams. Building on the six-year track record of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, the Center’s ambition is to broadly galvanize research, faculty, and student engagement – and leverage Harvard University’s unique convening capacity – to strengthen city leadership and the ecosystem in which mayors work.”
According to a social justice and philanthropic publication of the TCC Group, “Convenings are one of many tactics used to foster collaboration, build awareness and will, and facilitate social change.“
So, just like universities across the country are indoctrinating students into a far-left political ideology, we now have a global climate philanthropy partnering with a renowned college, offering classes on the new vision of public policy, complete with CityHall endowments and other programs designed to use the reputation of the name of the school to further advance their agenda in cities around the globe and specifically within our republic.
Are you seeing any red flags?
Their press release continues with multiple quotes from mayors in Washington DC, New York, Tampa, and others. Their sentiment shares a common language of “the new normal”, “future public servants advancing initiatives”, “reduce greenhouse gas emissions”, and more.
The press release goes on to mention another concerning partnership, “During the COVID-19 pandemic emergency from 2020 through 2021, the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative collaborated with Johns Hopkins University and the Bloomberg School of Public Health and virtually convened mayors and their teams on a weekly basis to provide up-to-date public health information and guidance, crisis management tools, and the opportunity to share key learnings and practices that helped them lead their cities through turbulent times. This effort reached 344 mayors and 718 senior city officials in 443 cities worldwide.”
For those who don’t know, Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health partnered with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in October 2019 for the Event 201 – a global pandemic exercise – before the world even knew there was a pandemic coming. Coincidence is an understatement. Collaboration sounds more accurate.
So we have Michael Bloomberg involved in a global exercise with the WEF before the pandemic. We have him training mayors during the pandemic regarding the WEF messaging of how to lock down cities and enforce masks and vaccines. Now we have him convening with the Harvard name in order to train future public servants on how to lead their cities into the progressive global agenda, complete with “diverse and resilient” buzzwords and “climate change” agendas.
But wait, there’s more.
We recently reported on the Global Covenant of Mayors and Johnson County Kansas Chairman, Mike Kelly’s, involvement with their program. We shared the article and the video discussing the playbook and the funding provided by the European Union with their stated intention of implementing the Paris Climate Agreement.
Who else is involved in this Global Covenant? None other than Bloomberg Philanthropies. Michael Bloomberg iss the co-founder and co-chair with past-UN Secretary-General, South Korean Ban Ki-Moon. (Ki-Moon was involved in the United Nations since 1975 and coincidentally received a master’s degree in public administration from . . . the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.)
Are you seeing any patterns?
Mike Bloomberg joined COP28 UAE President-Designate Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber to announce a new partnership to bolster meaningful climate action from cities, businesses, financial institutions, and civil society at and ahead of the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), taking place this fall in Dubai. Commitments will focus on galvanizing climate action across three main tracks at COP28.
www.mikebloomberg.com
Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg L.P. have long been dedicated to strengthening climate capacity across the UN and promoting climate ambition and solutions at previous COPs.
So we have global exercises and covenants with participants from the WEF, United Nations, European Union, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and all things Bloomberg. These collaborations are training elected officials across the country by giving their “professional” opinions regarding policies, mandates, and recommendations. (All while Bloomberg News is also giving financial information and other advice and opinions to the global markets.)
These groups have an agenda, and they created a channel for the message by founding organizations and classes that influence local representatives and policy creators. That’s how the seemingly organic movement is springing up in city councils and planning commissions across the nation. They give the message to a few who then give it to the masses under their control in order to implement the playbooks, despite the public opposition during open meetings and public comment time.
The Global Covenant of Mayors lists its member participants on its webpage. In addition to individual cities and counties, you will also find regional metropolitan planning organizations, with hundreds of cities and multiple counties under their respective wings.
These federally-required metropolitan planning organizations have stepped outside their traffic-planning boundaries, into being the pushers of political ideology, and they are changing the fabric of our entire country. They use their membership of participating counties and cities to continue the spread of the global agenda. By having appointed members and committees comprised of the regional elected government officials and staff, they have the persuasion ability and political pull to frame the arguments and control the messaging being sent back to the people. Controlling the messaging is one of the key factors of all of this – from the mockingbird media to the silencing of the public at county commissioner meetings. Anything outside of their narrative is “misinformation” and must not reach the masses.
The name of our local planning organization is the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) and they are listed by the Global Covenant of Mayors as a member, with their executive director, David Warm, listed as the mayor of over 2 million residents. Did we have an election that I missed? I didn’t realize David Warm was now our regional mayor, but he certainly acts like it with his influence in all things in all communities. MARC is also involved with the European Union. What are the badges shown in the photo below with 5 phases completed out of 9? It’s unclear at this time, but you can research more info in their resource library.
Bringing this full circle, who is also involved with MARC, serving as past Chairman and Co-Chair of their Sustainable Places Committee? None other than Overland Park Mayor, Curt Skoog. (along with many other local leaders, including Prairie Village Mayor, Eric Mikkelson, who is also pushing for planning and zoning changes that benefit the global agenda. That’s a topic for another article.)
So here we have Curt Skoog involved in the MARC regional planning organization, pushing the UN Agenda. He is attending a program created by Bloomberg Philanthropies, designed to change cities around the globe using the ideology and training methods taught in the program, partnered with Harvard to give it the “official stamp” of something that carries a name of honor and prestige. Is it starting to make sense?
Please do not be deceived; as it appears some of these elected officials may be.
This is not about saving the world through climate action or else they wouldn’t be tearing down thousands of trees and raping the earth for their global warehouses and industrial-scale solar facilities. Nor would they be destroying all things American-made in favor of a global supply chain (that leaves a massive carbon footprint in container shipping and transporting.) This is a political infiltration in order to implement the socialist/Marxist global agenda of totalitarian control while silencing the will of the people. This is an attack on our republic.
In a time when the radical left is increasingly promoting socialism, eroding personal freedom for collective ideologies, and promoting hatred for the history and values of the United States of America and the republic, shouldn’t we be pushing back against local public servants who continue to immerse themselves in the global agenda?
As we allow our representatives to become indoctrinated by the ideologies of these schools, global covenants, and metropolitan planning organizations that are designed to change the trajectory of our country, it is only setting us up for the destruction of our freedom.
Now is the time to nip it in the bud. If we allow a generation to have their ears tickled by buzzwords and carefully-crafted training that plays on someone’s good intentions in order to implement someone else’s radical progressive socialist/Marxist agenda, we are doing a disservice to our future generations and our past heroes who laid down their lives to protect the individual life, liberty, and freedom of all of us.
In the words of Abraham Lincoln, it is our job to ensure “that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Please don’t hand over our country to a global socialist/Marxist infiltration that was not eradicated with WWI or even WWII. It merely went underground and created a new identity, one with a deceiving message of feigned compassion and social justice; which is how it is continuing to cunningly infiltrate all levels of our governments today – national, state, and local.
Pay attention to these teachers, “experts,” and programs.
As a community, refuse to allow our policy planners to participate in these indoctrination machines.
We the People have the power. It’s time we use it.
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
Matthew 10:16
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers.
II Timothy 4:3
About Bloomberg Philanthropies:
Bloomberg Philanthropies invests in 700 cities and 150 countries around the world to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. The organization focuses on five key areas for creating lasting change: the Arts, Education, Environment, Government Innovation, and Public Health. Bloomberg Philanthropies encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg’s giving, including his foundation, corporate, and personal philanthropy as well as Bloomberg Associates, a pro bono consultancy that works in cities around the world. In 2022, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed US$ 1.7 billion. For more information, please visit bloomberg.org
About The Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University:
Founded in 2021 with Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University is a fast-growing global community committed to improving public management, leadership, and governance. The Bloomberg Center for Cities is an unprecedented cross-Harvard collaboration that unites expertise focused on cities across disciplines and schools to produce research, train leaders, and develop resources for global use. The Center is designed to have widespread impact on the future of cities, where more than half of the world’s people now live, by informing and inspiring local government leaders, scholars, students, and others who work to improve the lives of residents around the world. For more information, please visit cities.harvard.edu
About The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative:
The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative–the flagship program of the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University–is a collaboration between Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, and Bloomberg Philanthropies to equip mayors and senior city officials to tackle complex challenges in their cities and improve the quality of life of their residents. Launched in 2017, the Initiative has worked with 465 mayors and 2220 senior city officials in 524 cities worldwide. The Initiative has also advanced research and developed new curriculum and teaching tools to help city leaders solve real-world problems. For more information, please visit the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative