Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. was sworn in Friday as the new president of the African American Mayors Association.
Scott, who leads the most populous city in Arkansas, said in an interview that he hopes to leverage the position to deepen ties with the White House and the federal government. In the process, the mayor said he aims to draw down more federal dollars and resources to the state's capital city.
The association, which represents Black mayors from across the nation, includes mayors from cities such as New York City, Atlanta and Chicago, according to its website.
Scott traveled to Washington, D.C., for the association's conference, which is where he was sworn in as its new president.
"It's about creating a movement," Scott said during a speech at the conference. "A movement of Black mayors who are unapologetically Black, doing all that we can for the greater all but understanding that the least of these -- those that have been forgotten, those have not been paid attention to -- need to be invested in."
During his speech, Scott touched on the issues shaping cities nationwide: affordable housing, crime, policing, climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.
"This pandemic has disproportionately impacted our race, whether it was health care disparities, financial disparities, or yes, mental health disparities," he said.
In an interview, Scott said his new role as president of the association will give him the opportunity to shape public policy discussions.
Scott reported spending time with U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Marcia Fudge, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Governments at the state and local level can expect expanded and new competitive grant programs under the wide-ranging infrastructure package signed by President Joe Biden last year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
At the conference, Mitch Landrieu, a former New Orleans mayor who is coordinating the implementation of the law, stressed the importance of infrastructure and touted benefits of the package.
"You cannot grow an economy, you can't create opportunity, you can't create equity if you don't have just the basic infrastructure," he said.
Arkansas is expected to secure more than $4 billion in funding for a variety of broad infrastructure sectors over five years under the infrastructure law, according to past White House estimates.
With the infrastructure package, cities will be able to apply for competitive grant programs, including a safe streets program that aims to help advance efforts to decrease deaths and crashes, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists, according to the Transportation Department.