In the two years since Secretary Blinken created the Subnational Diplomacy Unit (SDU) at the State Department in October 2022 and appointed Nina Hachigian as the first Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy, SDU has informed, assisted and empowered roughly 5,000 local government officials including mayors, governors and county supervisors in the United States and around the world. The State Department benefits the American people by advancing U.S. national security, promoting our economic interests, providing services and reaffirming our country's exceptional role in the world. SDU connects with local elected leaders to advance their global ties and to improve U.S. foreign policy by listening to their priorities and learning from their innovations. SDU's achievements include:
FIRST TIME PROVIDING FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT INFORMATION TO CITIES
- Offering U.S. mayors city-level information on their Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) profile, never before available to them from the Federal Government. SDU has sent FDI factsheets to nearly 100 mayors. Hosted a webinar to share best practices in attracting job-creating foreign direct investment.
FIRST SECRETARY OF STATE TO ADDRESS U.S. CONFERENCE OF MAYORS
- Secretary Blinken addressed the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in 2023 and 2024 — the first Secretary of State ever to speak publicly at this forum.
FIRST DEDICATED PROGRAM DETAILING STATE DEPT OFFICIALS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
- In August 2024, the Department launched the Lewis Local Diplomat program, which sends foreign service and civil service officers to serve for one year as international affairs advisors in a U.S. mayoral, gubernatorial, or another local office to build its institutional capacity to engage internationally. Mayors and governors have responded overwhelmingly positively to this initiative, with more cities and states applying to host a Lewis Local Diplomat during the 2025-2026 cycle, when the program will quadruple in size.
FIRST LOCAL DEMOCRACY FORUM
- Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources Richard Verma and Ambassador Hachigian led a delegation of eight local officials to Armenia in June 2024 for the U.S.-Armenia Local Democracy Forum–a first-of-its-kind gathering to bring together local leaders from both countries to discuss their crucial role in strengthening democracy and to establish new city-to-city connections. This model was so successful that SDU has follow-up programs in two additional countries planned for the remainer of 2024.
FIRST CITIES SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
- SDU co-hosted with the State Department's Western Hemisphere Bureau the first Cities Summit of the Americas, where hundreds of local leaders and thousands of guests built partnerships, forged concrete solutions to sustainability challenges, and launched Cities Forward , which provides peer-to-peer exchange, capacity building, and diplomatic engagement to solve critical urban sustainability challenges.
RENEWED SUBNATIONAL CLIMATE POLICY
- In coordination with seven major climate networks that represent local leaders, SDU organized two standing-room only panels at COP28. These panels showcased the role that local leaders, cities and states play in advancing climate action globally, including how the Inflation Reduction Act spurred innovative responses from U.S. localities.
- Ambassador Hachigian participated in New York Climate Weeks in 2023 and 2024 - both times delivering public remarks in addition to holding meetings with U.S. and global local leaders.
- SDU produced a Green City Finance Guide to assist Cities Forward participant cities.
FIRST ASSEMBLY OF LOCAL LEADERS AT THE U.S. DEPT OF STATE
- Established the Assembly of Local Leaders (ALL), a group of U.S. mayors, governors, and other local officials with whom the State Department engages - including on public health, foreign investment, economic development. ALL increases the two-way information exchange between the State Department and U.S. localities.
NEW STATE TO STATES OUTREACH INITIATIVE
- SDU created the State-to-States Initiative to boost in-person connections and visits between cities, states, and their communities in the U.S. and the State Department. State-to-States brings the benefits of U.S. foreign policy - jobs, investments, connections, international experiences - to all Americans while supporting the integration of local ideas and action into the State Department's diplomatic engagements. To learn more, view the Department of State by State Map.
REGULAR BRIEFINGS AND OUTREACH TO STAKEHOLDERS
- SDU attends to questions from local government offices on a daily basis to assist local leaders. It also provides briefings - usually based on demand from local offices - on key international issues. The briefings increase the flow of information about foreign policy to local stakeholders and also boosts their voice in U.S. foreign policymaking.
