Bloomberg Philanthropies announced the 50 Champion Cities, representing the boldest urban innovations of the past year, that will advance to the finalist stage of the 2021 Global Mayors Challenge, a worldwide competition that encourages and spreads cities’ most promising ideas. This year’s Challenge focuses on elevating the most important innovations generated in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. 

The 50 cities named hail from 29 nations on six continents. They emerged from a highly competitive applicant pool: Mayors from 631 cities in 99 countries submitted their most promising ideas for consideration. That’s twice the number of cities that applied in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ last Mayors Challenge, held in the United States in 2018. The finalists were elevated based on four criteria: vision, potential for impact, feasibility, and transferability.  

Visit the challenge website

City of Rochester Teammates

Community Partners Teammates

About Codesign 

Rochester financially compensated women of color to engage with key stakeholders in an innovative, co-design process. Co-designers shared their expertise to shape new programs, policies, and services to create sustainable career pathways for women of color. This process will help us co-design a community by and with, the people who live here, resulting in a more a more equitable and inclusive Rochester.

Watch Videos about the Codesign Process

Aaron Benike

Wafa Elkhalifa

Violet Magoma 

Karen Martinez

Jose Rivas

Nick Wille

Fatuma Ahmed

Fatuma Ahmed is a Somali mother of 3, who is a BIPOC woman and a Co-founder of Pamoja Women Organization. Pamoja Women seeks to advocate and amplify voices of women and girls of East African heritage. Their mission is to empower and liberate women and girls in the community.

Aaron Benike

Aaron and his wife Allison are a lifelong residents of Rochester. Aaron spent many summers working and learning about construction in the field and has spent his career since graduating from Iowa State University with a BS in Construction Engineering building throughout SEMN. Aaron has been the President of Benike Construction since 2011. He is passionate about workforce and currently serves on the Boards of: Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce, Workforce Development, Construction Partnership, Winona State University - Rochester Advisory, Merchant's Bank Rochester Advisory, and the Gamehaven Council of Boy Scouts. Aaron & Allison have two adult children and enjoy hiking, biking, skiing and eating delicious food when ever they are able.

Wafa Elkhalifa

Sudanese American social activist and works as equity, diversity and inclusion specialist for Rochester Public Schools. I have a passion for helping underserved communities and creating opportunities for immigrants to become successful members of the Rochester family. I have 13 years of banking experience in Rochester and I hold B.S in Communication from University of Minnesota. I’m a mother, a daughter and sister to my wonderful family members and I look forward to seeing Rochester becoming a better place.

Violet Magoma born and raised in Kenya East Africa and identifies as a BIPOC woman.  She moved to the USA in 2008.  Currently, she works at Mayo Clinic.  Violet is searching for a construction job. She is passionate about working hard to raise her kids and give them a good life. Violet’s hope is for Rochester is to grow and create more jobs for BIPOC women.

Karen Martinez 

Karen Martinez is an educator advocate, organizer, community leader and BIPOC woman. She was raised in west Texas and has been a part of the Rochester community for 15 years. Originally raised in west Texas, she has embraced Rochester as my home. While studying Business Management at Rochester Community and Technical College life took her on a journey into motherhood when her daughter was born in 2009.  Since that time, Karen has been navigating life as a single mother. Karen is currently an Organizer for Education Minnesota. She is the ninth child born to Mexican immigrants and a first generation Mexican-American. Karen’s hope is for Rochester is to build a better, more sustainable future for all people within our community regardless of where they are coming from to better our city's infrastructure for future generations.

Jose Rivas

Jose was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, moving to Rochester, MN in his late teens. He attended college, first at Rochester Community College, and later at North Dakota State University where he obtained his Architecture degree in 1989. Back in Rochester since 1993, Jose has dedicated his career as an architect to improve the quality of our built environment, particularly in the areas of affordable housing, education, and public infrastructure. Following an early career as Partner and Principal of a Rochester based A/E firm, Jose founded CRW architecture + design group in 2010, an architecture and interior design firm dedicated to the advancement of diversity and sustainable design.

Lexi Tello

Lexi Tello was born in Rochester, MN, where she has spent most of her life. She is a Hispanic woman who identifies as a part of the BIPOC community. Lexi has been working as a flooring apprentice and has been installing since the spring of 2020. Due to COVID-19, the restaurant she was working at shut down, which left her searching for a way to stay busy and pay the bills. Luckily Lexi had the option to get into the construction field, while also being in school.  She is currently pursuing a degree in dietetics and personal training.  Lexi believes that by incorporating the new perspectives of women in the construction field, it will enhance the productivity, structure, and atmosphere of all job sites.

Chad Wandler

No bio at this time.  

Nick Wille

No bio at this time.

First Co-design Meeting 

In the first co-design session, participants spent time practicing stakeholder interviews to prepare for capturing outside experiences from their own networks. 

In the left image above, from left to right: Chad Wandler from RCTC and Karen Martinez from Rochester Public Schools; Fatuma Ahmed representing local BIPOC women and Aaron Benike from Benike Construction.

In the right image above, up front, Fatuma and Aaron can be seen interacting again.  Towards the back of the room from left to right, Violet Mgoma, another BIPOC woman, connects with Darcy Tello, local BIPOC woman and owner of Med City Installation.  Lexi Tello, representing BIPOC women in the construction industry, connects with Jose Rivas from CRW Architecture and Design.

08/18/2021 Press Release: In March of 2021 the City of Rochester submitted its application in the first round of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Global Mayors Challenge. Focusing on economic recovery and growth, the City hopes to address health, income, and labor disparities deepened by COVID-19, particularly for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) women in Rochester.  Read the full Press Release. 

08/16/2021 Tweet: As the #infrastructure bill works its way to @POTUS, @MayorNorton's #MayorsChallenge idea aims to break down the barriers that keep @CityofRochMN's women of Color from securing careers in the high-paying construction industry.  See James Anderson's Tweet in Twitter.

06/15/2021 Press Release: The City of Rochester, MN is one of 50 Champion Cities selected as a finalist in the 2021 Global Mayors Challenge, a global innovation competition that identifies and accelerates the most ambitious ideas developed by cities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These 50 urban innovations rose to the top of a competitive pool of more than 630 applications from 99 countries, in the first-ever Global Mayors Challenge.  Read the full press release.