2024 Fundamentals of Municipal Finance Credential

The University of Chicago is no longer accepting applications for the 2024 program.

Public finance faces heightened scrutiny, which presents opportunities and challenges. As communities continue to struggle with effects of the pandemic while facing urgent needs ranging from affordable housing to infrastructure investment, their decisions about revenues and expenditures must center on equity, efficiency, and sustainability.

Even before COVID-19, situations in communities like Detroit, Stockton, Flint, and Puerto Rico highlighted severe fiscal challenges—and ongoing stress—to public services caused by the shrinking revenue streams impacting many local governments.

While federal funding for local governments increased to provide the services and infrastructure residents demand, this funding source has limits and will soon go back to prepandemic levels. Communities must not only devise ways to spend this influx of money equitably, they must also be prepared to adequately and fairly raise revenues when federal funding diminishes.

Whether you want to better understand public-private partnerships, debt and municipal securities, or leading land-based strategies to finance infrastructure projects, this program will give you the skills and insights to advance your career in local government or community development.

Overview  

This program was created by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy’s Center for Municipal Finance in partnership with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. This course will include modules on the following topics:

• Urban economics and growth
• Intergovernmental fiscal frameworks, revenues, and budgeting
• Capital budgeting and Infrastructure Maintenance
• Debt/Municipal Securities
• Land Value Capture and Municipal Finance
• Public-Private Partnerships
• Financial Analysis for Land Use and Development Decision Making
• Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) in Municipal Finance

Upon completion of the course, participants will receive a certificate signed by both organizations. For planners maintaining their AICP credentials, this course provides 16 Certification Maintenance (CM) credits from the American Planning Association.

Course Format 

The live virtual programming will last approximately 3.75 hours each day, and the additional coursework—viewing prerecorded lectures and reading introductory materials—will require up to two additional hours each day.

Who Should Attend

Urban planners who work in the private and public sectors as well as individuals in the economic development, community development, and land development industries.

Cost 

Nonprofit and public sector: $2,000
Private sector: $2,500