COVID-19 forever changed our world inso many ways. The pandemic createdenormous public health impacts asnearly 600,000 Americans perished, a humantoll that has been felt similarly all around theworld. At the same time, cities and towns of allsizes and locations throughout the country havestruggled to weather the economic impact ofshutdowns and a prolonged period of financialdistress. The pandemic year has been a timeof firsts: students joined teachers in virtualclassrooms at school; many brick-and-mortarbusinesses quickly pivoted to online retail andcurbside pickup; workers across a range ofindustries wore personal protective equipment;and numerous government services went digitalinstead of requiring a trip to city hall. The rapidchanges and adaptation required to respondto the pandemic tested cities across the U.S.as city leaders had to become public healthexperts while supporting residents, businessesand workers financially during this time of greattransition.