Mayors Migration Council 2025 Impact Report
LOCAL ACTION, GLOBAL IMPACT
In 2025, the MMC deepened its global engagement, working alongside mayors from 63 cities and expanding our network to nearly 290 cities worldwide. We elevated cities’ voices in influential diplomatic arenas—from COP30 to the Global Refugee Forum Progress Review—ensuring local leadership helped shape global policy discussions. We also strengthened our political presence in a critical region by welcoming Mayor Mike Johnston of Denver to our Leadership Board.
Beyond advancing city leadership and diplomacy on the global stage, we delivered meaningful results on the ground. This year, the Global Cities Fund announced eight new city grantees while existing grantees directly reaching nearly 40,000 migrants, displaced people, and marginalized communities, with countless more benefiting indirectly.
As urban migration and displacement continues to shape how cities govern, grow, and thrive, our 2025 Impact Report highlights the impact of our organization, our partners, and – most of all – our cities.
Dear Friends,
Migration is the defining force of our time. And in a year when walls went up, budgets tightened, and rhetoric turned toxic, mayors didn’t retreat—they stepped forward. They built bridges. They delivered results. They reminded the world that migration isn’t a threat but a driver of progress and shared prosperity.
At the Mayors Migration Council (MMC), our mission is to ensure mayors have the resources, access, and influence they need to lead, especially when national governments and global systems step back. In 2025, that mission mattered more than ever. We expanded our global reach to nearly 290 cities across over 85 countries. Mayor Mike Johnston of Denver joined our Leadership Board, strengthening a coalition of mayors willing to lead at a time when political courage is in short supply. Together, they advanced pragmatic solutions on the most urgent policy frontiers of our time, from climate migration and labor pathways to economic inclusion and regional cooperation.
Mayors didn’t just show up, they shaped outcomes. Through our Global Mayors Task Force on Climate and Migration we released groundbreaking research on green workforce shortages and labor mobility and helped place climate migration on the official agenda of COP30, where mayors engaged the Brazilian government to advocate for direct city access to climate finance.
Vittoria Zanuso, Executive Director, Mayors Migration CouncilOur mission is to ensure mayors have the resources, access, and influence they need to lead, especially when national governments and global systems step back. In 2025, this mattered more than ever.
In the Western Hemisphere, our Mayors of the Americas Task Force on Migration delivered a joint declaration on regular migration pathways to inform UN General Assembly debates, while securing new philanthropic and multilateral funding for local implementation. And as US cities faced mounting federal pressure for their inclusive local policies, the MMC delivered rapid-response analysis, coordination, and global solidarity to ensure mayors never stood alone.
Even as multilateralism weakens, cities remained visible, vocal, and influential. We launched the Local Coalition for Migrants and Refugees with UN partners and leading city networks to formalize city and multilateral collaboration. Together, we secured city access to the Global Forum on Migration and Development and the UNHCR Global Refugee Forum Progress Review, where city leaders, including some who are refugees themselves, stood alongside national governments to showcase progress on more than 100 city pledges toward the Global Compact on Refugees.
At the same time, we delivered results where they matter most: locally. Through the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees and our donor advisory services, we unlocked more than $14 million in new funding for city-led initiatives, from women-led cooperatives and green jobs programs to business accelerators and labor mobility pilots.
Since launch, our fund has mobilized over $32 million, surpassing its original $25 million target, and supported 34 city initiatives improving the lives of more than 140,000 migrants, refugees, and local residents. Over 90 percent of grantees leveraged their initial support to unlock additional investment, proving that targeted city funding drives lasting systems change.
By the Numbers
Behind the scenes, we laid the foundation for what’s next. We exceeded our revenue targets, completed our transition to a representative Governing Board, and sustained a lean, high-performing team of 15 staff across regions. We also commissioned our first independent evaluation, confirming that the MMC exceeded its founding goals and filled a critical gap in the global migration ecosystem. And with a new 2025–2030 Business Plan in place, we’re ready to scale what works.
None of this came easy. Political winds shifted. Philanthropic support narrowed. Hostility toward mayors and the communities they serve grew louder. But so did our resolve. We doubled down on what makes us effective: trust, agility, and the conviction that the future is local. Because policy succeeds—or fails—in cities. And because mayors remain among the most trusted and effective leaders we have.
The road ahead won’t be easy. The coming year will demand clarity, courage, and collaboration. Let our impact in 2025 and this report stand as a testament to what cities can achieve when they lead—and a call to action for those who believe in practical solutions over political paralysis.
I’m deeply grateful to our mayors for their leadership, to our partners for their trust, and to the MMC team for their relentless commitment and creativity. Together, we’re not just responding to a changing world—we’re helping shape it.
Here’s to another year of impact, and to the cities leading the way.
Vittoria Zanuso
Executive Director, Mayors Migration Council
