Mayor Steven L. Reed said Montgomery hosted an art exhibition called Resilience Roots, created with Bloomberg Innovation Studio and Bloomberg Philanthropies, to show how climate change affects residents and to guide future policy work.

Reed said the project combines artists and philanthropy to both tell residents’ stories and inform city policy. “What we're trying to do in concert with Bloomberg Innovation Studio and Bloomberg Philanthropies, is to bring about policy change, but also tell the stories of communities whose residents and neighborhood haven't really felt the progress when it comes to, making their homes and their lifestyles more acclimated to basically how hot it is,” Reed said.

Reed described the exhibition as an effort to surface climate impacts such as flooding and heat zones that are already affecting parts of Montgomery. He said the show, held at a local arts space called King's Canvas as part of a Resilience Roots Festival, aimed to give municipal officials a clearer picture of conditions in neighborhoods that have seen little visible climate-related investment.

City staff and outside funders will use the artists' work, Reed said, to help translate residents' experiences into policy questions and potential interventions. Reed said having “philanthropy and having artists kinda help us with that has been outstanding,” and described the approach as one way to take “governance beyond city hall.”

Reed did not announce a new ordinance, funding allocation or specific regulatory change during the conversation. Dates, budget figures and any formal commitments tied to the Bloomberg partnership were not specified on the podcast.

The mayor encouraged continued public engagement with the arts and said the city will use the exhibition to make the case to outside funders for more investment in local arts and resilience work. He said the city is working to amplify Montgomery’s arts community as part of broader efforts to raise the city's profile and attract donors and partners.