On Wednesday, April 24th, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced seven cities achieving 2019 Certification: Arlington, TX; Kansas City, MO; Louisville, KY; Memphis, TN; Philadelphia, PA; Scottsdale, AZ; and Washington, DC.
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities initiative helps cities use data and evidence to tackle their most pressing challenges and improve residents’ lives. The initiative’s What Works Cities Certification program is the first-of-its-kind national standard of excellence in city governance that evaluates how well cities are managed and whether cities have the right people, processes, and policies in place to put data and evidence at the center of decision-making. Local governments that participate in Certification—which is open to any U.S. city with a population of 30,000 or more—are eligible for a broad range of exclusive, pro bono support from What Works Cities to continue building a more effective local government.
The GPL provided technical assistance to Louisville, KY to help them use data to strategically managing procurements across the city. Through this work, Louisville set up a process for systematically reviewing high-priority contracts and developing recommendations to improve their results. You can read more about the Louisville project here and here.