About Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities
Using data to deliver results for residents
Launched in 2017, Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities recognizes and celebrates local governments for their exceptional use of data to inform policy decisions, allocate funding, improve services, evaluate the effectiveness of programs and engage residents.
It is a free program that supports cities in three ways:
- A Benchmark and Roadmap For Data Success: What Works Cities Certification is the international standard of excellence for data-driven local government. Through Certification, cities get a clear benchmark of their city’s data practices, a customized roadmap for building data capacity and international public recognition. The Certification Assessment outlines practices including data management, community engagement, performance analytics and more.
- Capacity-Building Support: With an extensive library of resources, expert-led learning opportunities, direct coaching and more, What Works Cities empowers city staff with the tools and skills to improve how their city halls use data every day.
- An International Community of Peers: Cities that are strengthening their data practices aren’t doing it alone. In the What Works Cities Network, thousands of city leaders work together to solve common challenges, exchange best practices and learn from proven approaches.
Joining the What Works Cities Network
After completing the Data Snapshot, cities join their peers in the What Works Cities Network. The Network helps cities solve challenges and share successes with innovative, data-driven peers working to build data capacity in their cities. This community equips city leaders and staff with the skills they need to achieve Certification, grow their data practices and improve outcomes for residents.
Standard Committee Members
The What Works Cities Standard Committee comprises leading experts from a dozen organizations that support cities. The Standard Committee has endorsed and lent its knowledge and experience to the development of What Works Cities Certification Standard, the international standard of excellence for data-driven local government. They serve as advisors during the Certification assessment process and actively participate in site visits with select cities.
Beth Blauer
Vice President for Public Impact Initiatives, Johns Hopkins University
Bill Eggers
Executive Director of Deloitte’s Center for Government Insights
Marcelo Facchina
Principal Executive in Smart Cities and Digital Government at CAF
Emma Gawen
Managing Director, Public Digital
Lourdes German
Executive Director, Public Finance Initiative
Michael Hallsworth
Chief Behavioral Scientist, BIT North America
Rochelle Haynes
Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities
Jorrit de Jong
Director of the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University and the Emma Bloomberg Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Management at Harvard Kennedy School
Michele Jolin
CEO and Co-Founder, Results for America
Neil Kleiman
Professor of Practice & Senior Fellow, Burnes Center for Social Change, Northeastern University
Jeffrey B. Liebman
Director of the Government Performance Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Public Policy
Michael Nutter
Former Mayor of Philadelphia
Carole Saab
CEO of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities
Oliver Wise
Executive Director, Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence (GovEx) at Johns Hopkins University
Meet Our Partners
Our expert partners help local governments build the capacity and skills to use data and evidence to make more informed decisions, deliver more effective services and programs, and improve residents’ lives. This support helps cities advance toward achieving What Works Cities Certification.
Results for America (RFA) helps government leaders find, fund and implement solutions that work to accelerate upward economic mobility and improve lives. RFA works with federal, state and local government decision-makers to increase their use of evidence and data in budget, policy and program decisions.
RFA serves as What Works Cities’s lead partner, coordinating the work of all partner organizations.
The Behavioral Insights Team (BIT) is a social purpose organization that helps governments around the world boost their impact through the application of behavioral science and rigorous evaluation techniques. As part of What Works Cities, BIT helps cities develop and evaluate ideas for improving government services.
Partners for Public Good (PPG) is a non-partisan, nonprofit team of doers, coaches, and advisors focused on making government work for its people. We help improve the core levers of government, including budgeting, procurement, technology, and staffing to create more durable, reliable, and responsive state and local governments for residents. Through in-depth technical assistance projects and individualized coaching, our experts have collaborated with more than 200 municipal governments across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America to reimagine their back-office systems.
Digital transformation is the act of radically changing how your organization works, so that it can survive and thrive in the internet era. We are a consultancy that can help make it happen by working directly with your leaders and teams. We take quick, effective action and give targeted advice to help your digital team transform your organization.
PorchLight Insights was born from our belief that all organizations can use data to improve. We work with organizations across the public sector, including cities, counties, MPOs, foundations, universities and nonprofits. Our projects have involved performance management coaching and training, data analysis and storytelling, survey implementation, community engagement, and organizational process improvements.