The What Works Cities Academy
Any city that completes the What Works Cities Assessment is eligible for a variety of learning opportunities within the WWC Academy, including courses, Sprints, in-person trainings, and more.
• Courses: online self-guided and instructor-led learning opportunities designed to meet participants where they are, covering a range of topics from data fundamentals to advanced data and analytics techniques
• Sprints: two- to eight-week-long virtual opportunities to work with our expert partners and a cohort of peer cities on a variety of foundational data practices
• Pop-Up Trainings: one- to two-day-long in-person workshops hosted by a What Works City to deepen an organization’s data skills and build regional connections
• WWC on Tour: an in-person full-day workshop for a cohort of cities to work with WWC partners on foundational data practices
How do learning opportunities work?
Below is a full calendar of upcoming courses, Sprints, and in-person learning opportunities being offered by What Works Cities. You can register to participate in these opportunities via the links below or directly in the WWC Academy’s Course Catalog.
All courses, Sprints, and in-person workshops are aligned to the WWC Certification Criteria, and your participation can help you and your city:
• Become at least one point closer toward being a certified city!
• Have opportunities from What Works Cities to highlight your progress publicly;
• Receive certificates from Johns Hopkins University;
• Earn digital badges to show off your achievements; and
• Receive periodic progress reports showing how your city is performing and progressing.
How do I create an account?
Upon completing What Works Cities Assessment, your city will receive a unique code giving you an unlimited number of accounts in your local government for free access to learning opportunities. Already completed an assessment and unsure of what your code is? Reach out to govextraining@jhu.edu.
How can I host a Pop-Up Training in my city?
If you’re interested in hosting a Pop-Up training, please reach out to govextraining@jhu.edu to discuss options, requirements, and details.
Questions?
For questions regarding available learning opportunities, write Madeleine Weatherhead at madeleine@results4america.org. For assistance with the WWC Academy platform, reach out to govextraining@jhu.edu.
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES CALENDAR
At this time there are no public learning opportunities. Please check back for any updates.
PAST LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Trial “In a Box”
January 16, 2019 – February 20, 2019
Does your city struggle to collect taxes, fines, or unpaid bills? Or maybe your city has an incredible service but faces a challenge in encouraging residents to sign up? Perhaps you want to promote energy or water conservation? Or you want to recruit a diverse group of people into your workforce? Behind each of these goals for your city are a set of decisions you hope your residents will make and, consequently, a set of opportunities to test how your interaction with residents impacts behavior toward your desired outcome. Behavioral science is the systematic study of how people think about the world and how they make decisions, and the expert partners at the Behavioral Insights Team (BIT) work to ensure that realistic models of human behavior are used to make better policies and services. In this Sprint, you’ll have an introduction to BIT and a hands-on opportunity to use our methods to address a real-world challenge, using the science of decision-making and the tools of randomized field experiments. Join BIT for webinars, calls, and resources with step-by-step information on how to run your own trial to test a redesigned email communication. Our experts will support you and guide you through how to launch your trial, analyze, review, and scale what works!
Content:
• January 16, 2019 Webinar: Trial in a Box Kick-Off
• Step-by-step guide for running a trial
• Templates for interventions (emails) and tools for analysis
• Support call before your trial launch with a BIT advisor
• February 20, 2019 Webinar: [Post-trial] Reviewing Results and Scaling
Recommended Participants: Any interested city staff and elected officials. This Sprint may be
especially relevant for cities with limited previous experience conducting trials. Sprints are typically only open to cities that have completed a Certification Assessment, but we’re making an exception for this Sprint which will be publicly available for any interested local government staff.
Achievable Criteria: 3 Evaluation criteria
• Your local government has defined standards, methodologies, or tools to help staff rigorously evaluate practices, programs, and/or policies.
• In the past 12 months, your local government has launched two or more experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations.
• In the past 12 months, your local government has used the results from experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations to make different, or to newly justify, decisions.
Comms for Cities
Start Date: February 11, 2019 – March 6, 2019
Cities that build a communications strategy around their work affirm their commitment to solving local challenges; they also build trust and engagement with residents who can reinforce and expand those efforts. Led by What Works Cities Senior Communications Manager Kristin Taylor, this Sprint will help you build your local government’s capacity to use data and evidence to publicly communicate your impact. We’ll start by exploring why effective communication matters, introduce you to best practices in the field, and look at examples of how other cities are sharing their progress. We’ll also introduce you to a range of communications tools at your disposal—from owned and earned media to public appearances and speeches—and help you brainstorm ways to start using them in your own city.
Content:
• February 11 pre-webinar reading and worksheet
• February 20 webinar
• Post-webinar reading and worksheet
• March 6 closeout video call
Recommended Participants: City staff (in particular, open data program managers and/or departmental data stewards) who want to communicate the impact of their work more effectively; public information officers or other communications personnel; community engagement staff. You’re encouraged to form a local team by participating in the Sprint alongside colleagues in your city and working on the exercises together; cross-departmental/functional teams are especially encouraged.
Achievable Criteria: 1 General Management criteria
• Your local government regularly uses public communications to share examples of how it is governing using data and evidence and/or stories of progress made as a result.
Open Data Policies
February 25, 2019 – March 26, 2019
Public policy is essential because it demonstrates public commitment to lasting change. An open data policy should establish formal governance processes to make public data-sharing institutional and sustainable. Open data policy can not only help cities establish what data will be public or kept private, but can also help build public trust by demonstrating the city’s commitment to lasting transparency and accountability. Cities can go one step further and use policy-drafting to begin engaging residents in conversation about what open data they would like to see. Join the Sunlight Foundation for this quick Sprint that will lead you through the process of generating your own open data policy.
Content:
• Sunlight’s Open Data Policy Hub
• Sunlight’s Guide to Crowdlaw
• March 5 webinar
• March 12 webinar
• March 26 webinar
Recommended Participants: City staff, particularly from cities just starting out with open data
Achievable Criteria: 6 Open Data, Data Governance, and Stakeholder Engagement Criteria
• Your local government has a publicly available, codified open data policy that commits to data transparency and proactive public disclosure of local government data and data practices.
• Your local government has a documented process for publishing open data.
• Your local government maintains a documented list of data governance responsibilities and meets at least quarterly to carry out those responsibilities.
• Your local government has and carries out documented policies or practices to improve data quality.
• Your local government has documented policies or practices to protect the privacy and confidentiality of government-held data.
• Your local government tracks and documents insights about open data users and open data applications, and incorporates user needs into the design and implementation of its open data and transparency practices.
Workshopping RFPs Using Results-Driven Contracting Strategies
April 3, 2019 – May 22, 2019
Procurement is one of the most powerful, yet overlooked, tools in government. Cities spend between one third and one half of their budget through contracts on critical functions, like repairing roads, housing the homeless, or modernizing government by adopting new technology. Yet, too often, procurement is treated as a back-office task rather than a fundamental reflection of an agency’s strategic vision. In this Sprint, led by the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab (GPL), you’ll have the opportunity to learn how to use your contracts as a tool to achieve your city’s desired goals and outcomes. The GPL will share the contracting strategies and solutions that they’ve learned from their What Works Cities projects over the past three years. Three cities will have the opportunity to work directly with the GPL to apply results-driven contracting strategies on a single RFP. The results of the RFP workshop will be presented to the full group of participants at the end of the Sprint.
Content:
• April 3: Two-hour Webinar: An Introduction to Results-Driven Contracting Strategies (open to all)
• Cohort Workshop Sessions: 3-4 video/phone calls to help three cities implement results-driven contracting strategies on an RFP. This includes reviewing drafts of RFP sections prior to calls.
• May 22: One-hour Webinar: Three cities present their updated RFPs and lessons learned (open to all)
• GPL RDC Solutions Book
• RFP Guiding Questions Worksheet
Achievable Criteria: 3 Results-Driven Contracting criteria
• Your local government defines strategic goals and desired outcomes for key procurements, contracts, and/or grants.
• Your local government measures outcomes, impacts, and/or cost-effectiveness for key procurements, contracts, and/or grants.
• Your local government structures procurements, contracts, and/or grants to align the vendor’s incentives with the local government’s strategic goals.
Developing a Data Governance Team
May 13, 2019 – June 12, 2019
4 weeks
A data governance board is a group of people who work together to develop an organization’s policies and practices in order to treat data as a strategic asset. Join WWC partner the Center for Government Excellence (GovEx) at Johns Hopkins University for a Sprint designed to help you build the best data governance team. We’ll walk you through how to determine the best focus area that your team should consider supporting, executing, and/or developing policy around.
Content:
• May 15, 2019 Kick-off Webinar
• Reading and worksheets
Achievable Criteria: 1 Data Governance criteria
• Your local government maintains a documented list of data governance responsibilities and meets at least quarterly to carry out those responsibilities.
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Data Management: Quality and Standards (DM 202.2)
Start Date: June 5, 2019
4 weeks
This online course, developed by the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, will teach you to recognize the components of data quality, identify common quality issues, and learn methods and practices for improving data quality. In addition, we will discuss the necessary building blocks, use cases, and methods for evaluating and employing effective data standards.
Content:
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
• Describe common data quality issues
• Assess government datasets for common data quality issues
• Define and list popular open data standards
• Identify strategies for improving data quality and implementing open data standards
Achievable Criteria: 2 Data Governance criteria
• Your local government has and carries out documented policies or practices to improve data quality.
• Your local government adopts Civic Data Standards.
Foundations of Data Governance Structures (DM 203.2)
June 5, 2019
4 weeks
This online course developed by the Center for Government Excellence will provide an introduction to data governance principles and structures in government. Participants will gain practical experience in strengthening data management practices and developing or elevating a data governance structure to improve policy making, service delivery, and data-informed decision making.
Content:
Through this course, you will:
• Envision a sustainable data governance structure
• Understand the foundational elements of a data governance plan
• Know how to implement a data governance plan
Achievable Criteria: 4 Data Governance criteria
• Your local government maintains a detailed and comprehensive data inventory that makes its data more discoverable and accessible.
• Your local government maintains a documented list of data governance responsibilities and meets at least quarterly to carry out those responsibilities.
• Your local government has and carries out documented policies or practices to improve data quality.
• Your local government has documented policies or practices to protect privacy and confidentiality.
Comms for Cities Sprint: Chief Executives Edition
June 10, 2019
4 weeks
Chief executives’ public commitment to driving progress by using data is one of the strongest predictors of a city’s success in building a well-managed local government. That’s because leaders are uniquely positioned—at the helm of City Hall and in the public spotlight—to set, drive, and build support for a strategic vision. And at every step, public communication has a key role to play. Whether your city is just getting started on using data or already has compelling examples of impact to share, communicating your progress is a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate your government’s commitment to delivering results. This Sprint, led by What Works Cities Associate Director of Communication Kristin Taylor, will introduce you to best practices in the field and examples of how other chief executives have put them to use effectively. You’ll also learn about a range of communications tools at your disposal—from owned and earned media to public appearances and speeches—and help you brainstorm ways to start using them in your own city. The Sprint will also feature a guest appearance from former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who will share insights from his own experiences as a chief executive.
Content:
• Readings and worksheet #1
• June 13 webinar with former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu
• June 20 webinar
• Readings and worksheets #2 and #3
• July 1 closeout video call
Achievable Criteria: 1 General Management criteria
• Your mayor and/or chief executive uses data and evidence to publicly communicate the work and impact of government.
Foundations of Performance Analytics (PA 201.3)
July 10, 2019
4 weeks
This online, instructor-facilitated course developed by the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University will provide an introduction to performance analytics principles and their applications in government. Participants will gain practical experience in building or strengthening performance analytics practices and developing innovative solutions to improve government services.
Content:
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
• Assess organizational readiness for performance analytics;
• Advocate for the performance analytics model that best suits an organization’s characteristics and priorities;
• Draft a problem statement for performance analytics; and
• Construct a goal statement for performance analytics.
Recommended Participants: Staff responsible for managing city data
Achievable Criteria: 4 Performance Analytics criteria
• Your local government identifies strategic goals, aligns a diverse set of measures with those goals, and uses data to evaluate progress toward them.
• Your local government holds performance management meetings during which it reviews data, discusses insights, and makes decisions about its strategic goals at least quarterly.
• Your local government regularly shares its strategic goals, performance measures, and progress toward achieving those goals with the public.
• Your local government has documented policies or practices to manage the risk of data breach, loss, or unauthorized manipulation.
Foundations of Advanced Analytics in Government (PA 203.3)
July 10, 2019
4 weeks
This online course developed by the Center for Government Excellence will explore the recent use of advanced analytics in US city governments in solving problems and improving outcomes for residents. Participants will gain practical experience in identifying and classifying opportunities for analytics to make an impact and examining analytics projects for evidence of bias.
Content:
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
• Articulate the value of advanced analytics in a variety of scenarios;
• Understand how analysts mitigate bias when working with limited data; and
• Envision how advanced analytics can address operational challenges.
Recommended Participants: Staff responsible for managing city data
Achievable Criteria: 3 Performance Analytics criteria
• Your local government identifies strategic goals, aligns a diverse set of measures with those goals, and uses data to evaluate progress toward them.
• Your local government holds performance management meetings during which it reviews data, discusses insights, and makes decisions about its strategic goals at least quarterly.
• Your local government leaders have the ability to access and incorporate data analysis when necessary for strategic decision-making.
Conducting a Data Inventory
Start Date: August 12, 2019
4 weeks
City data is an incredible asset, and knowing what data your city collects leads to efficiency, increases accountability, and eases citywide reporting, decision-making, and performance optimization. Data inventories are a great way to figure out what data are being collected (and if there is any duplication among departments), determine what systems are in use, promote transparency, and develop data publishing plans. In this Sprint, experts from the Center for Government Excellence (GovEx) at Johns Hopkins University will help you understand fully the importance of inventorying and the open data program, and will guide you on how to begin to inventory your city’s data.
Content:
• August 14, 2019 Conducting a Data Inventory Kick-off webinar
• A data inventory guide
• Templates to get started
Recommended Participants: Staff responsible for managing city data
Achievable Criteria: 1 Data Governance criteria
• Your local government maintains a detailed and comprehensive data inventory that makes its data more discoverable and accessible.
Data Management: Quality and Standards (DM 202.3)
September 4, 2019
4 weeks
This online course, developed by the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, will teach you to recognize the components of data quality, identify common quality issues, and learn methods and practices for improving data quality. In addition, we will discuss the necessary building blocks, use cases, and methods for evaluating and employing effective data standards.
Content:
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
• Describe common data quality issues
• Assess government datasets for common data quality issues
• Define and list popular open data standards
• Identify strategies for improving data quality and implementing open data standards
Achievable Criteria: 2 Data Governance criteria
• Your local government has and carries out documented policies or practices to improve data quality.
• Your local government adopts Civic Data Standards.
Foundations of Data Governance Structures (DM 203.3)
Start Date: September 4, 2019
4 weeks
This online course developed by the Center for Government Excellence will provide an introduction to data governance principles and structures in government. Participants will gain practical experience in strengthening data management practices and developing or elevating a data governance structure to improve policy making, service delivery, and data-informed decision making.
Content:
Through this course, you will:
• Envision a sustainable data governance structure
• Understand the foundational elements of a data governance plan
• Know how to implement a data governance plan
Achievable Criteria: 4 Data Governance criteria
• Your local government maintains a detailed and comprehensive data inventory that makes its data more discoverable and accessible.
• Your local government maintains a documented list of data governance responsibilities and meets at least quarterly to carry out those responsibilities.
• Your local government has and carries out documented policies or practices to improve data quality.
• Your local government has documented policies or practices to protect privacy and confidentiality.
Evaluation Foundations
Start Date: September 16, 2019
12 weeks
Why do evaluations matter? City governments take responsibility for providing a wide range of necessary services, and resources are often limited, so every dollar is a trade-off! Through rigorous evaluation, we can build an evidence base and continually improve the quality and efficiency of our programs and services.
In this Sprint, you’ll learn the basic principles of evaluation, apply them to your own real-world challenge, and discuss ways to build up your ongoing evaluation capacity. Join BIT for webinars, calls, and resources with step-by-step information on how to run your own randomized trial and assess your city’s next steps to encourage continuous testing and improvement.
Content:
• September 18, 2019 Webinar: Introduction to Evaluations
• Resources (including sample policies, templates, and evaluation guides)
• 2 rounds of office hours for calls with BIT experts for Q&A and support
• Personalized feedback and document review from a BIT advisor
• November 27, 2019 Webinar: Sustaining evaluations through evaluation teams
• December 4, 2019 Webinar: Sustaining evaluations through process and policy
Recommended Participants: Any interested city staff and elected officials interested in running their own randomized field experiment. We highly recommend participants with an opportunity to test a redesigned email communication for this Sprint. For folks who aren’t quite ready to run a trial or who already have lots of experience with field evaluations, we invite you to follow along and join us for the webinar sessions on building and sustaining your evaluation capacity.
Achievable Criteria: 5 Evaluation criteria, 1 General Management criterion
• Your local government has a policy or ordinance that encourages the use of rigorous evaluation methods for practices, programs, and/or policies.
• Your local government has defined standards, methodologies, or tools to help staff rigorously evaluate practices, programs, and/or policies.
• Your local government requires that, as a condition of funding, new or renewed programs will be rigorously evaluated.
• Your local government has a designated leader and/or team responsible for helping departments conduct experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations.
• In the past 12 months, your local government has launched two or more experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations.
• In the past 12 months, your local government has used the results from experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations to make different, or to newly justify, decisions.
Foundations of Advanced Analytics in Government (PA 203.4)
Start Date: October 2, 2019
4 weeks
This online course developed by the Center for Government Excellence will explore the recent use of advanced analytics in US city governments in solving problems and improving outcomes for residents. Participants will gain practical experience in identifying and classifying opportunities for analytics to make an impact and examining analytics projects for evidence of bias.
Content:
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
• Articulate the value of advanced analytics in a variety of scenarios;
• Understand how analysts mitigate bias when working with limited data; and
• Envision how advanced analytics can address operational challenges.
Recommended Participants: Staff responsible for managing city data
Achievable Criteria: 3 Performance Analytics criteria
• Your local government identifies strategic goals, aligns a diverse set of measures with those goals, and uses data to evaluate progress toward them.
• Your local government holds performance management meetings during which it reviews data, discusses insights, and makes decisions about its strategic goals at least quarterly.
• Your local government leaders have the ability to access and incorporate data analysis when necessary for strategic decision-making.
Foundations of Performance Analytics (PA 201.4)
Start Date: October 2, 2019
4 weeks
This online, instructor-facilitated course developed by the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University will provide an introduction to performance analytics principles and their applications in government. Participants will gain practical experience in building or strengthening performance analytics practices and developing innovative solutions to improve government services.
Content:
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
• Assess organizational readiness for performance analytics;
• Advocate for the performance analytics model that best suits an organization’s characteristics and priorities;
• Draft a problem statement for performance analytics; and
• Construct a goal statement for performance analytics.
Recommended Participants: Staff responsible for managing city data
Achievable Criteria: 4 Performance Analytics criteria
• Your local government identifies strategic goals, aligns a diverse set of measures with those goals, and uses data to evaluate progress toward them.
• Your local government holds performance management meetings during which it reviews data, discusses insights, and makes decisions about its strategic goals at least quarterly.
• Your local government regularly shares its strategic goals, performance measures, and progress toward achieving those goals with the public.
• Your local government has documented policies or practices to manage the risk of data breach, loss, or unauthorized manipulation.
Building a Resident-Centered Open Data Program
Start Date: October 28, 2019
8 Weeks
Many open data programs take on the impossible task of trying to make all data usable to all people, but when you design for everyone, you often end up designing for no one. Understanding specific community actors and their specific open data needs is critical to bringing about impact through applications of open data. This Sprint will teach participants how to incorporate user-centered design into open data programs by walking through user research processes to develop user personas and open data use cases. Cities will learn best practices in ethnographic interviewing, as well as learn about the elements of a user story and how to create one. Cities can use this approach to start analyzing demand and tailoring data and information for impactful uses, as well as capturing and telling stories that illustrate open data’s benefits to the community.
What to Expect:
• Understanding the Tactical Data Engagement (TDE) Framework
• Using Sunlight’s Roadmap to Informed Communities
• Developing preliminary user personas and use cases
• Sunlight’s maturity model for open data use
Recommended Participants: City staff, in particular, open data program managers and/or departmental data stewards; community engagement staff; public information officers
Achievable Criteria: 4 Stakeholder Engagement criteria
• Your local government tracks and documents insights about open data users and open data applications, and incorporates user needs into the design and implementation of its open data and transparency practices.
• Your local government provides clear how-to guidance to help residents access and use city data.
• Your local government supports efforts to educate, activate, or upskill partners (e.g., civic groups, vendors, service providers) to better understand and utilize administrative and performance data to deepen community impact.
• Your local government provides a clear process for partnership and collaboration with data users for the purpose of creating, revising, and/or improving the local government’s open data policies and practices.
Foundations of Open Data (DM 203.3)
Start Date: October 30, 2019
Duration: 4 weeks
This online course, developed by the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, will teach you how to evaluate Open Data platforms and engage communities in the use and analysis of public data. Drawing on best practices from successful Open Data programs, you will create strategies to strengthen your own Open Data work. Most importantly, you will be able to effectively manage Open Data programs within government organizations.
- Content:
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
• Understand the key elements of a successful Open Data program and apply them; - • Recognize and mitigate privacy, security, and confidentiality risks;
• Begin to develop components of an operating plan for your Open Data program;
• Grapple with an array of technological considerations and determine the best solutions;
• Participate in or lead an Open Data program within a government organization.
Achievable Criteria: 4 Data Governance criteria
• Your local government maintains a detailed and comprehensive data inventory that makes its data more discoverable and accessible.
• Your local government maintains a documented list of data governance responsibilities and meets at least quarterly to carry out those responsibilities.
• Your local government has and carries out documented policies or practices to improve data quality.
• Your local government has documented policies or practices to protect privacy and confidentiality.
Foundations of Performance Analytics: Practical Applications (PA 201.4)
Start Date: October 30, 2019
Duration: 4 weeks
This online, instructor-facilitated course developed by the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University will provide an introduction to performance analytics principles and their applications in government. Participants will gain practical experience in building or strengthening performance analytics practices and developing innovative solutions to improve government services.
What to Expect:
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
• Assess organizational readiness for performance analytics;
• Advocate for the performance analytics model that best suits an organization’s characteristics and priorities;
• Draft a problem statement for performance analytics; and
• Construct a goal statement for performance analytics.
Recommended Participants: Staff responsible for managing city data
Achievable Criteria: 4 Performance Analytics criteria
• Your local government identifies strategic goals, aligns a diverse set of measures with those goals, and uses data to evaluate progress toward them.
• Your local government holds performance management meetings during which it reviews data, discusses insights, and makes decisions about its strategic goals at least quarterly.
• Your local government regularly shares its strategic goals, performance measures, and progress toward achieving those goals with the public.
• Your local government has documented policies or practices to manage the risk of data breach, loss, or unauthorized manipulation.
Ensuring Opportunity Through Driver’s License Restoration & Reform: What Cities Can Do Now
Start Date: January 9, 2020
Duration: 10 Weeks
In the United States, economic opportunity is often tied to a person having a driver’s license. But today, 11 million people have had their licenses suspended for reasons that have nothing to do with safe driving. The effects of this practice are significant — where the impact of debt-based license suspensions has been studied, 50% of people who lost their licenses also lost their jobs. While state-level legislative reform is needed in order to bring systemic opportunity, cities can take their own actions now to provide more immediate relief for residents who are affected by license suspension. The City of Durham, North Carolina, for example, launched an effort called the Durham Expungement and Restoration Program that to date has ultimately resulted in the dismissal of over 50,000 traffic charges for 35,000 people; none of the dismissed charges were high-risk infractions such as reckless driving or driving under the influence.
As part of its City Solutions work, What Works Cities at Results for America is partnering with the Durham Innovation Team and the national advocacy organization Fines and Fees Justice Center to provide this Sprint. Cities will learn how to take immediate steps toward ending the impact of driver’s license suspensions on their residents’ economic opportunity and to scale the success seen in Durham.
NOTE: This is an issue-area focused Sprint, designed with expert partners from the City of Durham and the Fines and Fees Justice Center to give your city a roadmap to tackling license restoration. All cities that wish to participate need to have completed a What Works Cities Assessment to be eligible. Upon completing an Assessment, your city will receive a unique code giving you an unlimited number of accounts for free access to learning opportunities. Already completed an Assessment and unsure of what your code is? Reach out to govextraining@jhu.edu. Unsure if your city has completed an Assessment? Reach out to CitySolutions@results4america.org.
At the end of this issue-area Sprint, participants will have:
• Gained an understanding of how license suspensions affect residents in their city, including how to identify data and analyze data that allow for an understanding of the scope of the problem in their city;
• Gained an understanding of local approaches for license restoration and reform—in particular, the Durham model for license restoration and the key relationships and processes required to make it successful;
• Obtained a clear picture of the particular policy and political contexts for their license restoration work, including an understanding of applicable state and city laws and ordinances, as well as key stakeholders;
• Built a team, consisting of the necessary members to successfully execute a license restoration project;
• Aligned efforts in support of statewide advocacy strategies to change license suspension laws that are the major drivers of the program; and
• Developed a plan to achieve a set of city-specific restoration goals and goals to reduce the harm of license suspension.
Recommended Audience:
Individual city leaders/staff can sign up for this Sprint, but in order to maximize the opportunity and establish a foundation for long-term success, cities are encouraged to bring together a team of key stakeholders from the outset. Key members of the team could include, but are not limited to, leaders and staff from: Data or Innovation Offices, District or City Attorney’s Offices, local advocacy or other community organizations, local law schools, and/or local court systems, including public defenders, judges, and clerks.
Open Data Policies
Start Date: January 10, 2020
Duration: 4 Weeks
Public policy is essential because it demonstrates public commitment to lasting change. An open data policy should establish formal governance processes to make public data-sharing institutional and sustainable. Open data policy can not only help cities establish what data will be public or kept private, but can also help build public trust by demonstrating the city’s commitment to lasting transparency and accountability. Cities can go one step further and use the policy-drafting process to begin engaging residents in a conversation about what open data they would like to see. Join the Sunlight Foundation for this quick Sprint that will lead you through the process of generating your own open data policy.
Recommended Participants: City staff, particularly from cities just starting out with open data
Achievable Criteria: Participating in this Sprint will help your city achieve or partially achieve an Open Data Criterion
• Your local government has a publicly available, codified open data policy that commits to data transparency and proactive public disclosure of local government data and data practices.
Introduction to Data Sharing Agreements
Start Date: February 12, 2020
Duration: 4 Weeks
Data sharing between governments and their partners is often helpful for creating software applications, conducting research, developing or improving policies, and more. Open data programs provide a clear route for sharing and retrieving unrestricted data. However, it is often in the public interest for governments to provide restricted data – that which has limitations imposed by national, regional, or local laws, policies, and rules – to third parties. When sharing restricted data, governments have an obligation to hold third parties accountable to protect the public and preserve trust.
At the end of the Sprint, participants will be able to:
• List the reasons why it is important to develop data sharing agreements.
• Describe how other localities have developed successful data sharing.
• Identify the key elements of a data sharing agreement.
• Determine how your city could begin to develop data sharing agreements.
Recommended Audience: Staff responsible for managing city data.
Achievable Criteria: Participating in this Sprint will help your city achieve or partially achieve 1 Data Governance criteron
• Your local government has a documented and user-friendly process to expedite the sharing of data — including protected data — both cross-departmentally within the local government and with trusted outside partners.
Developing RFPs
Start Date: February 19, 2020
Duration: 8 Weeks
Procurement is one of the most powerful tools in a city’s toolkit. By creating data-driven relationships with service providers, cities can improve provider performance and outcomes for residents. Writing a results-driven Request for Proposals (RFP) is the first step in establishing this data-driven relationship. In this Sprint, led by the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab (GPL), up to six cities will work with the GPL, week-by-week, to apply results-driven contracting strategies to an upcoming human services RFP. The Sprint will begin with a training on results-driven contracting strategies, including examples from the GPL’s work with cities. In the following weeks, cities will draft problem statements, outline goals, establish performance metrics, develop scopes of work, and identify evaluation criteria to effectively write a results-driven human services RFP.
What RFPs to Develop:
Cities should select an upcoming (target RFP release after Q2 2020) human/social services RFP for this sprint. RFPs could focus on homelessness, affordable housing, workforce development, veterans services, senior/elder care services, family support services, early childhood/youth services, anti-violence services, or behavioral health services.
Recommended Audience:
Cities should designate 2–4 city staff members (with ideally one procurement staff and one program staff from the RFP-issuing agency) who will be involved in drafting and reviewing the scope of work for the selected procurement to attend.
Time Commitment: ~ 3 hours/week, including participating in calls and completing assignments for each week.
Achievable Criteria: 3 Results-Driven Contracting criteria
• Your local government defines strategic goals and desired outcomes for key procurements, contracts, and/or grants.
• Your local government measures outcomes, impacts, and/or cost-effectiveness for key procurements, contracts, and/or grants.
• Your local government structures procurements, contracts, and/or grants to align the vendor’s incentives with the local government’s strategic goals.
Open Data Policies
Start Date: March 17, 2020
Duration: 3 Weeks
Public policy is essential because it demonstrates public commitment to lasting change. An open data policy should establish formal governance processes to make public data-sharing institutional and sustainable. Open data policy can not only help cities establish what data will be public or kept private, but can also help build public trust by demonstrating the city’s commitment to lasting transparency and accountability. Cities can go one step further and use the policy-drafting process to begin engaging residents in a conversation about what open data they would like to see. Join the Sunlight Foundation for this quick Sprint that will lead you through the process of generating your own open data policy.
What to expect:
• March 10: Introductory email
• March 17 @ 3:30pm EDT: Webinar/discussion
• March 24 @ 3:30pm EDT: Webinar/discussion
• Week of March 30: “Help desk” availability for one-on-one assistance
Recommended Participants: City staff, particularly from cities just starting out with open data
Achievable Criteria: Participating in this Sprint will help your city achieve or partially achieve an Open Data Criterion:
• Your local government has a publicly available, codified open data policy that commits to data transparency and proactive public disclosure of local government data and data practices.
Developing a Data Governance Team
Start Date: April 15th, 2020
Duration: 4 Weeks
A data governance board is a group of people who work together to develop an organization’s policies and practices in order to treat data as a strategic asset. Join WWC partner the Center for Government Excellence (GovEx) at Johns Hopkins University for a Sprint designed to help you build the best data governance team. We’ll walk you through how to determine the best focus area that your team should consider supporting, executing, and/or developing policy around.
Recommended Audience: Staff responsible for managing city-data.
Achievable Criteria: 1 Data Governance criterion
• Your local government maintains a documented list of data governance responsibilities and meets at least quarterly to carry out those responsibilities.
Partnerships for Quality Housing & Eviction Prevention
Start Date: June 4, 2020
Registration Deadline: May 28, 2020
Duration: 12 Weeks
Update: This learning opportunity has reopened for registration (as of April 30th) and for launch on June 4th. Housing stability and housing quality remain critically important during this crisis and this learning opportunity will support cities in addressing long-term housing instability and quality concerns. While this Sprint is not directly aimed at addressing the most urgent policy and programmatic responses related to COVID-19 and housing, it will address the impacts COVID-19 is having on existing housing stability and quality strategies and how cities can adapt these approaches to work in today’s current context.
As part of its City Solutions work, What Works Cities at Results for America is partnering with the Syracuse Innovation Team, and the national organization ChangeLab Solutions, to provide this Sprint to help cities explore how they can use proactive rental inspection programs to increase housing quality and stability for residents. Cities will learn how to develop partnerships, build community relationships, and use relevant data to design and implement inspection programs that have been shown to improve cities’ ability to identify health- and safety-related housing code violations and increase compliance, all in service of bettering housing quality and preventing unnecessary evictions.
NOTE: This is an issue-area focused Sprint, designed with expert partners from the City of Syracuse and ChangeLab Solutions to give your city an opportunity to explore how you can go about implementing or improving your own PRI program. All cities that wish to participate need to have completed a What Works Cities Assessment to be eligible. Upon completing an Assessment, your city will receive a unique code giving you an unlimited number of accounts for free access to learning opportunities. Already completed an Assessment and unsure of what your code is? Reach out to govextraining@jhu.edu. Unsure if your city has completed an Assessment? Reach out to CitySolutions@results4america.org.
At the end of this issue-area Sprint, participants will have:
- Identified local housing disparities (common health risks associated with housing specific to their community) and understand equity implications of implementing a proactive inspection program;
- Identified and understood the implication of any state laws affecting the establishment of a local PRI program;
- Identified key local stakeholders (e.g., Legal Aid, tenants organizations, health/housing coalitions, local champions) and began the community engagement process toward the design and adoption of a program to increase housing quality and stability;
- Assessed baseline community need and readiness for the adoption of such a program;
- Identified initial policy and program goals for the inspection program to be vetted by their community; and
- Completed a City Action Plan, including community engagement, that outlines next steps and goals beyond the 12-week sprint period.
Recommended Audience:
Individual city leaders/staff can sign up for this Sprint, but in order to maximize the opportunity and establish a foundation for long-term success, cities are encouraged to bring together a team of key stakeholders from the outset. Key members of the team could include, but are not limited to, leaders and staff from: municipal or county agencies in charge of housing inspection, code enforcement, public health, and/or community and neighborhood development/planning; departmental data analytics staff; and closely affiliated non-profit organization partners.
Fines and Fees Justice in Response to COVID-19
Start Date: June 3rd & 10th
Duration: 2 Weeks
During the last recession, state and local governments dramatically increased the number and amount of fines and fees imposed on people for minor traffic and municipal code violations, misdemeanors and felonies in order to fill budget gaps. That regressive system of taxation continues to cause enormous harm in economically vulnerable communities, and particularly communities of color. Those communities suffered most in the last recession and will suffer again in this one. In response to COVID-19 and through the opening up process, local governments and courts can improve public safety and health by taking steps to eliminate fees and make fines fair and proportionate. This two-part webinar will first discuss best practice policies and programs, identifying a wide range of measures that cities can and should immediately implement in light of COVID-19 and in the opening up process. The second webinar will feature leaders from cities and states that are leading the way in changing fines and fees policies — such as San Francisco, Chicago, Reading (PA), and Minnesota, and Colorado.
Recommended Participants: Local government staff and county/state government staff, Mayor’s Office, Local Council members, Courts.
Outcomes/Learning Objectives: Raising awareness of the issues related to municipal and state reliance on fines and fees during economic pressures (court fees, driver’s license suspension, collections, enforcement of traffic and other low level offenses, etc.), provide policy approaches that support public health and the release of economic pressures on individual lives, and fines and fees policies that serve their residents during this difficult time
Evaluations Foundations
Start Date: June 18th, 2020
Duration: 12 Weeks
Why do evaluations matter? City governments take responsibility for providing a wide range of necessary services, and resources are often limited, so every dollar is a trade-off! Through rigorous evaluation, we can build an evidence base and continually improve the quality and efficiency of our programs and services.
In this Sprint, you’ll learn the basic principles of evaluation, apply them to your own real-world challenge, and discuss ways to build up your ongoing evaluation capacity. This Sprint is open to all cities to audit and up to 6 cities will be selected to develop and run your own randomized trial. All participants will join BIT each week for webinars, calls, and resources with step-by-step information on how to run your own randomized trial and assess your city’s next steps to encourage continuous testing and improvement.
Recommended Participants: Any interested city staff and elected officials interested in running their own randomized field experiment. We highly recommend participants with an opportunity to test a redesigned email communication for this Sprint. For folks who aren’t quite ready to run a trial or who already have lots of experience with field evaluations, we invite you to follow along and join us for the webinar sessions on building and sustaining your evaluation capacity.
Achievable Criteria: 5 Evaluation criteria, 1 General Management criterion
• Your local government has a policy or ordinance that encourages the use of rigorous evaluation methods for practices, programs, and/or policies.
• Your local government has defined standards, methodologies, or tools to help staff rigorously evaluate practices, programs, and/or policies.
• Your local government requires that, as a condition of funding, new or renewed programs will be rigorously evaluated.
• Your local government has a designated leader and/or team responsible for helping departments conduct experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations.
• In the past 12 months, your local government has launched two or more experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations.
• In the past 12 months, your local government has used the results from experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations to make different, or to newly justify, decisions.
Testing Guaranteed Income as an Innovative Solution to Economic Instability
Start Date: October 8, 2020
Duration: 7 Weeks
As part of its City Solutions work, What Works Cities is partnering with Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI) and the Economic Security Project to offer cities an opportunity to learn more about the research behind guaranteed income, its benefits, and to explore the first steps of implementing a guaranteed income program at the local level, as well as how to join other leaders around the country calling for a federal guaranteed income.
NOTE: This is an issue-area focused Sprint designed with expert partners. All cities that wish to participate need to complete a What Works Cities Assessment to be eligible. Upon completing an Assessment, your city will receive a unique code giving you an unlimited number of accounts for free access to learning opportunities. Already completed an Assessment and unsure of what your code is? Reach out to govextraining@jhu.edu. Unsure if your city has completed an Assessment? Reach out to CitySolutions@results4america.org.
Participating cities will join a six-session online learning opportunity with a cohort of peers from other cities to gain:
• A firm understanding of the history, available research, and needed research around guaranteed income;
• The actions necessary to launch a task force or working group to explore a guaranteed income demonstration in their cities;
• The actions necessary to develop a guaranteed income demonstration; and
• Concrete next steps to engage with MGI to collectively advocate for a federal guaranteed income.
Recommended Audience:
Individual city leaders/staff are able to participate in this WWC Sprint, however, cities are encouraged to bring together a team of key stakeholders in order to maximize the opportunity and establish a foundation for long-term success.
Participating members of the team could include, but are not limited to:
• Mayor’s Office
• City Council
• Economic Development Department
• Health and Human Services
• Department of Neighborhoods/Community Engagement
• Closely affiliated non-profit organization partner
• Community foundations and other funders
Cultivating a Sustainable and Durable Data-Informed Government
Workshop Date: November 2, 2020
Time: 2:00-3:30pm ET
Duration: 1.5 Hours
Developing the right technical skill sets for staff is critical, but it is the execution of strategies focused on cultivating and growing data-informed practices that distinguishes the cities that let data-informed practices take root from those that die on the vine. Cities that build commitment and culture are more likely to realize results, whether it’s better stewardship of taxpayer dollars, increasing positive outcomes for residents, or building authentic engagement with the community. Yet building culture is extremely challenging and requires consistent, visible demonstrations of commitment from leadership and staff. At What Works Cities, we have observed the power of commitment to grow an intentional culture.
In this workshop, learn from Results for America about how your city can build a data-positive culture through long-term strategies as well as small-input, big-impact steps your city can take immediately. You will learn through real-life tactical examples from other cities.
Note: This session is open to all city staff, and will provide cities with the opportunity to identify barriers to leveraging data as a strategic asset, and brainstorm solutions with their peers. Pre-work will be sent out on October 26th, and optional office hours will be held on November 9th.
Recommended Audience: Open to all city staff.
Achievable Criteria: 1 General Management criteria
• Your local government has documented and carried out strategies to embed, deepen, and/or spread the strategic use of data within and across your government