With the support and guidance of Results for America, the Local Government Fellows led their governments toward advanced stages of data-driven and evidence-based policymaking in order to address major policy challenges in their communities. The 16 cities and counties represented in the Fellowship collectively represent more than 29 million people and $143 billion in local government spending.
Managed by Results for America, the Local Government Fellowship helped local government leaders tackle policy challenges for their cities and counties in areas such as crime, education, health, poverty and energy. Each Fellow established and implemented a two- to three-year policy roadmap to improve outcomes on a specific policy challenge.
As part of their participation, the Local Government Fellows completed self-assessments of their governments’ use of evidence and data in policy and budget decisions and pursued individual priority projects, including developing research partnerships.
The Local Government Fellows participated in quarterly two-day strategic thinking convenings that serve as an opportunity to report on progress, learn new strategies and skills, build a network of peers and gain exposure to national experts. In addition, Fellows participated in regular progress calls. Together, these activities lead to significant advances in local governments’ use of data and evidence in public decision-making.
Learn More About the Local Government Fellows
.
.
Results for America launched the inaugural cohort of the Fellowship in September 2014, with local government leaders representing 11 cities and counties. This inaugural cohort made important progress in building and using evidence in policies and programs. The findings and results from the first cohort of the Fellowship can be found in this March 2016 Results for America Invest in What Works Policy Series report.
After important progress and early impacts from this first phase of the Fellowship, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation generously invested in a second phase the Local Government Fellowship, which Results for America launched in June 2016 with 15 Local Government Fellows. Beginning in 2017, the George Kaiser Family Foundation generously supported an additional fellow from Tulsa city government to join the program. In the second phase, Results for America increased the size of the cohort from 11 to 16 jurisdictions due to increased demand among local governments to advance their data-driven practices. The enhanced cohort created a larger group of champions seeking to enhance the effectiveness of their governments through evidence-based policymaking. The accomplishments and lessons learned from the second phase of the Fellowship can be found in this November 2018 Results for America Invest in What Works Policy Series report.