November 7, 2016Op-ed

Medium: Early Lessons from Philadelphia

by Anjali Chainani and Liza Rodriguez

Local/ Local Government Fellows/ 2016/

Earlier this summer, Philadelphia was selected to participate in the Results for America Local Government Fellowship. The purpose of the Fellowship is to give 15 local government leaders the necessary support and peer network to consistently use data and evidence to make better policy decisions and improve residents’ lives.

We’re in favor of anything that improves the lives of our fellow citizens and were excited about this opportunity. But we had to ask ourselves: how could we get the most out of the Fellowship for Philadelphia?

We were encouraged to learn that the first steps of the Fellowship include a thorough self-assessment to learn how Philadelphia currently uses data and evidence to drive decisions, and then drafting a policy roadmap so that we could show exactly where we want Philadelphia to go in the future. Most recently, we got a chance to meet the other 14 Local Government Fellows over two days in Washington, D.C. and hear what they’re doing, share what works for our city and learn how we can do better.

Before arriving to the September convening we wondered: Would other Fellows share their thoughts openly and honestly? Are other cities facing similar challenges? Would we get enough out of this experience?

Four months into our Fellowship, the answers are yes, yes and yes! Here are some of the lessons we’ve learned so far:

It is hard being a data and evidence champion in local government — but it can be done

We face immense challenges in local government when thinking about using data and evidence to drive decisions. This includes something as seemingly straightforward as sharing data across government agencies and departments. Sometimes this is because of legal restrictions, and sometimes we’re using antiquated technology. The good news? If we can identify the root causes of intractable issues and track progress toward major outcomes, we can make a big difference. Take the issues of wellbeing and health in Philadelphia: one great example from our city is CARES — where human services data is integrated on a daily basis and used to make strategic policy decisions and drive relevant research projects. For Philadelphia, expanding these efforts to share more data across other government agencies and departments is a goal we are actively working towards.

To create a culture of evidence-based policymaking, we must rely on and build off of many types of evidence

Simply having a performance management system or a data integration system is not enough to effectively use data to drive policy decisions. Leaders must demand evidence at every stage. Open data, descriptive research studies, financial and cost data, survey statistics, program administrative data and many other strategies, when combined, create a powerful learning organization with a culture of continual improvement.

There is so much we can learn from our peers in other cities and counties

Over the course of two days in September, we learned from more than 20 experts who currently work or recently worked in local government. Connecting with other champions of evidence-based policy allows us to share our ideas, get inspiration, and build knowledge about what works in various contexts. Reading an article or case study is helpful, but it doesn’t compare with hearing from people first-hand, being able to ask follow-up questions and continuing the conversation over a year (and beyond). For example, Theresa Reno-Weber, Chief Performance Officer, City of Louisville and Results for America Local Government Fellow, shared how Louisville has prioritized this work and invested in its data and evidence infrastructure.

Some great tips from Louisville’s work include:

  • Invest in an evidence infrastructure if you want it to be transformative. Louisville has a total workforce of 6,000 employees and a performance management team of 14!
  • Train city employees in Lean and Six Sigma, which builds staff capacity around process improvement methodologies.
  • Implement a structured program to develop internal performance management champions in departments.
  • Survey employees to collect performance and process improvement ideas and implement them.
  • Convene employees who submitted ideas, train them, and start an “Executive Fellows” program, which provides a $2,000 professional development incentive and enables fellows to work on cross-functional (cross-departmental) projects.

Get outside your own bubble to learn from national expert

During our convening in Washington, we heard presentations from J-PAL North America and Federal Agency partners who provided opportunities to learn from different perspectives about how to use data and evidence to inform policy decisions. For example, we learned that the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation has developed a clear and concise evaluation policy that applies to all offices/programs within ACF and which provides guidance on when and how to approach evaluation. This policy contributes to cultivating and solidifying an agency culture focused on learning from evidence and outcomes and continually improving program design and delivery.

We have questions left to answer

Can Philadelphia use ACF’s policy as a framework for our own local policy? We currently lack a citywide research and evaluation policy. There is no set standard for when we conduct an evaluation of a particular program or policy, or a guide for what kinds of evaluations would best be suited to those programs or policies. In addition, it would be good to develop a system where we disseminate evaluation findings in a way that are convenient and useful to practitioners and policymakers.

Through the Fellowship, Results for America is helping connect local leaders across the country to better understand how to transform challenges into great opportunities by using data and evidence to consistently create positive outcomes for communities. The movement to use more rigorous evidence and high-quality data in government is taking hold here in Philadelphia and with more collaboration and hard work, we will be well-positioned to improve outcomes city-wide.

Anjali Chainani is Director of Policy for the City of Philadelphia and a Results for America Local Government Fellow; Liza Rodriguez is Deputy Commissioner for Performance Management & Accountability for the Philadelphia Department of Human Services.