Michael Bloomberg wants America to have smarter, problem-solving cities, and he’s banking on data to make it happen.
Bloomberg Philanthropies announced the launch of a $42 million initiative on Monday that will help 100 mid-sized U.S. cities better utilize data to serve their communities. The What Works Cities program partners with a handful of supportive organizations — such as Results for America and the Sunlight Foundation – to help local governments manage and analyze data to serve residents.
The initiative — which is now accepting applications from cities with populations between 100,000 and 1 million — will create open data programs that boost government transparency, help cities incorporate data into policy decision-making and fund efforts that best deliver positive results for citizens, among other functions, according to a press release from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
“Technology has unleashed an explosion of new information for city halls to work with,” Bloomberg wrote in a blog posted on The Huffington Post on Monday. “The possibilities for how cities can use that data to improve lives — and improve the way services are provided to citizens — are limitless.”