Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced eight cities that will make up the first round of winners from the foundation’s “What Works Cities Initiative”.
The $42 million initiative will choose 100 mid-sized cities to help improve their use of data-driven decision making, and provide better municipal services. The support will come in the form of expert consulting and peer-to-peer counseling.
The initiative launched in April 2015. Within the first six weeks, 112 U.S. cities across 40 states applied to be a part of the program.
The winning cites are Chattanooga, Tennessee; Jackson, Mississippi; Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; Mesa, Arizona; New Orleans, Louisiana; Seattle, Washington; and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Each city has proposed its own plan. Some of them, like the one from Jackson, Mississippi include implementing an open data policy for the first time. Others include strengthening existing programs and looking at enhancing performance.
More winners will be announced each year until 2017.
