The City Data Alliance is a collaborative initiative for 100 participating mayors from North, Central and South America to receive a six-month acceleration program, including education, consultation and coaching, to help improve and expand data use by local governments.
The 20 mayors joining include 11 from U.S. cities and nine from Latin American cities.
“These 20 mayors were selected because of their leadership using data to inform decision-making and respond to challenges, and this program will help them take that work to the next level,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and 108th mayor of New York City in the announcement.
The U.S. mayors joining the initiative are from the following cities: Buffalo, N.Y.; Charlotte, N.C.; Glendale, Calif.; Jackson, Miss.; Little Rock, Ark.; Montgomery, Ala.; Rochester, N.Y.; Seattle, Wash.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Syracuse, N.Y.; and Washington, D.C.
The City Data Alliance was established in 2022 through a $60 million investment from Bloomberg Philanthropies. The new mayoral additions this week brings the total number of participating cities to 42.
The new mayors will participate in a three-day immersion with data leaders at Johns Hopkins University. They will work together to better use data to understand and address community needs.
The data experts these mayors will engage with at the kick-off meeting include Denice Ross, U.S. chief data scientist for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Beth Blauer, associate vice provost for public-sector innovation at Johns Hopkins University; and Baltimore Chief Data Officer Justin Elszasz.
The City Data Alliance builds on the work of the Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Certification. This initiative was started in 2015 and was expanded internationally in 2022.
