Mayor Dewey Bartlett announced today that Tulsa is one of the first cities selected to participate in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities - a $42 million initiative to help 100 mid-sized American cities enhance their use of data and evidence to improve the lives of residents.
Tulsa is one of eight cities that will receive expert on-the-ground support and peer-to-peer learning opportunities to make local government more effective. Since the launch of the What Works Cities initiative in April 2015, mayors from every region of the country have expressed their desire for assistance to address local challenges using data and evidence and within the first six weeks alone, 112 U.S. cities across 40 states applied.
"Making better use of data is one of the best opportunities cities have to solve problems and deliver better results for their citizens. The first group of cities in the What Works Cities program represents the range of local leaders across the country who is committed to using data and evidence to improve people's everyday lives," said Michael R. Bloomberg.
What Works Cities collaborates with participating municipalities to review their current use of data and evidence, understand where they are utilizing best practices and identify areas for growth. Through its expert and world-class partners, What Works Cities then designs a customized approach to help mayors apply tools to address a variety of local issues including economic development, public health, job creation, and blight.
Tulsa was selected to work with the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University and the Sunlight Foundation. Both groups will work with the City of Tulsa to enhance the City’s current open data system by releasing data in a more useful and responsive format for the public. The City will also establish a performance management system which allows the City to track its progress toward strategic goals and share progress toward these goals with the public.
“We are excited about the opportunity to show our public commitment to open data and delve deeper internally to make more data from every City department available and accessible to all,” Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett said. “Our hope is to not only expand upon our open data and transparency efforts, but use data to ensure resources are being allocated in line with citizen priorities and the best services possible are being delivered to Tulsans.”