Providing World-Class Consulting to Cities
Bloomberg Associates is the philanthropic municipal consulting arm of Bloomberg Philanthropies. Founded in 2014, our Bloomberg Associates team works with client cities on a wide array of projects to improve residents’ quality of life. Across this work, we take a strategic, collaborative, and results-oriented approach to make cities stronger, safer, more equitable, and more efficient.
Overview
19 cities engaged since 2014
$3.3 billion in city and private funding invested in projects we supported or created
55,000 hours of pro bono support provided in 2022
Partner City Spotlights
Chicago, Illinois
Bloomberg Associates has supported a series of projects in Chicago. To address disparities in tree canopy coverage, we helped create the “Our Roots Chicago” campaign, which will use a data tool developed by our team to prioritize underserved neighborhoods and plant 75,000 trees over the next five years. We also helped the city’s Chief Data Technology Officer organize a new Digital Service Office, including launching a website, assisting with public outreach, and producing the Chicago Digital Equity Plan, summarizing the city’s plan to expand internet access to all residents.
Detroit, Michigan
Following the 2020 U.S. Census, which suggested that Detroit suffered a 10% drop in population, our team successfully worked with the city in a comprehensive process to find those who were missed during the 2020 count. Detroit submitted the results to the Census Bureau, which approved them and updated the city’s census data. In a major win, the decision will provide millions of dollars in additional federal funding for the city over the remainder of the decade.
Lima, Peru
In Lima, Bloomberg Associates helped expand and improve access to public space. Our team created a toolkit to help target spaces that would benefit the greatest number of residents, with a special focus on areas that could be safe and welcoming for children to play. After an initial rollout with 17 public spaces, the program has grown to include over 50 parks, parklets, and other areas throughout Lima, benefiting residents of all ages.
London, United Kingdom
We partnered with London to create a network of major institutions working together to support the recovery from COVID-19, address social and economic inequalities, and fight the climate crisis. Our team has provided strategy, policy, and project management support, and these institutions have pledged to dedicate hundreds of millions of pounds to local procurement and hiring, mentoring for young people, and facility decarbonization. We also helped design and launch the city’s Business Climate Challenge, which partners with local Business Improvement Districts to provide free technical assistance that helps businesses reduce their energy use and emissions. In the program’s first year, participants reduced their energy use by an average of 16%, surpassing the 10% target. It has now scaled to support more than 200 businesses across the city.
Milan, Italy
Our Bloomberg Associates team is working with Milan on a school-based iteration of the city’s Piazza Aperte (“Open Plazas”) program, which transformed and reclaimed over 40 plazas and public spaces for pedestrians with our support. We are helping to select and implement projects at schools across the city, focused on improving safety and quality of life for students as well as local residents.
Global Reach, Local Impact: Milan
Newark, New Jersey
We supported Newark’s creation of a new “Newark360” master plan, which will guide the city’s land use, development, preservation, sustainability, and neighborhood revitalization efforts over the next 10 years. After extensive community engagement, the plan was adopted in September 2022 and awarded “Outstanding Plan of the Year” by the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association. We also worked with the city on a comprehensive, data-driven plan to end chronic homelessness over the next three years. Developed with more than 100 public, private, and nonprofit partners, as well as dedicated residents, it focuses on building partnerships, expanding housing, and eliminating barriers to service.
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is our newest client city, where our projects are in their early stages. Our team is working with the tourism bureau to ensure that major events hosted in the city are selected strategically and provide valuable community benefits. We are also helping the Office of Arts & Culture gather feedback to strengthen communications and better collaborate with key stakeholders. Our work will continue to expand moving forward, as we support the city’s efforts to increase affordable housing, improve access to good jobs, and reconnect residents to the area’s natural resources.
Podcast
Listen to Learn How We Work With Client Cities to Address Key Housing Affordability Issues
Tampa, Florida
Our team began working in Tampa in 2022, where we helped to develop Tampa Soulwalk, an art and heritage trail that tells the rich history of Tampa’s Black communities and the city’s diverse arts and culture sector. The trail spans 46 miles and 25 neighborhoods and includes nearly 100 stops that visitors can explore, with more than 25 public art installations in development. Bloomberg Associates also helped design a bike path that connects the city’s downtown with the University of Tampa and major cultural institutions, providing safer crossings for thousands of students, pedestrians, and cyclists every day. We are continuing to build out other work in Tampa to expand affordable housing, support workforce development, and improve tree canopy cover.
Bloomberg Associates program
Top photo: Bloomberg Associates supported the creation of Tampa Soulwalk, which celebrates the rich history of the city’s Black communities.
Providing World-Class Consulting to Mayors
Bloomberg Associates is the philanthropic consulting arm of Bloomberg Philanthropies. Founded in 2014, Bloomberg Associates works with client cities to improve residents’ quality of life, taking a strategic, collaborative, and results-oriented approach to make cities stronger, safer, more equitable, and more efficient. This team of experts has worked on hundreds of projects to ignite change and transform cities’ visions into reality. Participating cities have invested more than $2.8 billion in initiatives the team has supported or created, and, in 2021, Bloomberg Associates provided each client city with an average of 7,700 hours in pro bono support.
Stories of Impact
DuRon Netsell
Founder and Principal, Street Smarts Design + Build
Partner City Spotlight
Atlanta, Georgia
Strengthening workforce development in the entertainment industry
Bloomberg Associates and the city launched the Set South Production Assistant Training Program, a free program designed to connect underserved and underemployed Atlantans to careers in the local film and TV industry. The inaugural class of 15 trainees graduated in 2021, and the program’s goal is to graduate more than 100 trainees in the next two years.
Expanding supportive services through a city diversion center
The team helped the city develop the concept and operational model for a Diversion Center that will provide supportive services to people who suffer from behavioral health issues as an alternative to placing them in jail. The center will divert up to 15,000 cases per year from the justice system and represents a historic partnership between the city and county.
Chicago, Illinois
Improving transparency around workforce diversity and inclusion
Bloomberg Associates expanded work with Chicago to develop the public-facing Workforce Equity Dashboard, which will track workforce diversity and inclusion. Dashboard features include salary data, a map of employees from different wards, and snapshots of the city workforce over time.
Detroit, Michigan
Expunging criminal records that limit job opportunities
Following the passage of a newly expanded law, Bloomberg Associates drove the process to increase access to criminal record expungement for qualified residents, clearing over 700 criminal records. On average, beneficiaries have experienced a 23 percent wage increase.
Breaking ground on a new city greenway
The team supported the city’s launch of the first phase of the 27.5-mile Joe Louis Greenway, a multi-use path being built over 13 miles of abandoned rail line, which will connect dozens of neighborhoods to a regional rail system. Bloomberg Associates is helping Detroit raise over $210 million for construction and continued maintenance.
Podcast
Hear How Detroit Is Helping Eligible People Clear Their Criminal Records
Lima, Peru
Redesigning public spaces to improve accessibility for all
Bloomberg Associates created a design evaluation toolkit for the agency that manages Lima’s public parks, helping to improve the accessibility and experience at 12 downtown parks – with plans to advise on 42 additional parks throughout the city.
London, United Kingdom
Mapping residents most vulnerable to climate change
Bloomberg Associates produced an online mapping tool to identify areas in London most exposed to climate risks, with a particular focus on zones with high concentrations of vulnerable residents, such as children and seniors. The maps are now an important resource used by the city to determine new investments and climate initiatives.
Milan, Italy
Promoting tourism and city marketing efforts
The team shared guidance on tourism recovery, best-practice research, and strategic planning to help strengthen Milan’s reputation as an international tourist destination, particularly as the city recovers from COVID-19.
Newark, New Jersey
Creating a community-centered process for public art
Bloomberg Associates helped the city’s arts and cultural affairs division create a process to commission a new monument in honor of Harriet Tubman and New Jersey’s role in the Underground Railroad. Designed to be a welcoming gathering space in downtown Newark, the monument project involves community members in every step of its development.
Launching the city’s first shared bike and e-scooter program
The team collaborated with the city and partners to develop and roll out Newark’s first-ever shared “micro-mobility” program, providing affordable shared bikes and e-scooters to residents. In the program’s first six months, operating partners registered over 170,000 trips, reducing congestion and emissions.
Across the United States
Leveraging federal funding for city COVID-19 recovery efforts
With Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Government Innovation team, Bloomberg Associates launched an e311 program in partnership with the U.S. Conference of Mayors to help city leaders identify, obtain, and retain federal funding for COVID-19 response and recovery efforts using an online portal, webinars, and one-on-one guidance.
Bloomberg Associates program
Top photo: Residents and visitors in Milan, Italy, enjoy a redesigned plaza space,
created by the city in partnership with Bloomberg Associates.