Follow the Data Podcast: A Prescription for Hope in the Opioid Epidemic
April 17, 2018
In the United States, over two million people are addicted to opioids and an average of 115 people die every day from opioid overdoses. It is a complicated issue that requires multifaceted solutions, with engagement and action from many stakeholders.
In this episode, Dr. Kelly Henning, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Health Program Lead, speaks with Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is also director of the school’s Bloomberg American Health Initiative, which was launched with a $300 million gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
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A Public Art Project’s Ripple Effect on Neighboring Communities
April 16, 2018
By Madeline Fletcher, Executive Director of Newburgh Community Land Bank
Just 60 miles north of Manhattan, in the post-industrial Hudson River city of Newburgh – a town gutted by urban renewal and crippled by the foreclosure crisis – the Newburgh Community Land Bank has been working in overdrive to give vacant and abandoned properties new life. We are a quasi-public non-profit agency that acquires titles of abandoned properties. Our ultimate goal is to help a community provide livable homes and build strong neighborhoods.
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Drowning: A silent epidemic
April 11, 2018
By Kelly Larson, Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Health team
Drowning is often considered a “silent epidemic” due to the lack of attention it receives around the world. Bloomberg Philanthropies is dedicated to addressing this under-recognized public health issue. Our work began in 2012, with a study on the effectiveness of community daycares and playpens in Bangladesh for roughly 70,000 children under the age of 5. The study showed a 74 percent reduction in drowning deaths for children in daycare. These children also demonstrated increased cognitive development.
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Follow the Data Podcast: Untapped American Talent
April 2, 2018
In the United States, research shows less than 50 percent of high-achieving, lower-income students apply to a selective college or university despite the fact that they are talented and have great qualifications. And only 6 percent of the students at top colleges and universities are from lower-income backgrounds.
Today’s episode explores how colleges and universities are seeing this problem and doing something about it. College presidents are joining together in the American Talent Initiative or ATI, a program to increase the number of low- and moderate-income students enrolled at schools with the highest graduation rates. Their goal? To accept, enroll and graduate an additional 50,000 of these students by 2025.
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Innovation coaches offer their top tips to city leaders
March 19, 2018
This week, teams from 35 city halls across the United States are getting a crash course in how to take a good idea and test, learn, and adapt to make it better.
They’re the Champion Cities — finalists in the 2018 Mayors Challenge to find bold ideas for solving cities’ toughest problems, including everything from climate change and homelessness, to public health and infrastructure. We awarded each of them up to $100,000 to develop their ideas over a six-month testing phase. One city will win a grand prize of $5 million in October, while four others will win $1 million.
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Follow the Data Podcast: Reducing Tobacco Use, A Year in Review
March 19, 2018
In honor of the winners of the 2018 Bloomberg Philanthropies Tobacco Awards and the progress these countries have made, we revisit one of our favorite podcast episodes about the worldwide fight to reduce tobacco use. This episode’s conversation is between Neena Prasad of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Health team, Yolonda Richardson, from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and Jose Luis Castro, executive director of the Union and CEO of Vital Strategies.
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3 Ways to Promote a Culture and Practice of Collaboration
March 15, 2018
By Patricia E. Harris, CEO of Bloomberg Philanthropies
Mayors often come into office with bold ideas for tackling the toughest issues – whether it’s gun violence, school readiness, homelessness, or workforce development. And if they don’t know it before they get to city hall, one of the first things they learn upon arrival is that they can’t go it alone.
The truth is that the most successful and sustainable solutions demand the buy-in, brainpower, and resources of stakeholders across a city, including universities, nonprofits, businesses, foundations, and neighborhood groups.
Collaboration across these sectors was key to all that Mike Bloomberg accomplished in his 12 years as mayor of New York City. It has also been key to our work at Bloomberg Philanthropies, where we’ve sought partnerships with other foundations and helped city leaders in hundreds of cities tackle major challenges – often by tapping wisdom, creativity, and resources from citizens, community groups, and businesses.
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2018 Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards for Global Tobacco Control: Meet the Winning Organizations
March 7, 2018
Each year, nearly seven million people worldwide are killed by tobacco use, mostly in developing nations. The 2018 winners highlight the progress being made to control tobacco use and show the effectiveness of the MPOWER strategies, developed by WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases Mike Bloomberg and former WHO Director-General Margaret Chan in 2008.
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Follow the Data Podcast Episode 17: Rwandan Women Rebuilding Their Lives – Brick by Brick
March 6, 2018
Our newest episode of Follow the Data features a conversation between Verna Eggleston, who leads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Women’s Economic Development program, and Joy Rwamwenge, the director of the Women’s Opportunity Center in Kayonza, Rwanda. And at the end of the show, we also speak with Laurie Adams, the President and CEO of Women for Women International, tells listeners how to get involved with the organization.
Women for Women International opened its Women’s Opportunity Center in Kayonza in 2013. The facility is a six-classroom campus, with a bed & breakfast, restaurant, community garden and a local coffee café. The goal of the center aligns with the Rwanda government’s overarching 2020 vision – to create new economic opportunities and strengthen social infrastructure for rural women. By bridging the gap between urban buyers and rural farmers, the center provides space for education, business development, entrepreneurial activities, and networking.
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Winning the Fight Against Big Tobacco
February 26, 2018
By Dr. Kelly Henning, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Health lead
Tobacco use is responsible for more than seven million deaths each year worldwide. While that number is shocking, these deaths are preventable if governments and philanthropy work together to combat the tactics of Big Tobacco. On March 7th, the 17th World Conference on Tobacco or Health, the premier international forum on tobacco control, will gather public and private sector officials from more than 100 countries to advance this ongoing fight.
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