The Huffington Post: Putting Focus on a Deadly — but Preventable — Problem
September 16, 2015
Since 2007, Bloomberg Philanthropies has been helping cities and countries adopt effective road-safety measures, such as reducing drunk driving, increasing seatbelt use, investing in public transportation, and making improvements to roads where there are frequent crashes.
Read moreThe Huffington Post: The Arts Receive Capacity Building of an Unprecedented Scope
September 15, 2015
By investing in arts-management training for small- and mid-size arts organizations through AIM, Bloomberg Philanthropies is helping to secure the future of these organizations to ensure that they continue to drive economic growth and shape the cultural identity of communities and cities around the country for years to come.
Read moreThe Huffington Post: What City Halls Across America Say About Using Data and Evidence
August 4, 2015
By James Anderson
We launched What Works Cities to help 100 mid-size U.S. cities get better at using data and evidence to improve results for residents. Over three years, the effort will help mayors adopt best practices as they open up city data, use data to drive better performance, and rely on evidence to make better policy and funding choices.
An impressive 112 cities from 40 states and Washington, D.C. applied during the initial application period — and tomorrow, we’ll announce the first group of cities we’re investing in. Our commitment through it all is to share what we’re learning.
Read moreThe Chronicle of Philanthropy: 3 Important Steps Philanthropies Are Taking to Curb Climate Change
July 24, 2015
By Antha Williams
With Congress at a stalemate and national politics growing increasingly polarized, the role of philanthropy in combating climate change is more critical than ever.
Nimble where politics is clunky, responsive where government is deadlocked, and targeted where Congress is logrolling, philanthropies are catalyzing lasting, positive change on climate, perhaps the most pressing social, environmental, and economic policy challenge of our time.
Read moreSlate: Coal Is Losing the War on Coal
July 17, 2015
And here, too, we’re seeing that, as a result of pressure from several sources—government, cheap natural gas, campaigns like the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal initiative, which Michael Bloomberg’s nonprofit is backing to the tune of $80 million—companies are making important decisions about future coal use.
Read moreThe New York Times: Bloomberg Philanthropies Gives $100 Million to Cornell Tech
June 17, 2015
Cornell Tech, the applied sciences graduate school of Cornell University, is expected to announce a $100 million gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies on Tuesday to construct the first academic building on the school’s Roosevelt Island campus.
That building will be called the Bloomberg Center, solidifying Cornell’s ties to former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Cornell Tech won a $400 million competition three and a half years ago to build an applied sciences campus on the island, in New York City, an initiative created by the Bloomberg administration.
Read moreThe Financial Times: Rapid urban growth requires prompt action, By Michael R. Bloomberg
May 27, 2015
Seeing the future does not require a crystal ball — just an understanding of cities.
The world is moving from agrarian to urban at a startling pace. In 1900, two out of 10 of the world’s population lived in urban areas. As of 1990, it was less than four in 10. Today, it is more than half and by 2050 two of every three people will live in urban areas. This trend is creating enormous challenges for local and national governments, but also unprecedented opportunities for societal progress. How well cities meet those challenges, and capitalize on the opportunities, will have profound consequences.
Read morePolitico: Inside the war on coal
May 27, 2015
The U.S. had 523 coal-fired power plants when Beyond Coal began targeting them; just last week, it celebrated the 190th retirement of its campaign in Asheville, N.C., culminating a three-year fight that had been featured in the climate documentary “Years of Living Dangerously.”
Beyond Coal isn’t the stereotypical Sierra Club campaign, tree-huggers shouting save-the-Earth slogans. Yes, it sometimes deploys its 2.4 million-member, grass-roots army to shutter plants with traditional not-in-my-back-yard organizing and right-to-breathe agitating. But it usually wins by arguing that ditching coal will save ratepayers money.
Read moreFast Company: Inside Bloomberg’s Plan To Spread The Gospel Of Urban Innovation
May 12, 2015
Since leaving New York’s City Hall, Michael Bloomberg has made it his main business to give away his wealth. His foundation’s mission is rooted in his famous faith that city governments are the key to solving social issues that are local, national, and even global in scope. In that light, the foundation’s most important work might be its government innovation program, which focuses not on any particular issue, but on helping cities increase their capacity to tackle the big issues themselves.
Read moreThe Los Angeles Times: Santa Monica found some surprises in creating well-being index
April 27, 2015
James Anderson, head of government innovation at Bloomberg Philanthropies, described Santa Monica’s proposal as “a timely vision to better understand how its residents were faring.”
“This is an area of broad interest to cities, which are looking for increasingly sophisticated ways to measure and address needs in their communities,” he said. “Santa Monica is leading the way for others to follow.”
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