Newsweek: Small Towns, Big Dreams—Lessons in Implementing Washington’s Infrastructure Vision | Opinion
November 21, 2023
By Bloomberg Philanthropies’ James Anderson and National League of Cities’ Clarence E. Anthony: We formed the Local Infrastructure Hub, a civil-society consortium that is coaching 1,200 plus mostly small and mid-sized municipalities in the art and science of drawing down federal dollars. These efforts include webinars with infrastructure leaders, strategy-sharing from big cities, and months-long grant-writing bootcamps that train officials needing help most: those with 150,000 or fewer residents. The program is working. More than 3,200 local officials, including 276 mayors, have engaged in technical support sessions. Participating municipalities have already received over $700 million in funding. Of the nearly 700 localities getting support through the bootcamps, 77 percent have fewer than 50,000 residents, and 42 percent have fewer than 10,000.
Read moreCNBC: From town hall prep to disaster predictions: Mayors descend on Washington to learn how they can use generative AI in their cities
October 20, 2023
The roughly four-hour Mayors Innovation Studio, hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ CityLab on Wednesday, is an example of how generative AI tools are making their way into many aspects of life and every level of government. While only 2% of cities surveyed by Bloomberg Philanthropies said they’re actively implementing the technology, 69% said they were actively exploring or testing it and 96% of surveyed mayors said they were interested in using it.
Read moreThe Baltimore Banner: Johns Hopkins opens a gleaming new center in DC’s former Newseum
October 19, 2023
Having a satellite location in D.C., or for that matter any major world city, is not new for Hopkins, nor is it new for many colleges, but the opening of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center ups that ante, a trophy like few others in academia. Although the building has classrooms and a library, very little of the inside suggests school. Its architecture more resembles spaces used for art, performance, offices and even hotel lobbies.
Read moreThe New York Times: A Spectacular Marble Cube Rises at Ground Zero
September 13, 2023
Lower Manhattan could have hardly asked for a more spectacular work of public architecture.
Read moreThe New York Times: Use Your Phone as a Pocket Tutor for Study on the Go
August 30, 2023
Bloomberg Connects has more than 200 guides so far, with videos and collection highlights from art museums around the world and other cultural sites. These portable museum tours mix video with text and images, and can be downloaded for times when you are without internet access.
Read moreBaltimore Business Journal: Johns Hopkins University to build 250K s.f. classroom building near hospital
August 24, 2023
Johns Hopkins University plans to build a 250,000-square-foot building for its Bloomberg School of Public Health, a key part of the university’s quest to create a life sciences research corridor in East Baltimore.
Read moreWCBD-TV, NBC, Mount Pleasant, SC: New documentary highlights Lowcountry sweetgrass basket makers, African roots
June 19, 2023
A new documentary by Bloomberg Philanthropies highlights the history of sweetgrass basket weaving in the Lowcountry and the way it connects weavers to their African roots. “Hands to Heritage” features basket weavers from Charleston and Rwanda. The film aims to recognize the weavers for their talents and showcase the reconciliation efforts by the City of Charleston.
Read moreThe Guardian: In ‘Cancer Alley’, US chemical giants mount campaign against grassroots organizers
May 4, 2023
In recent years, the activists have successfully fought construction of two multibillion-dollar plastics facilities and what would have been the nation’s largest methanol plant. The growing concerns have caught the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency, which earlier this year sued a manufacturer of neoprene in the state for not doing enough to reduce its cancer-causing air emissions. Now, those same groups are receiving millions of dollars from Michael Bloomberg and his Beyond Petrochemicals campaign, and the Louisiana energy and chemical companies along with the states’ business-boosting groups have, in turn, created the Louisiana Industry Sustainability Council – originally called the Industry Defense Council.
Read moreFast Company: This $25 million fund is supercharging clean energy projects in the developing world
May 2, 2023
As the climate crisis looms, rich countries have been pouring money into decarbonization initiatives. But countries with developing and emerging economies, home to two-thirds of the world’s population, haven’t kept pace. The problem: money, or lack of it. A new $25 million joint effort by Goldman Sachs and Bloomberg Philanthropies, known as the Climate Innovation and Development Fund, aims to change that by backing proof-of-concept clean energy projects. It’s the winner of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Award in the Impact Investing category.
Read moreForbes: The CFE Fund’s National Movement To Create A Brighter Financial Future
May 1, 2023
With the support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and others, this FEC model is now operating across 30 cities, with more than a dozen others in training right now. James Anderson, who leads the Government Innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies, speaks to the program’s success. “In 2008, then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg made it a priority to open Financial Empowerment Centers across New York City – breaking down traditional barriers to access to get New Yorkers free, one-on-one financial counseling. In taking this model – and expanding it across the U.S. – we’ve seen a multiplier effect: Bloomberg Philanthropies’ work in partnership with Jonathan’s team at the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund has, just to date, spread this program to more than 30 cities and counties, helping 142,000 individuals reduce over $211 million in debt and increase household savings by $43 million.”
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