Meet Our New Cities

We’re Now 85 Cities Strong

Today, we announced that five new cities have joined our community: Arlington, TX; Charleston, SC; Fort Collins, CO; Memphis, TN; and Sioux Falls, SD. That means we’re now partnering with 85 cities across the country that are home to more than 27 million people in 37 states and have annual budgets exceeding $94 billion.

Our 85 What Works cities

Below, we’re excited to introduce you to the new What Works Cities mayors and frontline practitioners who are rolling up their sleeves to better use data and evidence to address city challenges and improve life for residents. You’ll also get to learn more about the plans these cities have for our work together and why they’re excited to get started!

Arlington, Texas

Mayor Jeff Williams celebrates Arlington joining What Works Cities

The City of Arlington will upgrade its ability to manage and open data as part of a larger city priority to become more efficient, grow the local economy, and increase transparency by embracing new technologies.

In the City’s words:

We’re excited to join the What Works Cities effort. Our City is committed to leveraging data-driven decision-making in order to improve internal efficiencies, analyze current and future needs and opportunities, and increase transparency for Arlington’s residents and business community. Improved understanding yields increased opportunity for accurate and responsive allocation of service for all city needs. We look forward to working with our What Works Cities partners!

(Left-right) Devon Waters, Senior Performance Analyst, Finance Department; Jennifer Wichmann, Director of Management Resources; Elaine Dennehy, Planning Manager for Research & Analytics, Community Development & Planning

Charleston, South Carolina

Mayor John Tecklenburg celebrates Charleston joining What Works Cities

Charleston will use performance analytics to improve housing affordability and share progress with residents. The City will also utilize results-driven contracting to improve outcomes from its waste management agreements.

In the City’s words:

It’s no secret that harnessing the power of data to make our cities more effective, efficient, resilient, and responsive is the next frontier in municipal governance — and that’s why we’re so excited to be partnering with Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities initiative. With their unique expertise at our side, we’ll be able to use accurate, timely data to help solve big challenges, like improving commercial and residential garbage collection services, and providing better and more numerous affordable housing options for our residents. We can’t thank Bloomberg Philanthropies enough for this remarkable opportunity, or for the enormous dividends it will pay down the road to our City and its residents.

(Left-right) Matt Frolich, results-driven contracting team member; Gary Cooper, results-driven contracting team member; Tracy McKee, WWC Coordinator, John Tecklenburg, Mayor, City of Charleston; Geona Johnson, performance management team member; Dexter O’Connell, performance management team leader. (Not pictured: Matt Alltop, results-driven contracting team member; Tyrale Bailey, performance management team member; Katie McKain, performance management team leader; Mike Metzler, results-driven contracting team member; Susan Poteat, performance management team leader; Amy Wharton, results-driven contracting team member)

Fort Collins, Colorado

Mayor Wade Troxell celebrates Fort Collins joining What Works Cities

Fort Collins, CO, will focus on improving neighborhood livability and social health by better managing, sharing, and analyzing related data.

In the City’s words:

We’re very excited to be participating in the What Works Cities initiative. Our focus on and desire to be a data-driven city that provides a platform for community problem-solving and innovation will be enhanced through this partnership. With What Works Cities, we will learn and grow our processes in an efficient and sustainable manner that we can build on into the future.

(Left-right) Mayor Wade Troxell; City Manager Darin Atteberry; Policy and Project Manager Ginny Sawyer; Policy and Project Analyst Tyler Marr; Chief Information Officer Dan Coldiron

Memphis, Tennessee

Mayor Jim Strickland celebrates Memphis joining What Works Cities

Memphis, TN, will develop a more robust open data policy, drawing on community feedback.

In the City’s words:

We’re excited to join the community of What Works Cities. In Memphis, we rely heavily on data and evidence to improve the delivery of city services. Our partnership with What Works Cities will enable us to work with leading experts to update our open data policy and develop citywide programs to deliver usable, accessible data that is meaningful to the public.

(Left-right) Nick Walker, Performance Data Manager; Smitha Varma, Business Intelligence Analyst; Jennifer Krouse, Director-Office of Performance Management; Hima Peyeeti, Business Intelligence Analyst; Craig Hodge, Performance Strategist

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Mayor Mike Huether celebrates Sioux Falls joining What Works Cities

Sioux Falls, SD, will strengthen its open data practices, with a focus on enabling the City and residents to develop collaborative approaches to improving neighborhood services.

In the City’s words:

We strive to provide excellent customer service to our residents. Our partnership with What Works Cities will assist with data inventory and accessibility, improve efficiencies, and ensure we make prudent data-driven decisions with taxpayer dollars. Through this partnership, our residents can be confident that their local government is focused on providing valuable services in a responsible and open manner.

(Left-right) Jon Klemme, IT Manager (Programming/Database Engineer); Alicia Collura, Assistant Director, Health Department (Data Owner); Heather Hitterdal, Communications Specialist (Communications Manager and Data Evangelist); Lauri Sohl, GIS Manager (Data Analyst); Adam Roach, Neighborhood Development Coordinator (Project Manager); Mayor Mike Huether; Ryan Sage, Assistant City Attorney (Data Analyst); Sue Quanbeck Etten, Director of Central Services (Chief Data Officer); Matt Tobias, Code Enforcement Manager (Data Owner); Debra Gaikowski, Project Manager (Project Manager)

For more about how cities are applying what works practices to improve their residents’ lives, check out our new report.