Follow the Data Podcast

Since 2007, Bloomberg Philanthropies has helped save nearly 35 million lives through these efforts. In March 2018, we honored six governments and NGOs at the Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards for Tobacco Control. The awards celebrate the significant strides made by organizations implementing anti-tobacco policies in low and middle-income countries. In honor of the six winners, we revisit one of our favorite podcast episodes about the worldwide fight to reduce tobacco use. This episode’s conversation features Neena Prasad of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Health team in conversation with Yolonda Richardson, from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and Jose Luis Castro, executive director of the Union and CEO of Vital Strategies.

The Women’s Opportunity Center in Kayonza, Rwanda is constructed of over 500,000 hand-pressed bricks made by local women. The center’s director, Joy Rwamwenge describes how she feels walking through the doors every day: “I arrive knowing that the tile on the floor of the center comes from Congo, and the bricks in the wall of the center come from the women in Rwanda -- building peace at the same time while building a building.”

Listen to the conversation between Verna Eggleston, who leads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Women’s Economic Development program, and Joy. This episode marks a special milestone: Bloomberg Philanthropies 10th anniversary of partnership with Women for Women International. We also hear from Laurie Adams, the President and CEO of Women for Women -- she tells listeners how to get involved with the organization.

The 16th episode of Follow the Data presents a conversation with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and James Anderson, who leads Government Innovation at Bloomberg Philanthropies. Mayor Hancock is a native Denverite, serving his second term. He is known as a “mayor’s mayor,” surrounding himself with a talented team, and concentrating on efforts to make government more effective, to better serve its citizens.

The 15th episode of Follow the Data presents a conversation with Helsinki Mayor Jan Vapaavuori and James Anderson, who leads Government Innovation at Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Mayor is the first person to lead the city in the wake of a significant set of reforms to Helsinki’s organizational structure. Additionally, he has an ambitious goal, to make Helsinki the world’s “most functional city.”

This year’s final episode of Follow the Data revisits Bloomberg Philanthropies first feature documentary, From the Ashes, directed by Michael Bonfiglio and distributed by National Geographic. Inspired by Mike Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies’ commitment to the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, the film was developed to bring greater attention to the impact of the coal industry in the United States.

The 13th episode of Follow the Data presents a conversation with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti about how to cultivate and retain innovation in city hall. In this episode, Garcetti speaks with James Anderson, who leads the Government Innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies, about bold leadership and what it takes for city leaders to raise the expectations of civil servants and citizens alike to seek more from our public services.

Students, academics, business leaders, philanthropists, and elected officials from across New York recently gathered on Roosevelt Island in New York City for the opening of the new Cornell Tech campus – conceived just seven years ago by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his administration.

Back in December 2010, New York City launched Applied Sciences NYC, issuing a challenge to top institutions from around the world to propose a new or expanded campus. The following year, Mayor Bloomberg announced the winning bid from Cornell University and Technion Israel Institute of Technology – pairing two of the world’s top institutions in the fields of science, engineering, technology, and research.

Cornell Tech is on track to generate over 8,000 permanent jobs, hundreds of spin-off companies, and more than $23 billion dollars in economic activity over a period of 35 years.

In honor of the opening, we look back to the project’s inception and what the future holds for the school with Dean Dan Huttenlocher and former Deputy Mayor Bob Steel.

The Mayors Challenge is the first component of Mike Bloomberg’s recently announced American Cities Initiative – a $200 million effort to empower U.S. cities and mayors to drive innovation and create policies that move our nation forward.

Bloomberg Philanthropies created the Mayors Challenge to help city leaders think big, be bold, and uncover inventive ideas that have the power to spread.

In 2013, the Mayors Challenge grand prize winner: Providence, Rhode Island, did just that and is the focus of our podcast today:

The City of Providence came up with an idea to tackle the word gap and introduced “Providence Talks.” Launched with a $5 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge and embraced by Mayor Jorge Elorza’s team in City Hall, Providence Talks is the first city-led education program supporting children at the critical stage of birth to age three.

Mayor Jorge Elorza, of Providence, Rhode Island speaks to former Bloomberg Philanthropies Government Innovation team member Garnesha Crawford about launching Providence Talks and its success. In this episode we also hear from the former Executive Director of the Providence Talks program, Courtney Hawkins, and Jennifer Calderon, whose daughter participated in the program.

The Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use has successfully supported 59 countries in passing laws or policies, reaching nearly 3.5 billion people and saving an estimated 30 million lives.

In part two of our series on tobacco control, we’ll go in depth on the ways countries are passing critical laws to protect the public and taking action to implement policies.

Non-communicable diseases, or as we sometimes abbreviate as N-C-Ds, are health illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases. These and injuries (including ones from road crashes) are responsible for 43 million deaths each year - almost 80% of all deaths worldwide. In this episode, we'll take a look at how through strategic partnerships with the world’s leading health organizations, like the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (also known as the CDC), Bloomberg Philanthropies is working to improve the lives of people around the globe by analyzing public health data and working with partners to implement strong policies preventing these deaths.