Follow the Data Podcast

In the first episode of this two-part series we learned how cities can access federal aid for crisis relief and recovery. This week’s episode dives into how apart from securing and deploying aid, it’s particularly important for cities to maintain fiscal order so that they can maximize the funds and avoid any misuse and trouble down the road.

This week’s episode features Rose Gill, a Principal at Bloomberg Associates and Steven Kobre, Partner at Kobre + Kim. Together, they discuss the role of monitors in reviewing the use of federal funds, emerging cases that involve fraud, and share advice for city leaders managing COVID-19 federal aid on how to mitigate risks.

Additionally, Rose spoke with Jerry DeLoach, who is the Head of the Cost Recovery team for the City of Atlanta to discuss how the city is responding to this crisis and at the same time is tracking expenditures to maximize federal reimbursements and recovery.

Dr. Arturo Casadevall and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University and around the country have been working around the clock to develop a convalescent serum therapy to treat COVID-19 using blood plasma from recovered patients. If all goes well with the current U.S. trials, thousands of survivors might soon line up to donate their antibody-rich plasma.

In this episode of our series around Bloomberg Philanthropies’ COVID-19 response, Dr. Casadavall joined Dr. Jessica Leighton, from our public health team, to discuss how blood plasma has been used to treat infectious disease outbreaks in the past, what makes blood plasma treatment different from a vaccine, how donating your blood plasma could help your community, and what’s giving researchers hope right now.

In Africa, where governments and populations are used to – or at least more aware of – highly infectious diseases from Ebola and other outbreaks, 36 out of 54 countries currently have social distancing measures in place. Yet caseloads are beginning to increase, and public health professionals are following the data to understand the severity and speed of the spread in Africa. In this episode of our series, Amanda McClelland, the Senior Vice President of Prevent Epidemics and Resolve to Save Lives at Vital Strategies, sat down with Dr. Jennifer Ellis, from our Public Health program. They discuss why it’s important to prioritize slowing the spread of coronavirus in low- and middle-income countries, particularly those in Africa, the importance of the Box It In strategy, how response to the coronavirus has differed from other recent outbreaks, and what’s keeping public health professionals hopeful right now.

The coronavirus has hit cities particularly hard – and while mayors are rolling out new guidelines and programs to protect residents, the economic cost of the pandemic is a real challenge for local leaders.

Navigating federal aid is a challenge, even under the best of circumstances – but cities need to get access to the funds they need to operate and recover, and use it effectively.

To tell us more, Adam Freed, a Principal at Bloomberg Associates, speaks to Natasha Rogers, the Chief Operating Officer of the City of Newark, and Brad Gair, a principal with Witt O’Brien’s, a national emergency management consultancy. They discuss how cities are using data to drive decision making in response to the pandemic, how federal aid can help them, and how cities can engage and get support from the state and federal government.

This is the first episode in a two-part series around how cities can best navigate, access, and deploy federal aid.

The unprecedented coronavirus crisis has affected Americans from coast to coast, with most living under stay-at-home orders. Yet millions of Americans have jobs they can’t video conference into – which is why the pandemic presents a unique challenge for city transportation departments, who need to keep people, goods, and services moving.

In this episode of our series highlighting Bloomberg Philanthropies’ COVID-19 response, Janette Sadik-Khan, a Principal at Bloomberg Associates and Chair of NACTO, sat down with Corinne Kisner, Executive Director of NACTO, and Mark de la Vergne, the Chief of Mobility Innovation for the City of Detroit.

They discuss how cities are continuing to run transit systems while keeping their own staffs safe, creative actions city transportation officials are taking in response to the pandemic, and how cities can provide safer, healthier transportation options for people going forward.

As many of our listeners may have seen, the Hopkins COVID-19 interactive map and dashboard created by the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering has been a critical source of near real-time tracking of the spread of the coronavirus since it first emerged.

Two experts from Johns Hopkins: Beth Blauer and Dr. Josh Sharfstein discuss the making of the map, what new features have been added, and how data can help individuals and officials make informed decisions for COVID-19 response.

As mayor, Mike Bloomberg led New York City through a number of public health crises. Throughout these moments, Mike always said we have to trust and listen to our public health experts and give them the tools they need to protect the public. In this episode, Jessica Leighton, who works on our Public Health program spoke to Dr. Josh Sharfstein, the vice dean for public health practice at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

They discuss how COVID-19 is different from other recent outbreaks, the four phases of crisis response for public health disasters, and how the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is tackling the coronavirus from every angle.

As part of our ongoing series looking at how cities, nonprofits, and low- and middle-incomes countries are fighting the coronavirus, this episode dives deeper into the NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund, a new initiative supporting New York City-based social services and cultural organizations that have been affected by the coronavirus crisis.

Listen as Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, and Megan Sheekey, who leads our Strategic Partnership work at Bloomberg Associates, discuss how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting social service and cultural organizations across the city, where the greatest needs are, the role of foundations in supporting these groups, and how listeners can get involved.

Over 90% of the 1.35 million people killed in road traffic injuries every year are in low- and middle- income countries. Road traffic crashes are the eighth leading cause of death and are the leading killer of people ages 5 and 29.

Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety concentrates investments to make the greatest impact in countries where manufacturers send cars without basic safety features, including seat belts, airbags or ABS breaking.

Becky Bavinger of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Health team and Jessica Truong, Vice President of Programs and Asia Pacific Coordinator for the Global New Car Assessment Program (Global NCAP) spoke about the need for improved road safety and vehicle safety.

They discuss the strategy for improving road safety across the world, including providing consumers with crash test results, pushing for legislation to regulate manufacturers and the work that remains in low- middle- and high-income countries.