GovEx Data Points

--- The GovExperts is a Data Points mini-series spotlighting the brilliant minds at GovEx who are shaping the future of public sector data work. Today we’re talking to Dr. Bertran de Lis, GovEx’s Director of Research and Analytics, about her path from astrophysics to data science, what it means for cities to adopt a “Data-Driven Culture,” and her groundbreaking work on the Coronavirus Resource Center and the new City Data Explorer.

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--- How well do cities communicate with data? What opportunities are they missing?

--- GovEx Senior Research Manager Dr. Jacquie Greiff and Senior Researcher Chance Carter address these questions and more in their recent analysis of 2023 State of the City speeches. Their key finding: While mayors often illustrate progress by referencing data, they rarely offer the kind of context and analysis most likely to resonate with residents. Jacquie and Chance review how mayors can move beyond reference statistics and use data to compare trends, illustrate their decision making and build public trust.

--- Read the State of the Cities Analysis, 2023 Report here

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--- The GovExperts is a Data Points mini-series spotlighting the brilliant minds at GovEx who are shaping the future of public sector data work. Today we’re chatting with Dr. Jessica Arenda, GovEx’s Instructional Designer. She helps us understand what makes adult learning experiences engaging and effective, how to connect with city leaders, and how COVID re-shaped the world of instructional design.

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--- Outgoing GovEx Executive Director Amy Edwards Holmes reflects on a momentous year for cities and data

--- While the characters in Dr. Strangelove, referenced in the title of this episode, grappled with the invention of the atomic bomb, cities in recent years have only tentatively explored the potential of artificial intelligence to benefit residents. As outgoing GovEx Executive Director Amy Edwards Holmes discusses in this episode, many cities pivoted in 2024 - with GovEx support - to develop thoughtful use cases for AI, based on solid data and comprehensive data strategies. As Holmes prepares to move on, she also discusses the progress GovEx has made in recent years and the crucial work that lies ahead.

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--- In this episode of Data Points, GovEx’s Meg Burke sits down with Tessa Cushman, the Food Access and Systems Coordinator in Adams County, Colorado and a Bloomberg American Health Initiative Fellow, to discuss Cushman’s experience putting the Food System Resilience Planning Guide, which GovEx created in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future in 2022, into action. 

--- Burke and Cushman review the importance of authentic engagement with local communities and the need to leverage existing resources, like local food policy councils, to enhance food resilience efforts. They also cover challenges, particularly the complexities of coordinating among multiple stakeholders to put a plan in place, and staying connected to a changing policy landscape. 

--- Partially as a result of supply chain disruptions during the COVID pandemic, more governments recognize the need to build and secure food systems, but this is a nascent research topic. The Food System Resilience Planning Guide is one of the few resources currently available to government leaders thinking about how climate change, natural disasters, and public health crises can affect their communities’ access to food. Cushman notes that creating a road map, as recommended in the guide, helped her conceive of what a plan could look like in growing suburban/urban Adams County.

--- Learn more about the Food System Resilience Toolkit here!

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--- In partnership with Results for America, GovEx helps empower communities to solve problems.

--- In the latest episode of Data Points, we get an overview of the Opportunity Accelerator, a recently completed program in support of place-based initiatives focused on economic mobility with the goal of specific, population-level outcomes. Place-based initiatives aim to improve quality of life and access to opportunity, particularly for people of color and families with low incomes who live in neighborhoods, cities, and rural communities experiencing disinvestment. The program was administered by Results for America in collaboration with a variety of organizations, including GovEx.

--- We’re joined by three GovEx Senior Advisors who were involved with Opportunity Accelerator engagements and discuss what makes place-based initiatives like these different from traditional technical assistance engagements. We also discuss the ways in which the coaches needed to adjust their approaches to meet the needs of the communities they were serving and develop new toolkits to bring the engagements to successful conclusions.

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--- The GovExperts is the new mini-series from GovEx Data Points spotlighting some of the top minds in public sector data. In our inaugural episode we discuss what generative AI is good at, how cities are interacting with it, and what it means for the workforce.

--- We’re chatting with Andrew Nicklin, Senior Research Data Manager at GovEx. Andrew takes us from his early days at the NYC parks department to his pivotal role in launching the NYC Open Data platform, and how this experience led him to GovEx at the invitation of founder Beth Blauer.

• Discover how cities are already using AI to power chatbots and manage documents, and why Andrew believes AI could help residents feel more comfortable accessing sensitive services like housing or food assistance. 
• Wondering if AI will replace public sector workers? Andrew says rather than take jobs, it will most likely transform them, freeing up public servants to tackle big challenges. 
• Plus, get an exclusive preview of GovEx’s new City Data Explorer, a tool that uses 1.7 million data points to track 40 key metrics across the 100 largest U.S. cities. 

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Iowa City and GovEx collaborate to solve a problem: How do you gather ridership data without fares?

--- In the latest episode of the Data Points podcast, GovEx and Iowa City staff about collaborative efforts to track bus ridership for a free-fare program aimed at reducing carbon emissions. Iowa City is a participant of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative Data Track, a program aimed at connecting cities with coaches and data practitioners to build data skills and techniques to tackle complex challenges and improve residents’ quality of life.

---Iowa City bus ridership dropped precipitously during the pandemic and had not rebounded, leading the city to consider shifting to a free-fare program to increase ridership and help the city reach its goal of reduced carbon emissions. But, without fares to count, the city struggled to find a way to track ridership for a free-fare program to help it determine whether the increased ridership was having the desired impact. Rachel Bloom, the GovEx coach working with Iowa City, consulted GovEx data analyst Maeve Mulholland, who presented the city with a creative solution that leveraged data the city was already collecting.

--- Since moving forward with its free-fare program, the city has used data to show an increased bus ridership of 40% - compared with a 10% post-pandemic increase nationwide - and a reduction in tailpipe carbon emissions by approximately 284 metric tons. It is now using an analysis of timing and location data to gain further insight into the program and to increase equity in access to public transportation.

--- Learn more about Iowa City’s Fare Free Pilot Program

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--- GovEx Executive Director Amy Holmes introduces highlights from the organization’s recent event marking the DATA Act’s 10th anniversary

--- In the latest episode of GovEx Data Points from the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence, GovEx Executive Director Amy Holmes, a key figure in the passage and implementation of the 2014 DATA Act, reflects on the organization’s recent event marking the law’s 10th anniversary at the new Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC. The DATA Act, the nation’s first open data law, standardized data for more than $6 trillion in annual spending and enabled taxpayers to monitor how federal funds are allocated and trace those funds to direct investments in their community. It became a model for open data laws around the country and around the world.

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--- The Data Track at Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative helps leaders to the see the people behind city-level data.

--- Today, we’re throwing a spotlight on the Data track of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, a collaboration between Bloomberg Philanthropies, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, and GovEx. Launched in 2017, the Initiative has worked with 539 mayors and 2500+ senior city officials in 560 cities worldwide, and has also advanced research and developed new curriculum and teaching tools to help city leaders solve real-world problems. Latricia Boone, GovEx’s Senior Director of Partnerships, talks to Sari Ladin-Sienne, the Initiative’s program director and former Chief Data Officer of the City of Los Angeles, about the program’s history and goals, what the experience is like for mayors, and how the Data track teaches mayors how to leverage data to address challenges and realize their vision.

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