The New York Times: Bloomberg Philanthropies Gives $100 Million to Cornell Tech
June 17, 2015
Cornell Tech, the applied sciences graduate school of Cornell University, is expected to announce a $100 million gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies on Tuesday to construct the first academic building on the school’s Roosevelt Island campus.
That building will be called the Bloomberg Center, solidifying Cornell’s ties to former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Cornell Tech won a $400 million competition three and a half years ago to build an applied sciences campus on the island, in New York City, an initiative created by the Bloomberg administration.
Read moreThe Financial Times: Rapid urban growth requires prompt action, By Michael R. Bloomberg
May 27, 2015
Seeing the future does not require a crystal ball — just an understanding of cities.
The world is moving from agrarian to urban at a startling pace. In 1900, two out of 10 of the world’s population lived in urban areas. As of 1990, it was less than four in 10. Today, it is more than half and by 2050 two of every three people will live in urban areas. This trend is creating enormous challenges for local and national governments, but also unprecedented opportunities for societal progress. How well cities meet those challenges, and capitalize on the opportunities, will have profound consequences.
Read morePolitico: Inside the war on coal
May 27, 2015
The U.S. had 523 coal-fired power plants when Beyond Coal began targeting them; just last week, it celebrated the 190th retirement of its campaign in Asheville, N.C., culminating a three-year fight that had been featured in the climate documentary “Years of Living Dangerously.”
Beyond Coal isn’t the stereotypical Sierra Club campaign, tree-huggers shouting save-the-Earth slogans. Yes, it sometimes deploys its 2.4 million-member, grass-roots army to shutter plants with traditional not-in-my-back-yard organizing and right-to-breathe agitating. But it usually wins by arguing that ditching coal will save ratepayers money.
Read moreFast Company: Inside Bloomberg’s Plan To Spread The Gospel Of Urban Innovation
May 12, 2015
Since leaving New York’s City Hall, Michael Bloomberg has made it his main business to give away his wealth. His foundation’s mission is rooted in his famous faith that city governments are the key to solving social issues that are local, national, and even global in scope. In that light, the foundation’s most important work might be its government innovation program, which focuses not on any particular issue, but on helping cities increase their capacity to tackle the big issues themselves.
Read moreThe Los Angeles Times: Santa Monica found some surprises in creating well-being index
April 27, 2015
James Anderson, head of government innovation at Bloomberg Philanthropies, described Santa Monica’s proposal as “a timely vision to better understand how its residents were faring.”
“This is an area of broad interest to cities, which are looking for increasingly sophisticated ways to measure and address needs in their communities,” he said. “Santa Monica is leading the way for others to follow.”
Read moreThe Huffington Post: Why I’m Betting on Cities and Data
April 20, 2015
By Michael R. Bloomberg
How can cities rise to meet big new challenges — and serve more and more people — with resources that are always stretched thin? By finding smart ways to use a resource that is always growing: Data. And more and more cities are doing exactly that.
Read moreThe Washington Post: Bloomberg to give $42 million to help cities do more with data
April 20, 2015
Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable arm of former New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, is making a big bet that it can accelerate that process. It will announce on Monday that it is spending $42 million to create the What Works Cities Initiative, which is aimed at helping 100 mid-size cities make better use of data and evidence in their policymaking.
Read morePolitico: Michael Bloomberg: Philanthropy should ’embolden government’
April 6, 2015
Michael Bloomberg, who has become one of the world’s most ambitious philanthropists since leaving the New York mayor’s office last year, says modern philanthropies should work with governments to encourage them to experiment and take risks that they can’t or won’t take on their own.
Codifying his philanthropic principles for the first time in an “Annual Letter on Philanthropy” to be released Monday, Bloomberg writes: “[S]ome still see philanthropy as an alternative to government. I see it as a way to embolden government.”
Read moreGoverning: How Bloomberg’s Still Changing the Way Cities Operate
March 30, 2015
The most consequential of Landrieu’s decisions was to apply for a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, which was offering several million dollars each to cities willing to create an “innovation team” of in-house consultants that would apply data-oriented problem-solving to urban challenges. The team members — some were longtime public employees and others came from the private sector — would be sent to troubled city agencies. The premise behind the Bloomberg grants was that a team from the mayor’s office could make government more effective at relatively little cost by teaching public employees how to be more collaborative, strategic and focused on measurable results. Unlike most foundation grants, this money wasn’t tied to a specific policy area. Its sole mission was to stimulate innovative management practices.
Read moreThe Wall Street Journal: Michael Bloomberg Backs Health-Data Push
March 22, 2015
Bloomberg Philanthropies, the billionaire entrepreneur’s philanthropic foundation, and the Australian government are launching a $100 million, four-year effort to help 20 African, Southeast Asian and Latin American countries learn more about the lives and deaths of their peoples. The initiative will pay for new tools and systems to improve birth- and death-registration systems and help the countries gather more information on risk factors for premature deaths.
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