Mayors Challenge | Overview

A banner for the 2025 Global Mayors Challenge depicting three images of teachers educating their students. It reads, "Core city services, reimagined."

The 2025 Mayors Challenge 

Helping Cities Reimagine a Core Resident-Facing Service

From providing access to millions of units of affordable housing to maintaining nearly half a million public libraries, hauling away over two billion tons of waste annually, distributing hundreds of millions of vaccines, and providing public safety, reliable internet, and sanitation for billions, every day, cities care for the well-being of the world. Recognizing the potential and reach of municipalities, and the core services they deliver, the 2025 Mayors Challenge aims to equip their leaders with the support and capacity to lead bold transformations of the fundamental programs their communities rely on. 

Applicant cities were encouraged to focus on a core city service, and proposed ideas that were novel, impactful, and ambitious.




A Global Challenge

630+ Cities Applied to the 2025 Mayors Challenge


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33 countries

83M residents






The Challenge

Taking an idea from Good to Great

Following a city's journey in the Finalist Phase of the Mayors Challenge


The Challenge
Applicant cities identified a pressing challenge affecting residents’ quality of life that could be addressed with bold reimagination of a core city service.

Good Idea
Cities submitted a well-designed, novel idea for how to improve their identified core service. This proposal formed the foundation of their application to the 2025 Mayors Challenge.
Finalist Stage

Kick Off
Cities began the finalist phase by assembling their core teams and meeting their dedicated coaching partners. Together, they set a clear theory of change, outlined goals for uplifting their idea, and built momentum through regular resident and stakeholder engagement, as well as providing key updates to their mayors.
Finalist Stage

Ideas Camp
Finalist city teams came together to raise the ambition of their ideas and push the needle on the level of innovation and impact needed to become a Mayors Challenge winning city. At this convening, cities received guidance from subject matter experts and leading practitioners from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ global network.
Finalist Stage

Prototyping
Back home, cities led the charge on testing their ideas in real-world settings. Through targeted coaching and technical assistance, they gathered resident feedback, tested key assumptions, and consolidated learnings about which approaches deliver the greatest impact.

Great Solution
24 cities were selected as winners to receive dedicated support to bring their solutions to life. With tailored support and funding, these cities began turning their ideas into measurable outcomes for residents.



2025 Mayors Challenge Winning Cities

From South Bend to Surabaya, Boise to Barcelona, Cape Town to Cartagena, the 24 winners represent 20 countries and over 35 million residents. Selected from more than 630 applications, Bloomberg Philanthropies considered prototypes developed by 50 cities during the finalist phase, when each pressure-tested core hypotheses with residents. The 24 winning ideas were ultimately chosen for their novelty, potential impact, and strength of implementation plans.

Learn more about the winners here