Resources for City Leaders

Critical tools for crisis comms

For the people who run city hall communications shops, the COVID-19 crisis means managing head-spinning announcements and never-ending news cycles, all, in many cases, while working from home.

To support city communications directors and leads through this challenging time, Bloomberg Philanthropies created the COVID-19 Communications Module, which offers insights and recommendations about how to staff and organize comms teams in a crisis, along with a set of tools and templates they can customize for day-to-day tasks like fielding the surge of media inquiries or shooting video for social media.

Invest in innovation? Get on the map

Demographic changes, climate change, and the advent of new technologies will dramatically change our cities and the way we live, demanding that civic leaders adapt and operate in radically new ways.

6 Ways Your Data Visualizations Can Influence Decisions

Cities leaders are, increasingly, investing in data visualization tools and strategies to help residents engage more effectively with data. They’re also depending on them more and more as they look for ways to help themselves gain greater insights into their work. The Centers for Civic Impact at Johns Hopkins University offers six ways city leaders can ensure their data visualizations influence user decisions.

Innovation Defined: How Much Does Open Data Cost?

Open Data is an exciting and important endeavor, but how much is it going to cost your city?

Guidebook: How to build an ADU

While every city is different, the different ways cities tackle crises have lessons for each other. Here Los Angeles and its Bloomberg Philanthropies i-team share their insight in building accessory dwelling units to add to the cities tight housing stock.

Insights from the 2018 Mayors Challenge

Visiting 300-plus cities in nine weeks: What we shared and learned in the first phase of the 2017 U.S. Mayors Challenge