--- Beth Blauer and Oliver Wise reflect on the roots, risks, and real-world impact of building a data-first culture in government.--- What began as a bold new idea for equipping cities with better data has become a national model for how local government leads with evidence. In this special retrospective, GovEx founder Beth Blauer joins current Executive Director Oliver Wise to share the untold stories behind the launch of GovEx, lessons from ten years in the field, and what governments must prioritize now, from data governance to community trust, to drive real impact.--- Learn more about GovEx!--- Fill out our listener survey

--- With support from the City Data Alliance AI Track, Luján de Cuyo embraced AI and shifted from reactive repairs to proactive service delivery.--- Matías Meric, Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Luján de Cuyo, Argentina, discusses his experience as one of the first eight city leaders to participate in the Bloomberg Philanthropies City Data Alliance AI Track and the city’s journey from fragmented data systems to a proactive, AI-driven street maintenance strategy. The city launched a machine learning tool using cameras on garbage trucks to predict potholes, increasing detection precision and cutting manual inspection time. This conversation highlights the leadership, culture change, and commitment required to move from reacting to complaints to anticipating community needs.--- Learn more about GovEx!--- Fill out our listener survey

--- The AI Capacity Quiz is helping cities reflect, compare, and take confident steps forward--- The GovEx team created the AI Capacity Quiz to help local governments understand where they stand with AI and where to go next. In this episode, Mai-Ling Garcia, Justin Elszasz, and Michael Montgomery joined the podcast to talk about how the tool came to life, what makes it different from traditional assessments, and why it’s designed to encourage cities on their AI journey.--- Check out the assessment here--- Learn more about GovEx!--- Fill out our listener survey

--- The city developed its AI prototype as part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies City Data Alliance AI Track--- As one of eight cities in the Bloomberg Philanthropies City Data Alliance AI Track, Guatemala City worked with GovEx coaches to develop an AI prototype to determine where and how to build tree cover to best mitigate the impact of growing urban heat islands. City officials Julia Galindo and Griselda Valdez joined the podcast to talk about how they did it, what they learned, and why Latin America cities may be more eager to embrace the possibilities of AI.--- Learn more about GovEx!--- Fill out our listener survey

--- Mayor Renard Johnson’s participation in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative offers an example of the power of data storytelling.--- Today, Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence Executive Director Oliver Wise talks to Mayor Renard Johnson of El Paso, Texas, a participant in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. The city finds itself at the center of two national conversations: immigration and AI infrastructure. The mayor is using data to broaden prevailing narratives about El Paso and elevate the social and economic opportunity the metropolitan region has to offer.--- Learn more about GovEx!--- Fill out our listener survey

--- With Conecta Recife and “zero-click” service delivery, the Brazilian tech hub is creating scalable solutions to address resident needs.--- Our new “City Spotlights” highlights GovEx city partners doing great things with data and AI.In this episode, we talk to two public servants from Recife, Brazil: Rafael Cunha, Secretary of Digital Transformation, Science and Technology, and Rafael Toscano, Executive Secretary for Science, Technology, and Business.--- Recife, a city of 3.7 million people that was part of the third cohort of Bloomberg Philanthropies City Data Alliance cities, leveraged data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic to improve service delivery. Today, the city continues to build its data infrastructure to make public service faster, fairer, more interconnected, and more human-centered.--- Recife uses a “describe the problem” approach for requests for proposals, opening the door for creative, innovative solutions to meet residents’ needs. Their app, Conecta Recife, gives residents access to over 800 public services right from their smartphones, and a “zero-click” approach to service delivery automatically provides free parking permits to residents on their 60th birthday. The city views AI as an opportunity to continue the trend of robust digital service delivery by simplifying previously complex, cumbersome problems. For them, AI is not simply a tool, but a strategic pillar for building a more functional government for resident impact.--- Learn more about GovEx!--- Fill out our listener survey

--- Miami CDO Cheriene Floyd shares how Generative AI is shifting the way cities think about their data.--- A Chief Data Officer’s role in cities is to turn data into a strategic asset, enabling insights that can be leveraged for resident impact. How is this responsibility changing in the age of generative AI?--- We’re joined today by Cheriene Floyd to discuss the shift in how CDOs are making data work for their residents. Floyd discusses her path from serving as a strategic planning and performance manager in the City of Miami to becoming the city’s first Chief Data Officer. During her ten years of service as a CDO, she has come to view the role as upholding three key pillars: data governance, analytics, and capacity-building, helping departments connect the dots between disparate datasets to see the bigger picture.--- As AI changes our relationship to data, it further highlights the adage, “garbage in, garbage out.” Floyd discusses how broad awareness of this truth has manifested in greater buy-in among city staff to leverage data to solve problems, while private sector AI adoption has shifted residents’ expectations when seeking public services. Consequently, the task of shepherding public data becomes even more important, and she offers recommendations from her own experiences to meet these challenges.--- Learn more about GovEx!

--- Oliver Wise has been a data leader in local and federal government, as well as the private sector, and as GovEx’s new Executive Director, he’s betting on cities to lead the way to Gen AI-driven innovation.--- Learn more about GovEx--- Fill out our listener survey

--- The innovation program that helps African leaders leverage data tools to achieve legacy goals--- Today, we’re talking about the African Mayoral Leadership Initiative or AMALI, which helps African city leaders reach legacy goals and improve local governance. In particular, we’ll talk about the AMALI Data Program, which provides direct coaching and technical support city leaders focused on connecting data to goals, closing data gaps, and establishing performance management to monitor and evaluate programs.--- We are joined by Tiffany Davis, the founding director of the AMALI data program and current Director of Emerging Initiatives and Alumni Programs at GovEx and Mawande Ngidi, the current director of the AMALI data program.--- Learn more about AMALI--- Learn more about GovEx--- Fill out our listener survey

--- How can data storytelling improve health outcomes and save lives? The Lung Health Dashboard offers one example.--- Today’s episode explores how effective data storytelling connects the public with life-saving research, using the Lung Health Dashboard as an example. This project a collaboration between GovEx and the Johns Hopkins BREATHE Center, which promotes the science and medicine of lung health by interfacing with the community. The dashboard seeks to overcome the challenges of data communication through dynamic, “scrollytelling” visuals to provide research findings to viewers in a relatable perspective.--- We’re joined by Meredith McCormack, Director of the Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Division of Johns Hopkins Medicine and Director of the BREATHE Center; Kirsten Koehler, a professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and Deputy Director of the BREATHE Center; and Mary Conway Vaughan, Deputy Director of Research and Analytics here at GovEx.--- Learn more about the BREATHE Center--- View the Lung Health Dashboard--- Learn more about GovEx--- Fill out our listener survey

--- According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, transportation accounts for 28% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. For short trips, flying is much more carbon-intensive than rail or bus travel. At Johns Hopkins, faculty members travel the most of all affiliate types, producing more than double the emissions of administrative employees and staff.--- The Johns Hopkins University Office of Climate and Sustainability, through its Campus as a Living Lab initiative - a program that supports sustainability innovation - partnered with GovEx to build a tool to help address this problem. Using interactive visualizations with comparable statistics across all Johns Hopkins divisions, users can compare the emissions data of different methods of transportation, enabling them to make more environmentally-friendly choices as they conduct their business.--- We sit down with four contributors to the project to discuss how the tool was built and how cities can use it as a model to support their own climate change initiatives: Sara Betran de Lis, Director of Research and Analytics at GovEx; Heather Bree, Data Visualization and D3 Developer at GovEx; Debi Denney, Assistant Director of Johns Hopkins Office of Climate & Sustainability; and Rose Weeks, Senior Research Associate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, working with the Campus as a Living Lab Program at the Office of Climate & Sustainability.--- Learn more about GovEx--- Fill out our listener survey!

--- 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 Vidushani Jayalal, who works with cities in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. She talks about the importance of thinking not just about how data works, but about how people work together and solve problems using data as a shared language.--- Learn more about GovEx--- Fill out our listener survey!

--- 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.--- Learn more about GovEx--- Fill out our listener survey!

--- 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 --- Learn more about GovEx's work here

--- 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.--- Click to learn more about us and our work!--- Fill out our listener survey!

--- 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.--- Learn more about GovEx!--- Fill out our listener survey!

--- 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!--- Learn more about GovEx!--- Fill out our listener survey!

--- 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.--- Learn more about the Opportunity Accelerator--- Learn more about GovEx--- Fill out our listener survey!

--- 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. --- Learn more about GovEx--- Fill out our listener survey!

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--- Learn more about GovEx--- Learn more about the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative

--- 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.--- Learn more about us at govex.jhu.edu--- Fill out our listener survey!

--- 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.--- Learn more about the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative--- Learn more about us at govex.jhu.edu--- Fill out our listener survey!

--- In this episode, we celebrate Women’s History Month by talking to some of the women who made history by leading the development of the Coronavirus Resource Center, or “CRC.” Launched in January 2020, the CRC became the indispensable source for data about COVID-19 for government officials, academics, journalists, and the public, surpassing 2.5 billion website views before winding down last year. --- Our history-making guests include: Dr. Lauren Gardner, Alton and Sandra Cleveland Professor in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering, Beth Blauer, Associate Vice Provost for Public Sector Innovation at Johns Hopkins University and founder of GovEx, Dr. Sara Bertran de Lis, Director of Research and Analytics at GovEx, and Mary Conway Vaughan, Deputy Director of Research and Analytics at GovEx. --- We discuss the origins and ongoing relevance of public-facing data dashboards like the CRC, look at some of the challenges involved in capturing and reporting public data, and unpack if and how the fact that women led most facets of this project impacted the project. We will also hear about how these women balanced their essential work with the uncertainty and chaos that COVID-19 brought to all of our lives. --- Learn more at govex.jhu.edu--- Fill out our listener survey!

--- In this episode, we discuss City AI Connect, a global learning community and digital platform for cities to trial and advance the usage of generative artificial intelligence to improve public services.--- Generative AI, powered by advanced machine learning algorithms, has the potential to analyze vast amounts of data to predict trends, helping cities improve emergency response, mitigate severe weather events, and target resources for infrastructure enhancements. The technologies might also be harnessed to design creative solutions that could transform government delivery by reducing processing delays, eliminating cumbersome paperwork, and expanding multi-language access to reach many more residents with vital, public services.--- To maximize the potential and expand the availability of generative artificial intelligence learning for local governments, City AI Connect might offer locals officials a single destination to ideate, develop, and test new utilizations with peers across cities. Through social networking features, digital forums, virtual events, and a repository of blueprints and resources, city leaders might have the opportunity to exchange strategies and work with data and technology experts brought together by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University to accelerate implementation in their city halls.--- We're joined by Beth Blauer, Associate Vice Provost for Public Sector Innovation at Johns Hopkins University and the founder of GovEx; Mary Conway Vaughan, Deputy Director of Research and Analytics at GovEx; and Denise Reidl, the Chief Innovation Officer for the City of South Bend, Indiana.--- City AI Connect--- "Gen AI: Get Ready!" Webinar (City AI Connect Members Only)--- Fill out our listener survey!

In the latest Data Points Podcast from the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University (“GovEx”), GovEx Chief of Staff Dr. Rudy de Leon Dinglas talks to Amy Edwards Holmes, who recently completed her first year as the center’s Executive Director. Amy came to GovEx with years of public service experience in both the non-profit and government sector. In this podcast, Amy explains the origin of her passion for helping cities use data to improve people’s lives. She and Rudy also review the past year of GovEx programming and discuss future engagements with partner cities across the Americas, including those engaged with the center’s flagship program, the Bloomberg Philanthropies City Data Alliance. To learn more about GovEx, Amy, or any of our programming, please visit us at govex.jhu.edu. We would also love to hear from you! Fill out our listener survey at https://forms.fillout.com/t/tvfZVqXrqXus

In the latest Data Points podcast from the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University (GovEx), GovEx Research Manager Jacquie Greif talks to Justin Elszasz, Chief Data Officer for Baltimore City. Elszasz describes the city’s long-standing partnership with GovEx, including the collaborative development of the ground-breaking Baltimore Data Academy, which is providing city staff in every department with the opportunity to learn about data and use it to improve their work and, ultimately, the lives of Baltimore residents. In a wide-ranging discussion, Elszasz also touched on the role of the CDO, how to incentivize good data practices in cities, and how AI is already shaping the way cities work.To learn more about our work, visit us at govex.jhu.edu

Among the lessons many cities learned from the COVID-19 pandemic was that local governments need to be better prepared for disruptions to the food system caused by public health crises and other natural and man-made disasters. To help local leaders address this need, the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence (GovEx) and Johns Hopkins’ Center for a Livable Future (CLF) developed a new tool, Food System Resilience: A Planning Guide for Local Governments, in collaboration with five cities: Austin, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; Denver, Colorado; Moorhead, Minnesota; and Orlando, Florida. In this episode, two authors of the planning guide, Meg Burke, a Researcher with GovEx, and Elsie Moore, a PhD candidate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, discuss their approach to researching the guide, the data about food resiliency, and the ways different cities can and should support resilient food systems. To learn more, visit govex.jhu.edu

The past several years have revealed a major shift in the way we relate to our jobs, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing political and civil unrest. Increasingly, the roles of social and emotional wellbeing in the workplace have taken center stage as we negotiate our return to the office. This changing paradigm about our relationship to our work has prompted employers to re-evaluate the workplaces they create for their workforces, and cities are no exception to this phenomenon. Today, we’re joined by Mykella Auld, an instructional designer for GovEx and Co-author of The Social Emotional Learning Handbook: Practical Applications for Trauma-Informed and Anti-Racist Social Emotional Learning in Educational and Communal Settings, to explore this topic more deeply. To learn more, visit govex.jhu.edu

Place-based partnerships can serve a major role in supporting governments’ commitment to serving and improving the lives of residents. But partnerships on a city-wide scale rely on good data governance practices in order to be successful, data-driven, and self-sustaining. In particular, collaboration between government and non-government organizations (NGO’s) poses an extra layer of complexity, and successful service delivery through these partnerships demands robust data governance and open communication between all participants. Today, we’re joined by Jenelle Zito, Director of Continuous Improvement for the Racine, WI Unified School District, Geoff Zimmerman, a consultant with StriveTogether, a nation-wide network of cradle-to-career place-based partnerships, and Ben Taft, Data Impact Manager of Higher Expectations, a collective impact organization local to Racine and member organization of Strive Together. We’ll explore the needs of the Racine Unified School District and how collaboration with Higher Expectations and StriveTogether to address these issues was made possible through a shared responsibility for data governance and communication by all three organizations.If you’d like to learn more, come visit us at govex.jhu.edu.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed how unprepared our public data reporting practices were to handle such an event. Incomplete, poorly-formatted, or irregularly-released datasets were a norm, and drawing useful insights from these data presented a major challenge for governments seeking to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.While working on the Coronavirus Resource Center, GovEx analysts took note of the many data governance problems they encountered. These thoughts were given voice through the Pandemic Data Initiative, a component of the Coronavirus Resource Center aimed at driving the national and international conversations on public data, how to best respond to the COVID-19 pandemic data issues, and how to prepare for the next public health crisis through modernized data systems.We’re joined by Dr. Joshua Porterfield, Content Lead for the Pandemic Data Initiative, to discuss the origins of the initiative and explore the practices that presented the greatest challenges.You can find the Pandemic Data Initiative at http://coronavirus.jhu.edu/pandemic-data-initiative. To learn more about our work at the Johns Hopkins Center for Government Excellence, please visit http://govex.jhu.edu.

Innovation is about solving problems. Every problem and crisis a city encounters can unlock new opportunities to innovate and create better results for residents. In this episode, Amanda Daflos, the new Executive Director of the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins, shares her thoughts on the role of innovation in government, the data and innovation connection, and how the early success of i-teams in cities like Los Angeles paved the way for the a Center and better results for the more than 200 million individuals impacted by its work today.

When tackling society’s big challenges, we often find ourselves collaborating with other departments or organizations external to our own. But as any siloed government employee will tell you, building the relationships needed to rise to the occasion, and sustaining those relationships, is often no easy task.Today, we’re joined by two individuals familiar with this reality: Ryun Jackson, Special Assistant to Mayor Strickland in Memphis, TN, and Sagar Desai, Managing Director of Innovation at Strive Together. We’ll explore situations where they have faced this challenge and discuss strategies they have relied on to keep collaborative relationships healthy and active.If you’d like to learn more, please visit us at govex.jhu.edu.

Governments are often on the hook for some of society’s most pressing challenges. How can city leaders find novel and flexible solutions to address these issues and improve the lives of residents? In a world filled with ever more complex technology, leaders are looking to data science as the answer for previously unsolvable problems.Today, we’re joined by Richard Todd, Enterprise Data Lead for the City of Boulder, CO. We’d discuss what data science is, how data science paradigms can be applied to various challenges, and explore a few examples of how data science has been used to solve problems in US cities. We’ll also discuss some tips to keep in mind as you launch a data science project in your city.To learn more about GovEx and our Academy Fellows, please visit us at govex.jhu.edu

How can cities and their partners help families start saving money for their children’s future college or career training expenses? Since 2013, Lansing, Michigan has been tackling this innovative opportunity with the Lansing SAVE Initiative, a program providing all incoming Lansing School District kindergarten students with a savings account. In this episode, we discuss GovEx’s performance management engagement with the City of Lansing to help Lansing SAVE evolve and thrive. We walk through the performance management process, discuss the successful partnership involved in the work, and recap how to navigate program improvements and investments during a global pandemic.We're joined by Amber Paxton, Director of the City of Lansing’s Office of Financial Empowerment; Brian Rakovitis, Manager of Financial Empowerment Initiatives at The Community Economic Development Association of Michigan; and Erin Thiemann, Senior Program Manager at Prosperity Now.

Accountable, transparent government is something we all strive for in public service. But how do we make this aspiration a reality? It's not enough to simply collect results from the programs and initiatives we launch - we need to turn these results into meaningful insights about the efficacy of these efforts.Today, we're joined by GovEx Academy Instructional Fellow Richard Williams to discuss the Results Framework approach to meeting this need. If you'd like to learn more about Richard and his work with GovEx Academy, come visit us at govexacademy.jhu.edu

Today, we're joined by the Economic Mobility Forum's Policy Fellows as they wrap up a year of research and discussion at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Applied Public Research. The Policy Forum is a community of practice focused on connecting forum members with vetted policy fellows: experts and practitioners who are working on economic mobility initiatives in their cities. Members interact with fellows through round-table discussion, research projects, and webinar lectures. We'll discuss the takeaways gleaned from the last year of collaboration, and specifically how the COVID-19 pandemic revealed and exacerbated already existing economic mobility disparities across the nation. To learn more about our Policy Fellows, the Policy Forum, or the Center for Applied Public Research, come visit us at https://appliedresearch.jhu.edu/ The Center for Applied Public Research is a part of the Johns Hopkins University Centers for Civic Impact. To learn more, visit us at https://civicimpact.jhu.edu/

The disruptive effects of COVID-19 were widespread, but that didn't prevent the City of Paterson, NJ from moving forward on mayoral priorities. Today, we join Mayor Andre Sayegh, Chief Data Officer Harsha Mallajosyula, and Business Administrator Kathleen Long to discuss their collaboration with GovEx in developing much-needed foundational data practices in the city. We'll look at how this work began, what problems it solved, and how it supported the city's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Is it safe for pregnant women to get vaccinated against COVID-19? What if they're breast feeding? The answer, it turns out, is hard to find, and it depends a lot on where in the world you live. Today, we're looking at COMIT (COvid Maternal Immunization Tracker), a Johns Hopkins initiative designed to track and report the world's nations' stances on COVID vaccination for pregnant and lactating people. We'll look at the challenge collecting this data has been and what it tells us about how excluding certain groups from trials and data collection causes disarray in policy-making. Learn more at comitglobal.org

Today, we're joined by the creators of the eSchools+ Initiative, a program designed to address inequity caused by school closures through connecting parents and teachers with school reopening data and research. We'll explore the initiative's conception and the unique challenges this effort posed given the rapidly changing landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our guests are Dr. Ruth Faden, founder of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, Dr. Annette Anderson, deputy director for the Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, and Dr. Megan Collins, a bioethicist at the Berman School of Bioethics and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Consortium for School-Based Health Solutions.

In today’s episode, we’ll discuss the Love Your Block program in the City of Lancaster. Love Your Block is a Cities of Service initiative that connects city leaders with residents to help them organize neighborhood improvements, cleanups, and other volunteer-led projects. We’re joined by Lancaster’s Director of Neighborhood Engagement as well as researchers from the Urban Institute who recently completed an efficacy study of Love Your Block.

In today's episode, we discuss our engagement with the City of Baltimore and its CleanStat program. We'll also look at how the city relied on this initiative to care for residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We know that collecting and analyzing data generates insights. But how can we transform those moments of insight into enduring knowledge that guides the organization, even when priorities and staff change? In today’s episode, we discuss Knowledge Management - the work of collecting insights into a big-picture understanding of our how our organization and efforts work. We’ll look at how this process applies to the work cities engage in, and how you might implement it in your own work.

Today, we take a look at GovEx's engagement with the City of Rochester, MN to support their affordable housing initiative. We'll look at where the initiative came from, explore how Rochester collected and leveraged its data, and cover valuable takeaways for other cities looking to conduct this work.

We're all under pressure to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic. But how can we make the most of this time, and what benefits of this situation might we be overlooking? Today, members of the GovEx Academy explore how COVID-19 has placed a greater emphasis on distance learning, bringing an instructor's perspective to the challenges we face and exploring some of the tools you can use to make your online courses more manageable.

Today, we discuss the impact COVID-19 has had on food system resilience. Joined by two graduate students focused on this work, we’ll take a look at what cities focused on this issue are doing right now, and how hazard and vulnerability assessment plays a role in the planning of a city’s food system framework.

Today, we join the City of Asheville’s Equity and Inclusion Director Kimberlee Archie and IT Director Jonathan Feldman to discuss the city's work on embedding equity into its data work. We'll also talk about how the work has pivoted after the George Floyd protests, ultimately culminating in the city's Reparations Declaration.

During the holidays, food drives and charitable giving campaigns raise awareness of food insecurity, but people experience disruptions in access to healthy food year round. New research by Dr. Kristin Mmari and colleagues at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Public Health reveals that some adolescents engage in risky behavior to get access to food or money to buy food. In this Data Points episode, our GovEx Director of Applied Research discusses these findings with Dr. Mmari and Anushka Jajodia, a Social Design Fellow from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Together with researchers from the JHU Department of Civil Engineering, this team is taking a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding and mapping systemic barriers to food access, and developing a process to put this valuable research into action. For further reading, see the relevant Urban Institute study linked here.

When we thinking of measuring outcomes in education, we often think of test scores as the ultimate indicator. But a team of practitioners and researchers in Baltimore City are working together to use a science-based method to identify and implement incremental changes, and to empower teachers, school leaders and others to understand and use multiple layers of data in their day-to-day work. On this episode of Data Points we speak with Jarrod Bolte, founder of Improving Education; Faith Connolly, Executive Director of the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC); and Marc Stein, Associate Professor of Education at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education and Research Co-Director of BERC, about how practitioners are using improvement science to make smaller changes to achieve outcomes in areas like early literacy and attendance for students in Baltimore City schools. For further reading, check out these EdWeek blogs from the perspectives of researcher and practitioner. And linked here is a video of Improvement Science at work in Baltimore City high schools. Additional information and resources are available through the Carnegie Foundation, and Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

At GovEx, a lot of our work is focused on cities. But counties play a crucial role in using data to improve public outcomes as well. From health to elections and justice programming, counties provide critical services to people across the US. To explore these often overlooked stakeholders in government data work, we are diving deep through a conversation with two represenatives from NACo, the National Assocation of Counties. In this episode, we talked with Natalie Ortiz and Kathy Rowings about the work of NACo connecting counties together, their work on Data-Driven Justice, and how they use data themselves to advance better public outcomes across all sorts of counties from urban to rural and everywhere in between. If you are interested in learning more about how counties use data, get in touch with us at govex@jhu.edu and we are happy to discuss. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch Look for us on iTunes or Google as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Algorithms are a growing part of government work. They play a part in items ranging from traffic light decisions to criminal sentencing and a variety of topics in between. However, there is not a consistent way to think about algorithms as a public sector employee, leading to a wide range of usage. GovEx and a few partners set out to change that through the creation of the Ethics and Algorithms Toolkit. In this episode, we talk with Joy Bonaguro, former Chief Data Officer for the City and County of San Francisco, and Miriam McKinney, an analyst on the GovEx team, about the development of the toolkit. They describe the work to gather feedback from stakeholders, the iteration of work on the toolkit itself, and the ways that anyone can use the toolkit to help center their own work. If you are interested in learning more about algorithms, check out a preview of the toolkit here. If you're interested in working with the toolkit and need assistance, please contact us at govex@jhu.edu. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch Look for us on iTunes or Google as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Being a Smart City is a new hot goal for cities. From Singapore to Amsterdam and anywhere in between, cities are trying to become smarter and implementing projects that include "smart city" components. But what does it mean? What makes a city smart and what components make a project relevant for smart cities? Because of the variety of concepts and definitions (check out the Wikipedia page for a long list of possibilities) we take a deeper look at Smart Cities in this episode. Along with our guest and friend of the podcast, GovEx's Director of Applied Research Katherine Klosek, we discuss how GovEx defines smart cities, how to make residents and their needs a central piece of smart cities strategy, and several examples of Smart Cities implementation in the US from Colorado Springs, CO, Louisville, KY, and Columbus, OH. If you want to learn more or are interested in getting started implementing a Smart Cities strategy, check out GovEx's Smart Cities Guide and get in touch with us at govex@jhu.edu if you have any further questions. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch Look for us on iTunes or Google as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Racial equity is a challenge cities across America are grappling with on a daily basis. In this episode, we will take a deep dive into the innovative and data-driven approach which Grand Rapids, Michigan is taking to meet this complex issue head on. Over the past six months, GovEx, through What Works Cities, has been supporting Grand Rapids' efforts to increase racial equity by improving data management practices and bringing data and evidence into the decision-making process, and bettering the connection with residents and their quality of life. As a part of our collective effort, the City has launched its Housing NOW! dashboard to which allows everyone a clear view of the data collected and analyzed by Grand Rapids to "inform decision-making and dialogue so that [the City is] able to understand [its] community needs and how best to meet them." We are joined by Alex Melton who is the Customer Service Community Liaison for Grand Rapids and Zac Thiel, the City’s Digital and Data Strategist. They are apart of Grand Rapids 311 Customer Service team, which is led by Becky Jo Glover. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Enabling more use of public data is a key challenge for cities across the country. This week, we will be talking with our partners from the Sunlight Foundation about their efforts to improve Tactical Data Engagement. For this episode, we’re joined by Stephen Larrick, Open Cities Director at Sunlight. Stephen leads all city-focused work for Sunlight, including work we've done together on open data through the What Works Cities Initiative. Sunlight's recent work has focused increasingly on putting city data to use. To do that, they have piloted a technique called Tactical Data Engagement. Madison, WI, was one of their pilot sites and through a focus on equitable neighborhoods they were able to build user personas and a public data use toolkit for residents to use. Many cities are also interested in this work and through a recent workshop, Sunlight and cities were able to generate 39 fresh ideas for community use of open data for cities across the country to use. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

About two years ago, Tempe, Arizona’s mayor and council committed to moving towards more transparent and data informed decision making. Since that time, the city has passed an open data policy, developed an active open data program, created Tempe Accelerates — a regular City Manager led, data focused strategy session that’s open to the public — and launched a new tool for performance based budgeting. Collectively, it all represents quite a bit of change in the way that Tempe decisions are made and shared with the public. As we continue our miniseries on data and culture change, in this episode we'll speak with Rosa Inchausti from Tempe. Rosa is Tempe’s first Director of Strategic Management and Diversity, and she’s supported a significant change process throughout the city. We hear first hand from Rosa how she accomplished the challenging task of bringing people on board with Tempe’s new data focus and the many excellent ideas she has for making organizational culture change effective and authentic.

Happy birthday to us! As GovEx turns three, Eric and Sharon (who have both been around since its beginning) take a quick look back at the top highlights over the years, including the first What Works Cities Summit, growing from two people with no office space to a team of 25 working in over 100 cities around the world, and we also peer into the future to give you some insights on what's next for GovEx.

This week we’re starting a mini-series on data and culture change. We will be taking a look at several different approaches to building a culture of data use with city partners from around the country. For this episode, we’re joined by Josh Edwards of Durham, NC. Josh is the Strategic Plan Director in the budget department and also the director of the city’s Innovation Team. Josh oversees a variety of projects related to data in the city and has built several initiatives to help spread data use across the city. The initiatives in Durham span a wide range of topics from innovation in criminal justice to creating a lab where employees can experiment on all sorts of topics. However all of the projects focus on building internal capacity to solve problems with data. Whether employees are using the strategic plan goal dashboard, the Durham Open Data Portal, or the Neighborhood Compass, they're all focused on using data to better serve residents. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Budgets are often long, complicated, and difficult for the average city resident to understand. But they don't have to be. Participatory budgeting is a tool growing in use that helps residents understand and actively contribute to budgeting decisions in a city. Since it started in Brazil in the 1980s, participatory budgeting has spread around the world. In this episode, we talk with representatives from two organizations using different participatory budgeting mechanisms to explain the why, what, and how of making budgets more participatory. First we discussed the nuts and bolts of doing participatory budgeting in a city government with City Manager Louis DePasquale and Budget Director Sarah Stanton of Cambridge, MA. Then we explored a gamified way of thinking about engaging people through budgets with Kelsey Foster, who is the Campaign Manager of the People's Budget at the Committee for a Better New Orleans. To learn more about these techniques, check out http://pb.cambridgema.gov/ and https://neworleans.peoplesbudget.com. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

In honor of Open Data Day 2018, cohosts Sharon Paley and Eric Reese bring you this special mini episode of Data Points. We share our three favorite (and quick) tips for opening data in your government. Let us know how you are celebrating Open Data Day and if you enjoy this extra short version of the podcast by email us at govex@jhu.edu.

This week we talk with Dr. Marc Gourevitch and Dr. Jessica Athens, professors at New York University’s School of Medicine and Public Health. They’ll talk to us about the city health dashboard they’ve been developing for cities across the US. The City Health Dashboard is a web resource that enables community leaders and advocates for health, education, housing, and other policy areas in four pilot cities to easily see where they stand on 26 key measures of health and drivers of health. The site displays measures and drivers of health in a variety of data views, including interactive maps and charts. Through the site, you can compare outcomes across your neighborhood and among your peer cities. We also talk about the forthcoming expansion of the tool for even more cities to leverage for data-based health policy making.

The Fighting Irish are fighting poverty at the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (otherwise known as LEO) at the University of Notre Dame. The center is identifying the data-centric, effective and scalable programs that help people move out of poverty. LEO’s research is conducted by Notre Dame faculty "as well as scholars from across the country with expertise in designing and evaluating the impact of domestic anti-poverty programs." In this episode, we talk to James Sullivan, the Rev. Thomas J. McDonagh, C.S.C., Associate Professor of Economics and LEO's cofounder. We learn more about LEO in general, as well as its evaluation of projects which address juvenile recidivism and efforts to prevent homelessness.

Cities use data to tackle almost every problem imaginable. This includes the serious issue of opiods and overdoses. Using data to tackle serious issues in a public way is a great benefit of open data and performance analytics work and this week we dive...

It’s always good to pause and reflect. As the calendar page turns from 2017 to 2018, Eric and Sharon take time out to wrap up 2017 and discuss everything that’s happened on the Data Points podcast in the past year.

Many people know about algorithms. But we often don’t know much about them and how they work. In Episode 39 Weapons of Math Destruction, guest Cathy O’Neill described the basics of applications of algorithms in government. Today,

This week, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced the selection committee for its fourth US Mayors Challenge. The Mayors Challenge will invest $17.5 million in American cities to test and implement innovative and shareable solutions that tackle today’s tou...

Data standards — what are they, where do you find them, and how should you use them? On this week’s episode of Data Points, we are highlighting the launch a new data standards directory which has be cocreated by GovEx and GeoThink at McGill University....

The Federal Reserve is a key part of the US financial infrastructure. But how does it work? And how does it make decisions using data the affects local, state, and federal government agencies and millions of Americans? In this episode,

If you’re interested in pursuing an advanced degree in public health, this is the podcast for you! The Bloomberg American Health Initiative is an unprecedented investment to tackle health threats in the US.

Linking data from one place or system to another is often key to putting data to use. But few people understand what it takes to integrate and combine data in a useful way. Enter the integrated data system. In this episode,

It’s common knowledge that cities are made up of individual neighborhoods. But thinking about data at the neighborhood level is difficult. Often data is not granular enough to get to the neighborhood level and sometimes we can’t even clearly define dif...

Algorithms are complicated. Yet they are used all the time in our daily lives, including by governments, to perform basic functions. From determining what web page advertisements we see to timing traffic lights,

Algorithms are complicated. Yet they are used all the time in our daily lives, including by governments, to perform basic functions. From determining what web page advertisements we see to timing traffic lights,

Organizing a hackathon is common concept for the civic tech movement. Bringing people together to solve a problem in a short period of time creates urgency, community, and a sense of shared purpose using data. However,

Maps are everywhere throughout our lives. Whether using Google Maps, Yelp, riding the bus, or hiking at a national park, maps can turn data into easily consumable and useful information. However, making and using maps also comes with pitfalls that savv...

Nothing is more critical to people’s lives than water. Local governments across the US usually do such a good job of providing safe, clean water that it’s often overlooked. However, recent high profile incidents in Flint, MI (lead),

Transportation is a key issue for many governments. From transit planning to roads and bridges and autonomous vehicles, transportation affects all residents of communities in one way or another. Using data has long been a critical piece of transportati...

Comparing budget data is no easy task for cities. Categories aren't standardized, budget cycles often don't align, and each city funds its priorities differently according to the governmental structure, age, and size among other factors. However, cities need to be able to compare budget and spending data in order to understand how their spending is affecting their priorities in context. To help Jackson, Mississippi, tackle this problem the GovEx team developed a tool called "Compared to Jackson." The tool allowed city officials to compare their spending and budget data to other cities deemed comparable by a GovEx machine learning algorithm. This week, GovExers Sheila Dugan and Nick Hadjigeorge join Data Points to talk about their work on the project and takeaways for other cities to replicate this process. To learn more about Compared to Jackson, check out the GovEx Github page and to see the tool in use check out the Jackson Budget page. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Data science is a hot topic among many cities. But few are doing it right. Understanding the buzzwords, data quality needs, skill sets, and what kinds of  government problems lend themselves to data science techniques is challenging. All cities need guidance in how to structure problems, implement data science techniques, and use the results to improve outcomes for residents. With that in mind, GovEx's Director of Analytics Carter Hewgley had a conversation with two leading thinkers and practitioners in the government data science world, Rayid Ghani and Hunter Owens. Rayid is a data science guru and involved in a variety of data projects through his positions at the University of Chicago. Hunter is a data scientist for the City of Los Angeles and has worked on data science projects related to education, bike shares, food trucks, and more. To learn more about Rayid and Hunter and their work, check out personal websites (Rayid and Hunter) and the Data Science for Social Good Fellowship. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

As cities work hard to help residents thrive, the neighborhoods they live in are often the front lines of some pretty tough challenges. Simultaneously keeping housing affordable, properties maintained, neighborhoods safe, and businesses open are all efforts that require a robust understanding of how investments and policies shape outcomes across both space and time. Fortunately, experts like Dr. Ken Steif are leading the way. Dr. Steif leads the Master of Urban Spatial Analytics (MUSA) program at the University of Pennsylvania and is the founder of Urban Spatial, a firm that combines spatial analysis, econometrics and predictive analytics to help government, business and the non-profit sector allocate limited resources across space. Dr. Steif and his team were recently featured by The Atlantic’s CityLab and Next City for their work building a model to predict gentrification in 29 U.S. cities. GovEx’s own Carter Hewgley sat down with Dr. Steif to explore his work and passion for spatial analysis. During their conversation, they discussed the MUSA program and Urban Spatial’s work predicting gentrification and land values for the Philadelphia land bank, topics of particular interest for any city confronting challenges with affordability or blight. To learn more about Dr. Steif’s work, check out this post in CityLab, which features his work at Urban Spatial, and check out the MUSA program. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Data privacy and security have been and continue be a huge conversation in the government data world. What data are sensitive? Do governments need to collect all the data they have? How do governments protect their data and residents once they do collect the data? We explore these questions and more on this week's Data Points. To dive into these topics, we assembled a panel of experts from GovEx and the District of Columbia government. * Rebecca Williams - Senior Advisor at GovEx working with cities across the country and who has a variety of experience with local and federal government agencies. * Emily Shaw - Our newest GovEx team member, Emily was formerly with our partners the Sunlight Foundation and is an expert in data management policy. * Darby Hickey - Senior Legislative Analyst for Council Member David Grosso in the District of Columbia who has experience at the Open Technology Institute and also works directly on these kinds of issues for the DC Council. To learn more about this topic, check out Emily's recent paper on data privacy and the DC Auditor's report on data security practices in the District of Columbia. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Data use is exploding across governments not only in the US, but around the world as well. To dive deeper into the international waters, Data Points is hosting a series of discussions focusing on data use outside the US. We'll be talking with practitioners and policy makers from around the world about how data use is changing in their locations and how they relate to changes in the US. -- As the final part in our continuing miniseries looking at government and data outside the US, this week we sat down with Martin Alessandro from the government of the City of Buenos Aires. GovEx has been working with Buenos Aires on a variety of topics, including helping the city's delivery unit work with departments to set and meet public goals. Martin is the head of the city's delivery unit, which reports to the Mayor and is designed to drive increased performance across the entire city government. Delivery units first became popular with the launch of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit in the United Kingdom and have since expanded to other regions and government types. Delivery units are similar to "stat" programs that are more prevalent in the US in that both focus heavily on using data to get better outcomes for governments. In our conversation, Martin explains about how his unique academic and public policy background helps position the delivery unit, how the unit is working to build on public commitments, and how the city is overcoming challenges to improve outcomes for residents. Check out these links to learn more about Buenos Aires, the delivery unit, and Mayor Larreta's public commitments. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Data use is exploding across governments not only in the US, but around the world as well. To dive deeper into the international waters, Data Points is hosting a series of discussions focusing on data use outside the US. We'll be talking with practitioners and policy makers from around the world about how data use is changing in their locations and how they relate to changes in the US. -- As part of our continuing miniseries looking at government and data outside the US, this week we sat down with Brittany Lane of the Open Government Partnership (or OGP). If you're not familiar with the OGP, it is an international organization launched in 2011 to provide a platform for reformers committed to making their governments more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens.  OGP has grown from 8 original participating countries to 75 participating countries since 2011 (including the US). In all of these countries, government and civil society are working together to develop and implement ambitious open government reforms. While the OGP is generally focused on national governments, Brittany leads one of the OGP's newest programs, a pilot designed to involve subnational governments in the work of the OGP. Subnational governments include cities, counties, states, provinces, and even devolved nations (shout out to Scotland). The fifteen pioneer subnational governments are committed to political and working level reforms and engaging with partners in civil society. Brittany helps shepherd the subnational governments through a process of committing to action steps and implementing their plans no matter their level of focus. To learn about the OGP and its subnational commitments, check out this page for a list of participants and their work on the ground.   Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Data use is exploding across governments not only in the US, but around the world as well. To dive deeper into the international waters, Data Points is hosting a series of discussions focusing on data use outside the US. We'll be talking with practitioners and policy makers from around the world about how data use is changing in their locations and how they relate to changes in the US. -- As part of our continuing miniseries looking at government and data outside the US, this week we were lucky to be in Vilnius, Lithuania. There, we sat down with the Mayor's Advisor, Povilas Poderskis to talk about how the Municipality is creating, leveraging, and publishing data to improve transparency and service delivery. GovEx has been working with Vilnius on developing its open data and performance practices, and specifically helping parents make better informed kindergarten school choices for their children. In this episode, we talk to Povilas about this project, as well as the current state of open data and transparency in Vilnius and in Lithuania at large. The Municipality is using data not just to inform education-related decisions, but for urban planning, transit, and infrastructure, as well. Povilas shares his insights on how Vilnius successfully partners with its local civic tech community, private industries, and the Lithuanian national government. Patikti! [Enjoy!] Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Data use is exploding across governments not only in the US, but around the world as well. To dive deeper into the international waters, Data Points is hosting a series of discussions focusing on data use outside the US. We'll be talking with practitioners and policy makers from around the world about how data use is changing in their locations and how they relate to changes in the US. -- Despite our close proximity, the US and Canada are not always sharing our best practices when it comes to data. This week's episode hopes to start reversing that trend through a conversation with Jean-Noé Landry, Executive Director of Open North. Open North is Montreal-based Canadian nonprofit that helps governments become more transparent, accountable, and responsive in the digital age. Open North works with cities and other governments across Canada and partners with organizations around the world to improve data use and outcomes for communities. In addition to his work in Canada, Jean-Noé also has extensive experience from over the world including work in Croatia, Serbia, Russia, Afghanistan, the West Bank, Kenya, and more recently in Algeria, Tunisia, Ukraine, and Morocco. Through his work, Jean-Noé has consistently focused on openness in government, using policy to improve outcomes, and strategic use of data. Our conversation with him covered a variety of topics, including how partnerships between the US and Canada can help both countries improve data use in government. To find out more on what's happening in Canada and at Open North, check out http://www.opennorth.ca/. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

It's the final GovEx Data Points podcast of 2016! A time for reflection and celebration of the year that was. So, like our Thanksgiving podcast, we've gathered members of the GovEx "family" around the table (and the microphone) to share their thoughts and ideas about the world of government and data in 2016 and what we can look forward to in 2017. This episode, Eric and Sharon are joined by their colleagues Lena Geraghty, Beth Blauer, Michael Benison, and Katherine Klosek (in original speaking order). We touch on how cities are likely to become even more critical places for fostering innovation and delivering services in "post truth America". And how this is an opportunity to build trust between the people and their government. From there, we look at how cities can prioritize community engagement and use data and evidence to make that happen, including storytelling through data and embracing failure. If you think we missed discussing an important 2016 theme in government and data, please let us know. We'd love to cover it in a future podcast. Have a happy New Year and thanks for listening! Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Engaging residents and communities is a key piece of work for city employees. However, many cities struggle to engage one specific community: civic tech enthusiasts. Civic techies often want to help cities use more data, improve technology, and generally make their cities better places to live. But engaging civic tech enthusiasts requires a different mode of engagement than cities typically employ. In this episode, we talk with guest Mark Headd about his recent book that focused on how to best engage volunteer communities around data and technology in cities. Based on his own experience in government as the first Chief Data Officer of Philadelphia (among other places) and interviews with city leaders from across the US, his book provides a playbook for city government officials who want to better engage civic tech communities. We talked with him about a variety of topics, including ways to encourage civic tech communities and what to avoid when working with volunteer tech groups. To get more information, you can find Mark's book at https://www.civichacking.guide/ or get in touch with him on Twitter. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

In this episode of Data Points, we explain how the District of Columbia used data to reduce HIV transmissions by 70% in 7 years. It’s a story rife with lessons on how important data is in tackling major public health problems that threaten the lives and well-being of our children, friends, family and neighbors. When District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty took office in 2007, it was estimated that 1 in 20 District residents were HIV positive. Other major cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Detroit and Chicago were also epicenters of the disease, but their prevalence rates were half or even just a quarter of DC’s. Worse still, if you looked at new pediatric cases across the entire nation, 9% came from nation’s capital: a city that’s only 9 x 11 miles and home to just .2% of the US population. After declaring HIV/AIDS the Mayor’s #1 public health priority, the District got serious about using data to drive an informed response and target its prevention initiatives. Over the several years, the prevalence rate started to fall—and has continued to do so ever since. How did they do it? To bring you the story, Producer Amy Hutchinson interviews two people on the front lines of the District’s HIV/AIDS epidemic: Michael Kharfen, Director of the DC Department of Health (DOH) - HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and Tuberculosis Administration (HAHSTA); and,   A. Toni Young, Executive Director of the Community Education Group During the discussion, our guests touch on a variety of topics including: strategic partnerships between cities and anchor academic institutions; building a strong evidence base for strategy development; and making data easy for stakeholders on the front lines to use. To find out more about the District’s use of data to fight HIV, check out their annual surveillance reports or get in touch with GovEx. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Stuffed with turkey? Avoiding conversations about politics with your family? Trying to build your data skills even though it's a holiday weekend? Well then you are in luck as the GovEx team has options for you. Listen as Sophia Dengo, Sheila Dugan, and Matt Pazoles from the GovEx team join Sharon and Eric to discuss their favorite places to find cool data (and fun) resources. The team also included a few of their favorite resources below for your holiday reading pleasure. Check them out and let us know if you have additional resources you think others should look into. And of course, a Happy Thanksgiving from the GovEx team! Sophia * GovEx resource - govex.jhu.edu - General blogs, podcasts, and more with fresh updates from our awesome team. * Other work resource - stackoverflow.com -- Google will usually lead you here when you start searching for solutions to programming problems, and for good reason. Many if not most answers can be found here! * For fun - Get some sleep! But I’ve been devouring biographies lately -- Anna Kendrick’s Scrappy Little Nobody was a fun silly read, and I love Lynn Sherr’s biography of Sally Ride so much I’ve read it three times. Matt * GovEx resource - Cultivating talent guide - Setting up an analytics team can feel like a daunting task, but this guide helps get you started with suggestions of who to look for, where to look, and how to gather your team. * Other work resource - OpenStreetMap - Finding the right base maps or shapefiles for city boundaries isn’t always easy, but OpenStreetMap’s community of developers has the US pretty well covered. * For fun - Data is Beautiful - Uncurated collection of data visualizations on everything from the distribution of skittle flavors in a party-sized bag to population growth in rust belt cities. Eric * GovEx resource - Talking about performance video - Great summary of semantics and performance management for our Analytics Director Carter Hewgley. * Other work resource - PolicyViz - Jon Schwabish is a data visualization guru and I really like his breadth of materials that are available for free. * For fun - Michael Bolton’s Winning Softball: Hit Harder Play Smarter - Yes folks this is real, an instructional video about slow pitch softball featuring non other than Michael Bolton. You’re welcome. Sharon Bourbon Pecan Pie * 1.5 tbs butter * 3/4 cup sugar * 3/4 cup light corn syrup * 2 tbs vanilla extract * 3 tbs bourbon * 3 eggs, beaten * 1 cup pecans * 8-inch pie crust, unbaked Combine the first three ingredients in a saucepan (cooking over low heat and stirring constantly) until the sugar dissolves. Cool slightly and add the eggs vanilla and bourbon. Pour sugar mixture into pie shell and top with pecans. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

The GovEx team attends events around the country (and world if you listened to our IODC recap). One of our favorite events each year is the annual Code for America summit. The summit covers a variety of topics ranging from casual conversations with civic tech leaders to hands-on workshops on how to unlock the power of data in communities. With an exciting slate of sessions, including several led by GovEx staff, the annual summit is a great opportunity to reflect on the state of civic technology and plan for improved practice. Several GovEx staff attended this year's summit in Oakland and they gathered on this week's episode to reflect on their experiences. Each had a unique experience at the summit, given their roles and past history with the civic tech movement. Listen in as GovExers Beth Blauer, Andrew Nicklin, Sheila Dugan, and Sophia Dengo talk all things Code for America. If you want to learn more about Code for America, please check out https://www.codeforamerica.org/ or Code for America's Youtube Channel to check out some of the sessions from the Summit! Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

At GovEx, we work with cities around the country whose leaders are committed to revitalizing aging neighborhoods, and reversing declining property values. These issues are critical to many cities and strategies to address them must incorporate a strong knowledge of the history of urban spaces, including race and racial dynamics. Recently, GovEx Senior Advisor Katherine Klosek and I sat down for a conversation with Johns Hopkins University professor of history Dr. Nathan Connolly to discuss how cities have addressed urban spaces historically and what they can do to improve the quality of life for all city residents. Dr. Connolly is the Herbert Baxter Adams Associate Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University. He writes and teaches about the interplay between racism, capitalism, politics, and the built environment in the twentieth century. His book, A World More Concrete: Real Estate and the Remaking of Jim Crow South Florida, focuses on a variety of issues that are relevant for cities in the US including property ownership and redlining.  Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Data Science and Open Data has proven to be useful in practically all fields of local government, including education and public school systems. In this episode of Data Points, we talk with Andy Smarick, Visiting Scholar and a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy. He serves as President of the Maryland State Board of Education  and Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Previously, Andy was a senior member of Bellwether Education Partners, where he authored numerous publications, including The Urban School System of the Future. Today, we're talking with Andy about how he first got involved with Education, how local government officials can improve their towns' education systems, his view on charter schools, and much more.

The most recent International Open Data Conference (IODC) took place in Madrid, Spain, during the first week of October.  GovEx Open Data Director Andrew Nicklin and Senior Implementation Advisors Rebecca Williams and Eric Reese attended the conference and sat down to share their thoughts on the state of open data around the world in this episode. Through the discussion, we try to answer questions like: What was the biggest takeaway from the conference? What's next for open data? How can you get involved with the open data movement as it evolves? Check out our IODC recap blog for a quick summary of our takeaways and go to OpenDataCon website for all the information on what went down in Madrid. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

In this episode, we talk with Stephanie Singer, a technologist with diverse career accomplishments as a data strategist, entrepreneur, professor, and elected government official. After she earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics and tenure at a top-ten liberal arts college and worked as a Data Strategist in a small business, she defeated a 36-year incumbent in a citywide race in her first run for public office. As elected City Commissioner on the Philadelphia Board of Elections, she increased transparency and visibility of the office, rooted out corruption and fought effectively for voters' rights.

Transparency in policing has come to national attention in recent years due the exposure of numerous civilian deaths at the hands of police officers across the country. To help improve understanding of police and community interactions, the Police Data Initiative was formally launched by the White House in May 2015. Although the Police Data Initiative is a federal initiative, it seeks to work with state and local governments to improve public safety and relations with police departments. In this episode, we talk with Clarence Wardell and Denise Ross who lead the Police Data Initiative on behalf of the White House to find out how the initiative came about, what it entails, and how police departments can start to work with the initiative to improve public relations. To learn more about the Police Data Initiative, visit: htnbv ntps://www.policefoundation.org/

A phrase often used in our field without much clarity is "data science." This week we try to demystify some buzzwords and explain data science through a discussion with two GovEx staffers who recently attended the Data Science for Social Good conference held in Chicago. GovEx Senior Implementation Advisor Matt Pazoles and Analyst Nick Hadjigeorge attended the conference a few weeks ago and in this episode they shared their thoughts on the highlights and implications of the conference. Through the discussion, we try to answer questions like: What is data science? What is the coolest data science project you've seen? Why should data scientists really be called data janitors? If the answers to those questions aren't enough and you want to learn more about data science, read up on Data Science for Social Good and check out GovEx's Data Science 101 resources. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Seattle is one of the fastest growing cities in the US and has long been known for being data-savvy due its association with companies like Amazon and Microsoft. However, it's not just the private sector that's promoting innovation and data use. The City of Seattle also works hard on incorporating data, being open about its practices, and pushing the envelope on providing better services to residents. This week guest host Matt Raifman and I talked with Candace Faber, Civic Technology Advocate for the City of Seattle, about what the city is doing to better use data to support residents. As the first ever person in this role, Candace connects actors across the technology and civic ecosystems to advance the Mayor's vision for Seattle to be a safe, affordable, vibrant, innovative, and connected city. Candace also helped champion the recent release of Seattle's Open Data Playbook, which helps guide city staff through the process of opening data. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Gun violence is an issue that plagues many major cities in the US. It is a complex and politically fraught issue, with a variety of causes and strategies to address it. This week, we try to get a better understanding of gun violence in the US through a discussion with Ted Alcorn, Director of Innovation at Everytown for Gun Safety. Originally founded by a group of concerned mayors, Everytown is a nonprofit focused on building a movement of Americans who work together to end gun violence and build safer communities. To do this, they provide research, convene stakeholders, and advocate for legislation that will help reduce gun violence across the US. As Director of Innovation for Everytown, Ted focuses much of his work on exploring new frontiers for reducing gun violence. This includes looking deeply at data from across the US to find ways for government leaders and community members to join forces to address critical public safety issues. Check out everytownresearch.org to learn more about Everytown’s research and data analysis on gun violence and read their most recent report – Strategies for Reducing Crime in American Cities. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

The concepts of sunshine laws and open government have grown in prominence around the US in recent years. However, governments often have difficulty keeping up with changes and determining what works in terms of transparency and accountability. One of the oldest nonprofits focused on helping communities make sense of these shifts is the Sunlight Foundation. If you’re not familiar with Sunlight, it is a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for open government globally and uses technology to make government more accountable to all. The GovEx team also works closely with Sunlight on our What Works Cities engagements focused on open data. This week I had the chance to talk with Alex Howard from Sunlight to discuss how governments and communities can effectively and productively focus on transparency. At Sunlight, Alex is Senior Analyst focusing on advancing openness and accountability at all levels of government. Alex has also had an extensive career in data journalism and has a unique perspective on how government and communities can engage around data to build public trust. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

A lot of US cities are just getting started with open data, but Philadelphia has been in the data game for awhile. Philly's open data program has released over 200 datasets, including those focusing on city contracts and the city budget. In this episode, Sharon and Eric chat with Chief Data Officer Tim Wisniewski of the City of Philadelphia to discuss how cities can improve their data practice and learn from the experience (both good and bad) of Philadelphia. Tim has served in the Philadelphia city administration since 2012, helping to build a nationally renowned open data and digital services program.  Tim is a Philly native and was previously Executive Director of the Frankford Special Services District, where he led efforts to revitalize the Frankford Avenue Business Corridor. You can read more about Tim, his hobbies, and his current projects at timwis.com. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

A lot of people these days are using the buzz word "analytics," but few people actually know what it is or how it works in government. Getting started with analytics can be daunting, but it doesn't have to be. In this episode, Sharon and Eric chat with What Works Cities fellow and former New York City Chief Analytics Officer Mike Flowers to discuss how analytics works and how cities can get started with their own analytics programs. Mike has a wealth of experience using data to drive improved decision-making in government. He founded the Mayor's Office of Data Analytics (MODA) in New York City and has worked with governments around the world to infuse analytics into government operations. Throughout his career, Mike has focused on improving operational decision-making by arming public servants with the information they need to improve outcomes. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Nearly 30,000 acres of land. 600,000 trees on city streets. How does the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation manage so much of the city? “Everything starts with a map,” says Jacqueline Lu, NYC Parks Director of Data Analytics. Visualizing and analyzing data to understand how all the assets it oversees is the Department’s fundamental approach. In this episode, Andrew chats with Jackie not just about what data usage on such a scale looks like, but also about the Parks’ street trees census. The Department is in the midst of its third such census now. Because NYC Parks relies heavily on 2,500 volunteers to collect tree census data, the project is also a community stewardship opportunity. Learn more about the New York City Department of Parks by visiting nycgovparks.org or following them on Twitter @nycparks. Thanks for listening! Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

"Open source kindness." That's how OpenReferral talks about how it helps people connect to food pantries, medical clinics, mental healthcare, youth services, computer refurbishment programs, et cetera. OpenReferral, a "non-organization" community of practice, is the latest advancement in a century-old field helping people access human services. GovEx's Director of Open Data, Andrew Nicklin, sits down with OpenReferral's Chief Organizing Officer, Greg Bloom to talk about how are they leveraging old-fashioned network development and cutting-edge technology. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

What is a "nudge?" How can human behavior, and errors, affect the everyday work of government? How can data help government start to correct those errors? We discuss these questions and more with Elspeth Kirkman of the Behavioral Insights Team (or BIT) in this week's episode of Data Points. Elspeth is the Head of BIT North America, which launched last year as a part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Initiative (which also launched GovEx). BIT grew out of 10 Downing St, where it was the United Kingdom’s “nudge unit” and the world’s first government institution dedicated to the application of behavioral sciences. BIT's work focuses on redesigning services based on empirical evidence from the behavioral science literature. Their work also involves rigorous testing of behavioral science concepts to ensure that governments know what works before they scale up new practices. Through What Works Cities, BIT has expanded its work to the US and is working with several cities across the country on low-cost evaluations. These evaluations help cities test different a variety of techniques in service delivery to determine which ways are more effective, and which ways aren't, to improve service delivery. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

“The problems and the data are alike in city work and astronomy,” according to this episode’s guest, Tamas Budavari, Assistant Professor of Applied Math and Statistics at Johns Hopkins University. Tamas is working to apply the same solutions he built to answer how the universe was formed to understand how housing becomes vacant and blighted in Baltimore* City. Connecting Baltimore to his previous research was a bit of serendipity, according to Tamas. His support for the Johns Hopkins 21st Century Cities Initiative fostered this collaboration. Since starting to work with Baltimore Tamas has gained a broader understanding of the questions the city wants answered by its data. As a response, he’s creating a centralized database from which the city “can easily ask questions and answers come back right away.” There are some snags, however, owing to a variety of formats and standards, and limited resources. Still, Tamas and his team are able to make connections to provide what he calls “common denominators” and move quickly to think about solutions for Baltimore. *As Baltimore locals having a conversation, we fell into a comfortable habit that might leave our listeners confused. When Tamas talks about the city, he mentions “Station North” which is a arts and entertainment district constructed in an underpopulated part of town and “MICA” which is shorthand for the much lauded Maryland Institute of Art. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Data visualization is a hot topic. Everyone wants visualizations that are simple, fun, and easy to understand. But where should you start when visualizing your data? This week we talk to Jon Schwabish, a Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute and data visualization guru, to discuss his thoughts on how to get in the data visualization game and how to do it right. Jon is working on a variety of projects related to data visualization, including his new book Better Presentations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks. In our conversation with Jon, we explore his recent work and a wide range of topics on data visualization from software and chart options to telling a coherent story with data. For more information, get in touch with GovEx or check out Jon’s website Policyviz. If you look hard enough you can also find GovEx staff Eric Reese and Rebecca Williams as recent guests on Jon’s podcast! Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

What is a Broadband Coordinator? Does a city need one? Why would a broadband coordinator need a broadband report card? We talk to Jason Hardebeck, Broadband Coordinator for the City of Baltimore about his post and his intentions to make it obsolete. Hardebeck is working with GovEx (via MetroLab) to develop a broadband report card, which will help determine how available broadband access is and should be in Baltimore. We dive into that effort and find out how it can scale to other cities. We also talk about Jason’s other efforts around Baltimore, such as his burgeoning makerspace, The Foundery. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

The City of San Francisco is often thought of as a leader in technology and data-driven government. The city’s Chief Data Officer Joy Bonaguro joins us to discuss how that reputation became a reality and how data is making San Francisco a better city for all its residents. As the city’s (and county’s) first chief data officer, Joy has a unique perspective on integrating data in the daily life of government. Prior to joining the City, Joy worked from the birth of the open data and open government field, spending seven years designing and managing the development of information systems to support planning and decision-making at  Greater New Orleans Community Data. She also worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to help develop technology, cyber and privacy policy working closely with both the National Lab CIO Council and the Department of Energy Information Management Advisory Group. In our discussion, Joy touches on a variety of topics including, overcoming the challenges she faced in changing government culture, building a strong data network and inventory, and making data easy to use. To find out more about San Francisco’s use of data, check out datasf.org or get in touch with GovEx Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Shireen Santosham, Chief Innovation Officer for the City of San Jose, California, joins us to discuss all things data and innovation in San Jose. San Jose is a city of just over 1 million people in the Bay Area. You might know it because of its tech reputation and its location right in the heart of Silicon Valley, but our focus through our conversation with Shireen is on what the city itself is doing to work better for residents using data. As Chief Innovation Officer, Shireen leads leads efforts to build the Smart City Vision and strategy for Mayor Sam Liccardo and the city as a whole. Using her past experience on innovation projects across sectors, Shireen works on partnerships and programs that help advance the city’s goals, including becoming a safer, more sustainable, and more inclusive city. San Jose also works with GovEx on open data through the What Works Cities Initiative, making it clear the city is committed to exploring a variety of strategies to use data to improve outcomes for residents. Our discussion with Shireen touches on everything from using data to support diversity and inclusion to tech workers and private partnerships in San Jose. To find out more about San Jose’s use of data, check out their Smart City Vision or get in touch with GovEx Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Two Johns Hopkins University (JHU) researchers join us to take a deep dive into a discussion of policing and data in Baltimore. Since GovEx is a research center based in Baltimore and at JHU, we have a unique interest in partnering with our colleagues and exploring how data can be used in our home city. In this episode, I talk with Professor Stephen L. Morgan and researcher Joel Pally of the sociology department at JHU, who recently published their research report titled “The Ferguson Effect.” Steve and Joel’s goal was to determine whether increased scrutiny on police actions around the country following the events in Ferguson affected police behavior in Baltimore. Their research focused on analyzing open arrest and crime data from the City of Baltimore following the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, MO (check out the JHU Hub for a great overview of Steve and Joel’s research). Their research is especially relevant, as approximately 8 months later Baltimore had its own high profile police incident involving the death of Freddie Gray in police custody in Baltimore. Our discussion with Steve and Joel focuses on their research process, the data they used and how they worked with it, and whether their research is something that can be easily replicated in cities across the US. To find out more about Steve and Joel’s research, read their full report and check out their data and methodology. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

GovEx Director of Performance and Analytics Carter Hewgley joins us to discuss the important issue of lead poisoning across the country. His experience at FEMA and at the District of Columbia government gives him a great perspective on what can be done at both the national and local level to combat this issue. Check out his blog post on lead to get more information on strategies that governments can use in the short and long term to address lead poisoning. Overall, the key issue is that lead poisons people and there is no safe level of lead. 70% of homes in the US were constructed when one or more unsafe lead practices were legal. This means residents, cities, counties, states, and the federal government must continue to pay attention to this issue. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch You can find updates to the podcast in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/podcast Get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.

Welcome to GovEx Data Points, a podcast focusing on all things data and government! This is our first ever episode, so thanks for listening. In this episode, we’ll walk through some background information on GovEx and provide an introduction to what we plan to cover in future episodes. The podcast is brought to you by the team at the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, or GovEx for short. We’re a team of data fanatics focusing on helping government use data more effectively. We work with hand-in-hand with governments around the world on open data and performance analytics projects designed to improve outcomes for residents. We also provide training and resources for governments to help improve their data use. Each week we’ll examine a particular example of data use in government. We’ll explore examples from our own work at GovEx, the research of Johns Hopkins professors, and innovative practitioners from around the world. Sometimes we’ll focus on success stories and other times on challenges, but in all cases, the bottom line will be to learn how better use of data and evidence can help governments improve decision-making and ultimately, outcomes for people. Like Data? Listen and Get in Touch We’ll be aiming to produce one podcast each week and you can find it in several ways. * Look for us on iTunes as GovEx Data Points * Find up-to-date episodes on our website at http://govex.jhu.edu/resource-type/podcast/ As we continue with future episodes, we of course want to make sure that we’re meeting our listeners needs. So get in touch with us and let us know what you want to hear, suggest potential episodes, and give us feedback on how the podcast is going. You can contact us on Twitter at Gov_Ex or reach out via our website at govex.jhu.edu/contact.