Bloomberg Philanthropies Selects Top 35 Innovative Urban Ideas as Finalists in 2018 Mayors Challenge
Bloomberg Philanthropies today announced the 35 Champion Cities in the 2018 U.S. Mayors Challenge, a nationwide competition that encourages city leaders to uncover bold, inventive ideas that confront the toughest problems cities face. These 35 urban innovations rose to the top of a competitive pool of more than 320 applications. The Champion Cities will now begin a six-month testing phase where they will conduct public prototypes of their ideas with grant funding of up to $100,000 per city, a new addition to the competition this year.
The Mayors Challenge returns to the U.S. as one of the first investments in the Bloomberg American Cities Initiative, an effort to help U.S. cities generate innovation and advance policy.
“We received hundreds of bold and creative ideas from cities around the country in response to the 2018 Mayors Challenge, and these 35 really stood out for their potential to improve people’s lives,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and three-term Mayor of New York City. “The next six months are a great opportunity for the cities to test their ideas and make them even more innovative and effective.”
Today’s announcement marks the beginning of the six-month “Test, Learn, and Adapt” phase of the competition. In mid-March, core teams from each of the 35 Champion Cities will come to Bloomberg Philanthropies Ideas Camp in New York City where they will receive expert coaching and feedback from the other cities in the competition on ways to strengthen their ideas. Next, all 35 cities will receive up to $100,000, as well as personalized support from innovation experts, to test and begin building support for their urban innovations. A new part of the Mayors Challenge, the “Test, Learn, and Adapt” phase aims to help cities test core components of their ideas with residents, improve and refine their ideas, and develop a plan for implementation and impact measurement.