Corona Joins National “What Works Cities” Initiative

CORONA SELECTED TO JOIN NATIONAL WHAT WORKS CITIES INITIATIVE

CORONA, CA – Today, Mayor Dick Haley announced that Corona has been selected as one of 10 new cities to participate in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Work Cities (WWC) initiative – one of the largest-ever philanthropic efforts to enhance the use of data and evidence in the public sector. Corona will receive technical assistance from world-class experts to build capacity to address local issues.

[ecko_quote source=”Mayor Dick Haley.”]Today is a great day for Corona, as our city has been selected to join an elite group of innovative and forward thinking What Works Cities. It represents not only a partnership but an endorsement of our effort and commitment to use data to become more effective stewards of the city.[/ecko_quote]

Corona’s selection, along with that of nine other new cities, was unveiled today by former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg at the second annual What Works Cities Summit, taking place March 28-29 in New York City. Corona and the following cities are the latest to commit publicly to enhancing their use of data and evidence to improve services, inform local decision-making and engage residents: Augusta, GA; Gilbert, AZ; Indianapolis, IN; Lewisville, TX; Miami, FL; Minneapolis, MN; Orlando, FL; Tyler, TX; and Washington, DC.

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With 77 mid-sized U.S. cities now partnering with What Works Cities, the initiative is now three quarters of the way toward its goal of 100 cities, set at the program’s launch in April 2015. All together, these 77 cities come from 36 states, represent more than 25 million residents and have annual budgets exceeding $90 billion. The initiative will partner with 100 cities on a rolling basis through 2018.

“We’re thrilled to welcome these new cities to our growing community,” said Simone Brody, Executive Director of What Works Cities. “They have affirmed their commitment to using data- and evidence-driven governance to deliver enhanced results for their residents, and we’re proud to partner with them as they continue working toward that goal.”

With support from a consortium of expert partners, What Works Cities are identifying more effective ways to evaluate programs and improve performance; best use resources to serve their communities; and address a range of social challenges – from poverty and inequality to public safety.

Corona will establish and improve performance management programs to set, track, and share progress toward priority goals, strengthen accountability and achieve better results.

“We are excited to partner with the Center for Government Excellence at John Hopkins and the Government Performance Lab at Harvard Kennedy School through the What Works Cities initiative,” said Corona City Manager Darrell Talbert. “These world class institutions will help us reach our vision of Corona becoming a data-driven organization, focused on community engagement and positive outcomes for our residents.”

The Center for Government Excellence at John Hopkins (GovEx) will collaborate with Corona to strengthen the city’s performance management systems and processes with a particular focus on improving the city’s delivery CITY OF CORONA 400 S. Vicentia Ave., Corona, California 92882 City Hall Online All The Time – www.DiscoverCorona.com Office: 951.736.2203 Fax: 951.736.2399 of its public safety and community engagement priorities.

In order to achieve this goal Corona will work with GovEx to:

• Improve the foundation of performance analytics in the city by strengthening strategic goals, metrics, timelines, and data use for public safety and community engagement priorities.
• Improve internal and external stakeholder engagement in performance analytics by increasing transparency, accessibility, collaboration, and partnership.

Corona also has the opportunity to work with Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab to improving the efficiency of services and outcomes for residents by managing contracts that deliver better results, bringing greater accountability to how public funds are spent. With guidance from Performance Lab, Corona will be adopting results-driven contracting strategies and other best practices for key procurements by working together in these areas:

• To analyze the city’s procurement and contracting practices to develop useful performance criteria and implement them into a supplier evaluation forms that would incorporate past performance information into future contracting.
• Adopt results-driven contracting strategies, particularly looking to measure outcomes, impacts, and cost-effectiveness of procurements, as well as set up a template that would allow the city to move toward actively managing performance based contracts in future procurements.

The consortium of leading organizations assembled by Bloomberg Philanthropies and delivering a program of support to cities includes the Behavioral Insights Team, the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, the Government Performance Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School, Results for America and the Sunlight Foundation.

About Bloomberg Philanthropies: Bloomberg Philanthropies works in more than 120 countries around the world to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. The organization focuses on five key areas for creating lasting change: Arts, Education, Environment, Government Innovation and Public Health. For more information, please visit bloomberg.org.

About What Works Cities: What Work Cities, launched in April 2015, is one of the largest-ever philanthropic efforts to enhance cities’ use of data and evidence. Through the initiative, which has committed to providing technical assistance to 100 cities on a rolling basis through 2018, cities around the country are receiving support, guidance and resources to succeed. For more information, please visit whatworkscities.org.

About the City of Corona: Corona is located adjacent to Orange County California at the junction of the 91 and 15 freeways with a population of more than 160,000 residents. For more information regarding The City of Corona visit www.DiscoverCorona.com.