Statecraft How to Rewire City Hall
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Feb 13, 2026 James Anderson, leader of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Government Innovation Program and former NYC communications director, explains how city halls can become problem-solving machines. He discusses building internal innovation teams, using timely data and experiments, rethinking siloed operations, and practical steps mayors can take to turn evidence into action.
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Internalize Capacity, Not Contracts
- Build learning organizations, invest in data governance, and create innovation teams inside city halls.
- Internal capacity beats outsourcing for sustained, adaptive problem-solving.
Baltimore Built Homegrown Contact Tracing
- Mayor Brandon Scott used an internal innovation team to run contact tracing during COVID and outperformed peers.
- He later applied the same team to police recruitment and achieved net officer gains.
Start Small With Data Certification
- Start with a diagnostic like What Works Cities to assess gaps and improve data practices step-by-step.
- Train nontraditional staff to become data focal points when resources are limited.