Title
Bloomberg Philanthropies 2017 Mayor’s Challenge Idea and Solutions Presentation (B)
This item requests the City Commission receive a presentation regarding the Bloomberg Mayor’s Challenge idea and solution sets and provide direction for the City of Gainesville’s application.
Explanation
During the August 17, 2017 City Commission meeting, the Commission indicated their support to join the Bloomberg Philanthropies 2017 Mayor’s Challenge. The Bloomberg Mayor’s Challenge is an initiative to help city leaders create bold solutions to the most urgent issues of today. As part of the Challenge, approximately 35 cities across the country will be awarded up to $100,000 to test their solutions, and of those, five cities will win $9 million, in total, to implement their ideas.
For the City of Gainesville, the Mayor’s Challenge presents an opportunity to make progress toward our Strategic Framework and engage our partners in creating innovative solutions that can be replicated by other communities. Over the past year we have identified “big ideas” with our community and Commission through the development of our Strategic Framework, the recommendations of the Citizen’s Committee and in discussions with our organizational staff and elected leadership.
In the month of September, Strategic Initiatives hosted two additional idea accelerator workshops with organizational leadership and the public to further refine the list of alternatives presented to the City Commission. Today we are seeking the Commission’s direction on the challenge idea and solution set to pursue in our application to the 2017 Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayor’s Challenge.
The deadline to submit the full application is October 20, 2017.
Fiscal Note
None
Recommendation
The City Commission: 1) receive a presentation; and 2) provide direction on the challenge and solution set for the October 20, 2017 application.