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Episode #48: Center for Government Excellence
140 Plays9 years ago
Welcome back to the show! On this week’s episode, I’m pleased to welcome Rebecca Williams and Eric Reese from the Center for Government Excellence at the Johns Hopkins University. We talk about all things open data, open technology, and how...
The post Episode #48: Center for Government Excellence appeared first on PolicyViz.
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Transcript
Introduction & Opening Promo
00:00:00
Speaker
This week's episode of the PolicyViz podcast is brought to you by the Summer Executive Institute at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. The McCourt Executive Institute offers short courses that are specifically designed to enhance key skills.
00:00:15
Speaker
Small classes and hands-on projects allow you to engage with expert faculty at Georgetown in a format that is convenient for busy professionals. To learn more and to register, please visit mccourt.georgetown.edu slash exec-ed slash shortcourses. Enhance, energize, and expand your professional skills this summer at the McCourt Executive Institute.
Meet the Guests & GovX
00:00:49
Speaker
Welcome back to the Policy Viz Podcast. I'm your host, John Schwabisch. I am joined today by Rebecca Williams and Eric Ries, who are both senior implementation advisors at GovX, which is a new philanthropy from, well, I was going to say Mayor Bloomberg, but no longer Mayor Bloomberg. No longer Mayor Bloomberg, just Mr. Bloomberg. Just Mr. Bloomberg. So welcome, welcome to the show.
00:01:10
Speaker
Thanks, John. Rebecca, you're a veteran of the show. Yes, I'm always happy to be here. Well-known to many people. Some people. Some people. A specific audience. Dozens and dozens of people, as I like to say, of course, it's just the first dozen listening multiple times. So at GovX, Senior Implementation Advisors is a pretty fancy title. Also, I like that it's the SIA, which is clever.
00:01:33
Speaker
Eric, do you want to start by telling us a little bit about GovX and how it functions? Sure. So we are a research center within Johns Hopkins University. So our longer title is the Center for Government Excellence, but that's a mouthful. So we get with GovX most of the time.
00:01:50
Speaker
And we were started about a year ago under this initiative called What Works Cities, which is from Mr. Bloomberg. It is a Bloomberg philanthropies initiative with the goal of expanding the use of data in city governments. And so really working with city governments to use it better and improve outcomes for residents being kind of the underlying goal of the program.
00:02:11
Speaker
So you're working with city governments to both help them what, collect their data, output their data, put them on usable platforms, like the whole ecosystem of open data? Yeah, you say data and you can think of something, we will work on it. I think the goal being that whatever their issues are, we're going to bring the expertise that they need in that narrow space, whether it's
00:02:30
Speaker
starting from zero, you know, we don't work with data at all, to we're doing advanced analytics and anywhere in between. Really hoping to advance their practice through technical expertise and through connecting them to other cities that are already doing cool
GovX's Mission & Partner Organizations
00:02:43
Speaker
work. Okay, so when you say bring them the things that they need, the expertise that they need, how are you going about doing that? Is it about connecting? Are you actually on the ground doing the work, building things for them? Or how does that work when you're working with a city?
00:02:55
Speaker
Most of our work right now is done kind of on the side. We consider ourselves implementation advisors. We're really coaching them through
00:03:04
Speaker
the implementation on the ground. So we do go on the ground. Occasionally we go and meet with all the city partners to really explore kind of what their needs are at the beginning of our engagements. And then after that, it's about getting them the tools that already exist because generally we're not creating anything brand new and sparkly. Yeah. That's going to really advance their practice. There's tons of stuff out there that they, people just need to use better. Right. And so our main goal is connecting them either to practices that work in other cities or
00:03:30
Speaker
giving them some advice from outside technical partners. You know, we have technical expertise on staff or whoever else they need to really advance their practice. Yeah, I think it's worth mentioning that Dovex is one of five organizations that's part of this What Works Cities initiative partnership. So we have many different scopes of work and we also sort of match
00:03:49
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between what the city needs and what scope of work can be provided by one of these partners. Gotcha. And who are the other five? So Results for America, they lead a lot of our communications strategic work.
00:04:01
Speaker
There's also the Sunlight Foundation. I used to work there. They lead the open data policy work. There's us. We do open data implementation and analytics. Then there's the behavioral insights team. They're an office out of the UK originally. They do like a behavioral science nudge work.
00:04:21
Speaker
A.B. testing but for government. And then the last one is Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab. They do outcome-based contracting, so like smart procurement. Okay. So first off, what size cities are you working with, like small towns, big
Challenges & Focus on Mid-Sized Cities
00:04:38
Speaker
cities? So the gap there, not the gap, the
00:04:41
Speaker
Range the range the range they get the range of cities and sizes anywhere from a hundred thousand to a million Okay, so we call those midsize some of the cities end up being pretty big Yeah, but the idea being that you're cutting out the New York's the Chicago's the LA's of the world you generally already have resources to do yeah work and instead focusing on
00:05:01
Speaker
the pocket in the middle where cities might have big challenges, but often don't have the same kind of resources or even skill level and talent in their communities, or they haven't tapped into it if they do, to start to solve key issues with data. Wow. So far, what have you seen as the biggest need from these cities?
00:05:20
Speaker
Is it the technology or is it just like what is open data? To the personality, we've talked about this in the past about personality, it's not quite understanding what open data is, what it means. So what are you seeing as sort of like the other common themes out there? It's always more people than technology. At any level of government, working with the federal agencies, working with these larger cities, all the way down. Like I see culture change and like procedure and practice as the bigger problem than these other things which are also an issue.
00:05:49
Speaker
technological solutions, different procurement policy, different, the bigger challenges they get the blank or like resources. So this worry is about capacity building. So it's about using what you already have, better, smarter. So these excuses, like we don't have the technology or not even excuses, but just I think people often think that technology is to blame, but it's really just
00:06:12
Speaker
decision making and lifestyle. Using data as a lifestyle as a government employee is something that is not in practice a lot of places.
00:06:22
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Is most
Case Studies: Raleigh & Seattle
00:06:23
Speaker
of it sort of being like a top down approach to the management or are you sort of coming in trying to get the people actually like working with the data, trying to get them to buy into the city? Eric's worked with more cities than I have since I'm newer, but like I see it as being like a personal trainer. Like we're like, all right, we're going to teach you the best way to eat and exercise and we're going to help you alongside, but then we're going to let you go and you have to figure it out. But we're like rooting for you and like giving you like a structured time when we call in and see how things are going.
00:06:52
Speaker
It's very much like it has to be that they want to do it, but here's some free consultation from Bloomberg Philanthropies with some of these experts that have been doing it for a while. I would add to that, in addition to personal trainer, I consider myself a therapist sometimes. A data therapist. Yeah, a data therapist. In these calls, we're talking through issues with cities in ways that they often
00:07:14
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that haven't had someone talk through like that, or they haven't had this expertise of someone to say yes or no, or we're validating what you're already doing. And I think also another really important role is giving them examples from other cities that are like them. So giving them examples from New York is great, but they're not New York. We want examples from somewhere else, and there are plenty of really good examples. And I think part of our role is helping to pick out the right ones to then apply in the cities that we're working with.
00:07:39
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So I think combine this personal trainer, data therapist, and that's been working with the people on the ground, but you still do need leadership commitment. If you don't have leadership commitment to using these things, then it doesn't matter how much therapy I give someone on the ground. It's not going to go anywhere.
00:07:55
Speaker
So can you give any examples, like specific examples of things that you guys along with the other folks and the team are doing sort of right now on the ground? I certainly can. Yeah, go ahead. Again, this is just because I think Rebecca hasn't had as much time with their cities. But I think one good example that I can give is some work that we're doing right now with the city of Raleigh. And so we're focusing deeply in Raleigh on their stormwater department. And so they're kind of a new department. They're getting going. Raleigh is a growing community.
00:08:23
Speaker
And their whole goal is, how can we integrate stormwater into our decision-making process using data so that, one, we're clearing the backlog, we're growing community, we have buildings everywhere. We want to make it green, and we want to make sure we don't have stormwater and flood issues. How's our data going to help us do that? But then also, how are we going to communicate that back out? So we're doing a deep data inventory, a lot of things stormwater. And I've learned a lot about stormwater in that time, more than I ever thought I would. But it's been really, really interesting to see mapping floodplains to streams to the operations
00:08:52
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data they have and what are people interested in? How can we connect more people to volunteer to clean streams and be engaged in their community while at the same time engaging with operational staff that are essentially doing the grunt work like public work style works where maintaining the streets and cleaning gutters and really important work for clearing stormwater and how can we connect those two things together so that people realize the impact that it has. It's been very interesting. That's kind of one example as like a deep dive.
00:09:20
Speaker
We're also seeing all kinds of other stuff with cities, and some of our other cities are focusing on blight as a huge issue in major urban centers, especially these smaller cities. Yeah. I mean, the example that I will give, a lot of my cities, I'm just starting out with the engagement, but a colleague and other partners have been working with Seattle on a couple of different scopes of work. So this is an example. Seattle is one of the first cities to have an open data policy, and they have all of that
00:09:46
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booming tech business. If you think Seattle understands data. But then, for example, the scope to work that we're working or have worked on Seattle with, our team worked on setting up analytics stat program for their housing affordability goal, their stretch goal the next 10 years. They want to have 20,000 new affordable housing units. This is more per year than they have had the last few years.
00:10:08
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So they made the commitment, they've done the analysis that they need to make that goal if they want the community to be the way it has been or the way they want it to be. But they don't have routine meetings set up collecting all of that data. So it was like getting the right offices together, making sure that like...
00:10:24
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all the assumptions were correct. Like at one point, folks were thinking that affordable permits took longer than market rate permits, not the case, if you have to look at the data. So our engagement, we went through and set up a stat program connected to that specific agenda goal that the mayor has set. Another partner, the government performance lab at Harvard is working on this issue, but from a different angle. And so they're doing the outcome based contracting,
00:10:51
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There's 60 different contracts related to homelessness services in Seattle, and it's like figuring out a way to reconcile them and make sure that they are actually working towards the outcomes that Seattle wants.
00:11:04
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to have happen. So there's all sorts of ways to work with data and think about data and use data. So that's some of my favorite examples because it's different scopes that we're working together but at the same time. So how does the procurement system use data then? How do we make sure that the mayor's goals actually exist long past the administration and that we're constantly measuring them?
00:11:23
Speaker
Yeah, that was actually my next question. I know GovX is relatively new, but I'm curious about how you think about putting something in place in a city where it will continue after, you know, whatever the current administration or the people who are working
Sustainable Data Practices & Community Involvement
00:11:37
Speaker
there are gone. Like how do you get something in that becomes part of the culture and becomes something that they want to continue that is valued, that has value? Yeah, I think part of the, you know, even just the structure of our engagement speaks directly to that. And then one where we're at a university,
00:11:51
Speaker
That's not an accident. Universities train people to go and do their own work in many cases. Also, our engagements are short. They're three to four months. Even if we were to go in and do a project for you in that time, that wouldn't be super useful. It's much more about coaching, about setting up structures and systems that are going to impact these outcomes for the long term instead of focusing on projects that may be done in a short time but may not have the staying power.
00:12:18
Speaker
We've talked a bit about in terms of sustainability, how can we check back in? We've also started set up a peer network between cities. If you're working on the same issue, the city should talk to each other. So I think follow-up's really important. But then also leadership, this is a Bloomberg initiative. The mayors need to be on board. They signed up for us to come check out the city. So they're self-selecting into the program.
00:12:41
Speaker
to begin with, but the champions that we work with and the staff that we work with are like all arranged in the hierarchy. So it's making sure that we're working with everybody that would continue to work on it. Right. And I think the most important thing for anything if you want it to be sustainable and make it useful for people to their daily work, and they'll keep doing it if it's working for them. Right. And that's what we really try to go for in terms of our work with staff. Like Rebecca said, you know, at the ground level, if we can make it useful to people doing operations, then they'll
00:13:09
Speaker
They'll let you know that they didn't like it if you took it away and keep working on it long after we're done.
00:13:16
Speaker
So final question, what about the other groups that are in these different cities? So I'm sure there's Code for America groups in some of these. I'm sure there's open data advocates and groups. Are those part of the experts that you're bringing in? I mean, are you working with not just the city, but also the sort of the broader community and trying to build those bridges? I mean, I certainly have been since that's where I came from. So like every cities that I've gone to so far, luckily, I've known some like
00:13:42
Speaker
code for a person to be there. And I guess they help a lot for context and for advocacy. But I think we're still figuring out how to work directly with them on because this is like I said, I think data therapists agree in addition to the personal training part. I think that's the perfect thing. But understanding like the context from somebody that has been there forever is so important.
00:14:03
Speaker
And that exists for government staff, but also community members, especially for the open data angle. Like we've been wanting this data, but we have not received this data. So working with them to make sure we are supporting each other in the goals. And also it's just, I don't know, this is communication is so important to anything open government related for sure. But there's black boxes within government and then government to community and all of this. So I think we're just sort of like a facilitating actor.
00:14:31
Speaker
Yeah, and to the extent that we can connect to, you know, like anchor institutions and communities, like, absolutely. So, you know, universities actually, in addition to Johns Hopkins are often things that if you have a university in your city, cities are almost always partnering. And so that's someone where we say like,
00:14:46
Speaker
I'm pretty sure your university is not going anywhere. I'm building a relationship with them and using the talent better, being more beneficial to one another. I agree with Rebecca that we're still kind of figuring that piece out of it, but it's definitely something that we need to figure out because that's going to help cities, again, do things in the long term and do it themselves.
Conclusion & Listener Engagement
00:15:06
Speaker
Great. Well, good luck.
00:15:08
Speaker
I mean, not in a bad way. Like, good luck. It's a great service. It's like chapter two or three or something. Yeah. The book is about data and cities. It's like, it's time to make sure those 100K population cities are working. Yeah. It's not just about the Chicago's and New York's and San Francisco's. It's about the middle size. And then you can go down to the smaller cities and help them too. Exactly. Well, good. Well, good luck. Thanks to both of you for coming on the show.
00:15:36
Speaker
And thanks to everyone for listening. Of course, if you have comments or suggestions, please let me know on the site or on Twitter. And so until next time, this has been the policy of his podcast.
00:15:57
Speaker
This week's episode of the PolicyViz podcast is brought to you by the Summer Executive Institute at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. The McCourt Executive Institute offers short courses that are specifically designed to enhance key skills. Small classes and hands-on projects allow you to engage with expert faculty at Georgetown in a format that is convenient for busy professionals.
00:16:20
Speaker
To learn more and to register, please visit mccourt.georgetown.edu slash exec-ed slash shortcourses. Enhance, energize, and expand your professional skills this summer at the McCourt Executive Institute.