News & Media

See all the latest about GovEx from our blog posts, podcast episodes, and media coverage.

Welcome to GovEx’s new online hub

Welcome to GovEx’s new online hub

The Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence is proud to debut our updated website, which includes a new look and new features and represents the launch of an ongoing effort to create an online community for data-focused public sector professionals. Among the new...

Cities Across the Globe Realize the Benefits of Data Strategies

Cities Across the Globe Realize the Benefits of Data Strategies

By Amy Edwards Holmes Over the past few years, cities around the world fully and publicly embraced data strategies as a way to advance their visions and deliver real results for their residents. From Little Rock, Arkansas to Maipú, Chile, mayors not only devised and...

City AI Connection: Using Value Sensitive Design to Advance Equity in Government AI

Beyond the Chatbot: AI-Powered Solutions for Cities

City AI Connection is a series of posts on emerging ideas in artificial intelligence, with a focus on government application. These articles are initially shared exclusively with the City AI Connect community and subsequently with a broader audience via the Bloomberg...

GovEx Year In Review 2024

GovEx Year In Review 2024

The Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University supports and coaches public sector leaders and their teams to build data-driven operations that use data, research, and analytics to better understand pressing municipal concerns, engage...

Data for Equity: Reflections on Data for Black Lives III

Data for Equity: Reflections on Data for Black Lives III

By K’lila Nooning and Angel Aliseda with the help of Perplexity.AI This November, we were honored to attend and present at the third-annual Data for Black Lives Conference (D4BL III) at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami. D4BL III brought together activists, researchers,...

NECoPA 2024: Public Sector Performance Enhancers

NECoPA 2024: Public Sector Performance Enhancers

Earlier this month, members of the GovEx team were honored to present during the Northeast Conference on Public Administration (NECoPA) held at Pace University in New York City. GovEx coaches supporting Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative's Data track—Rachel...

Celebrating a year of City AI Connect

Celebrating a year of City AI Connect

Two weeks ago, GovEx marked the one-year anniversary of City AI Connect, the global learning community and digital platform for cities to trial and advance the use of generative artificial intelligence to improve public services. In the year since GovEx and Bloomberg...

DenAI 2024: Uniting Public and Private Sectors for an AI-Enhanced Future

DenAI 2024: Uniting Public and Private Sectors for an AI-Enhanced Future

By Maeve Mulholland, Andrew Nicklin, and ChatGPT 4o The DenAI summit, organized by the City and County of Denver in collaboration with the Colorado Technology Association, Slalom, and Visit Denver, drew around 1,000 attendees from the tech world. The day-long event...

City AI Connection: AI and Misinformation

City AI Connection: AI and Misinformation

City AI Connection is a series of posts on emerging ideas in artificial intelligence, with a focus on government application. These articles are initially shared exclusively with the City AI Connect community and subsequently with a broader audience via the Bloomberg...

City AI Connection: Using Value Sensitive Design to Advance Equity in Government AI

City AI Connection: How Machine Learning Really Works

City AI Connection is a series of posts on emerging ideas in artificial intelligence, with a focus on government application. These articles are initially shared exclusively with the City AI Connect community and subsequently with a broader audience via the Bloomberg...

City AI Connection: Using Value Sensitive Design to Advance Equity in Government AI

The Risks of Generative AI: Familiar Challenges and Emerging Threats

City AI Connection is a series of posts on emerging ideas in artificial intelligence, with a focus on government application. These articles are initially shared exclusively with the City AI Connect community and subsequently with a broader audience via the Bloomberg...

Celebrating 10 years of the DATA Act

Celebrating 10 years of the DATA Act

Last week, at GovEx’s event to mark the 10th anniversary of the Digital Accountability and Transparency (DATA) Act, Robert Shea, a former leader at the White House Office of Management and Budget, described the Act as “the most significant advancement in government...

NAPA, GovEx join forces to expand support for local governments

NAPA, GovEx join forces to expand support for local governments

Left to right, Tony Spearman-Leach, NAPA Director of Development and Philanthropy, Gillian Townsend, NAPA Business Development and Philanthropy Manager, Rudy De Leon Dinglas, GovEx Director of Planning and Operations, Terry Gerton, NAPA President and CEO, Amy Edwards...

GovEx Joins U.S. Tech Policy Network

GovEx Joins U.S. Tech Policy Network

By Amy Edwards Holmes  Recently, I joined a group of local leaders from around the country at the White House to discuss how we can work to align new technology and data practices to improve the lives of all Americans. I’m proud that the Bloomberg Center for...

GovEx supports job readiness training in Memphis

GovEx supports job readiness training in Memphis

This month, GovEx’s Kel Wang, Rudy de Leon Dinglas, and Latricia Boone traveled to Memphis to lead a two-day data and performance management workshop as part of Opportunity Accelerator (OA). GovEx partners with Results for America and other organizations on OA, which...

GovEx leaders speak at “Knowledge into Action” conference

GovEx leaders speak at “Knowledge into Action” conference

This week GovEx Executive Director Amy Edwards Holmes, GovEx founder and Associate Vice Provost of Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University Beth Blauer, and Amanda Daflos, Executive Director of our sister center, the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation,  spoke...

GovEx Spotlight: Baltimore Data Academy

GovEx Spotlight: Baltimore Data Academy

Check out the latest GovEx Spotlight on the Baltimore Data Academy. Listen to our full podcast episode with Baltimore City Chief Data Officer Justin Elszasz here.

Data Workforce: We Want to Hear From You!

Data Workforce: We Want to Hear From You!

GovEx is conducting a series of virtual focus groups to gather input on the future of data work in local government, and we want to hear from you! Whether you are a leader, HR professional, or a dedicated data officer, we want to know about your experiences working...

Detroit officials discuss innovative street view program at GovEx

Detroit officials discuss innovative street view program at GovEx

Last week, GovEx and our sister center, the Bloomberg Center for Government Innovation (BCPI), together with 21st Century Cities hosted a presentation from Detroit officials Tamara Fant and Ted Schultz, who discussed their innovative Street View program. In 2018, the...

In wave after deadly wave, COVID has claimed 1 million lives in the U.S.

In wave after deadly wave, COVID has claimed 1 million lives in the U.S.

The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center dashboard is referenced in this May 2022 article by NPR. — One million. That’s how many people have now died from COVID-19 in the U.S. since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University. It’s a toll...

Lessons from the COVID data wizards

Lessons from the COVID data wizards

Our Johns Hopkins University Centers for Civic Impact Executive Director Beth Blauer is quoted in this March 2022 article by Nature which discusses the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. — In March 2020, Beth Blauer started hearing anecdotally that COVID-19...

Four ways to make data work better for residents

Four ways to make data work better for residents

If you’re reading this and you work in local government, chances are you already know the importance of data. You might also feel pressure to do more with data: generate more, analyze more, report more. If this neverending push for more makes you feel overwhelmed,...

The US still isn’t getting Covid-19 data right

The US still isn’t getting Covid-19 data right

Our Johns Hopkins University Centers for Civic Impact Executive Director Beth Blauer is quoted in this February 2022 article by CNN. — As the Omicron wave recedes in the United States, public health officials are faced with a new round of decision-making on the best...

U.S. Covid-19 Infections Top One Million After Holiday Backlog

U.S. Covid-19 Infections Top One Million After Holiday Backlog

Our Johns Hopkins University Centers for Civic Impact Executive Director Beth Blauer is quoted in this January 2020 article by the Wall Street Journal. — More than one million new Covid-19 infections were reported in the U.S., a sign of the rapid spread of the Omicron...

Covid-19 Data Is a Mess. We Need a Way to Make Sense of It.

Covid-19 Data Is a Mess. We Need a Way to Make Sense of It.

Our Johns Hopkins University Centers for Civic Impact Executive Director Beth Blauer along with Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, wrote an op-ed in The New York Times on November 23, 2020. —...

Data storytelling – Maximizing one pager reports to tell your story

Data storytelling – Maximizing one pager reports to tell your story

A crucial part of every successful performance management program, — really, of any program — is communicating outcomes. To engage local constituents, the  ability to capture their attention and tell them a compelling story is vital. One-pager reports are one tool...

Banish the thumb drive: a call for better internal data sharing

Banish the thumb drive: a call for better internal data sharing

Some people’s pet peeve is loud chewing; others hate the Oxford comma. Here’s mine: thumb drives.  First of all, can we choose one name for these things? They’re also referred to as “flash drives,” “jump drives,” and “USB drives,” plus a few other names. Let’s choose...

A Message from Our Executive Director, Beth Blauer

A Message from Our Executive Director, Beth Blauer

Centers for Civic Impact stand with those fighting against racism and police murdering black people. We unequivocally believe that Black Lives Matter. We acknowledge our organizational privilege and commit to work with public sector organizations who are ready to use...

4 Tips to a Clear and Friendly Dashboard

4 Tips to a Clear and Friendly Dashboard

A city dashboard’s primary goal is to give citizens a clear, user-friendly tool to see how well their city is doing. When designing your dashboard, always keep in mind how easy it would be for the average citizen to use. If you include too many factors into your...

So you want to start a data academy…

So you want to start a data academy…

By: Eric Reese Data can be powerful. But to really harness your data, you need people skilled in analysis, data management, and data-informed decision-making. Many cities are taking that lesson to heart and launching their own data academies to help employees learn to...

GovEx Releases New Smart Cities Guide As Part of Research Collaborative

GovEx Releases New Smart Cities Guide As Part of Research Collaborative

Today, the Center for Government Excellence (GovEx), part of Johns Hopkins University, announced the release of its new Smart Cities guide. Smart cities projects have proliferated in recent years, and this guide captures some of the best examples around the country...

On the Right Path: Improving Bike Safety & Infrastructure in Florence

On the Right Path: Improving Bike Safety & Infrastructure in Florence

Since closing its city center to most traffic and launching Europe’s first free-flowing bike share, the Municipality of Florence has become one of the most walkable and bike-friendly cities in the European Union, achieving what Mayor Dario Nardella pledged while...

Taking Charge of Health: Lincoln, NE’s KPIs

Taking Charge of Health: Lincoln, NE’s KPIs

Lincoln, NE developed 132 performance indicators to measure the City’s progress toward the 39 goals in the eight outcome areas. On its Taking Charge website, the city displays justification and support for each performance measure and describes the strategy to achieve...

Richmond, VA’s Neighborhood KPIs

Richmond, VA’s Neighborhood KPIs

Richmond is in the process of aligning its priorities, goals, and metrics. The city has identified 44 KPIs in its seven focus areas to track progress toward the city’s strategic priorities. Richmond tags each Key Priority Indicator (KPI) to the associated initiative...

Being ‘Sensitive’ about Data Sensitivity

Being ‘Sensitive’ about Data Sensitivity

Open data is great because it’s open. But not all data is meant to be open. A lot of it is “sensitive.” What could be “open data” is often classified as “sensitive data” to protect the personal information and identity of individuals. Sensitive data may be restricted...

Performance Measures – How Less Becomes More

Performance Measures – How Less Becomes More

One day last fall, I was talking with a colleague about a question that had come up from our partners in Baltimore’s performance management program, CitiStatSMART. Those folks were looking to identify key performance indicators (KPI) to use with certain city...