Bloomberg Philanthropies launches its largest Mayors Challenge ever to inspire city leaders globally
The beauty of Rourkela, India’s city-changing idea, lies in its simplicity. Providing farmers with affordable access to cold storage for their crops reduces waste and increases sales.
What made that idea a prize winner in the annual Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Mayors Challenge was the ambition of its execution. Rourkela made cold storage affordable by equipping it with solar panels. It brought in women from the community to lead the units, giving them new skills and a new source of income. And it encouraged farmers to store surplus produce there rather than sell it at lower prices to avoid spoilage from the Indian heat.
“This is not new technology. It is not rocket science,” said Rourkela’s commissioner Ashutosh Kulkarni. “It’s a matter of ideas. I believe that ideas can move mountains.”
To support more innovative ideas from cities around the world, Michael R. Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies, on Wednesday announced the largest Mayors Challenge ever. The expanded initiative will provide 50 cities with $50,000 and an invitation to the Ideas Camp so city leaders can hone and test their ideas. The 25 cities with the best ideas will then receive $1 million and the technical support needed to implement them.
“This new challenge will enable cities to rethink the way they deliver essential services in a way that better meets the daily needs of residents,” Bloomberg said in a statement from the Bloomberg CityLab 2024 meeting in Mexico City. “Bloomberg Philanthropies believes in the power of cities to create change, and we look forward to seeing the bold proposals mayors come up with – and helping their cities bring them to life.”
The most successful of these ideas could end up in the new Bloomberg Cities Ideas Exchange program, where municipal leaders share what has worked and what hasn’t so other cities can replicate these ideas.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego says she has already learned informally through the Bloomberg Cities program about municipal tree planting programs in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and how Rochester, New York, managed to hire more women in construction – two issues important in her city. And Gallego has been happy to share with many cities how she started Phoenix’s “mobile career units” program, which travels to areas where people have transportation challenges to inform them of job openings and offer job interviews. That program was also winner of the Mayors Challenge award.
“Cities are the beginning of innovation for the world,” said Gallego. “We come up with so many solutions to different challenges and we achieve real results. So many countries are failing to meet their Paris climate agreement targets, but many cities are ahead of schedule.”
James Anderson, who leads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Government Innovation program, said he was excited about expanding the Mayors Challenge initiative, especially with its focus on reimagining key municipal services. The new initiatives are intended to help mayors dream bigger, he added, because they get things done.
“Cities provide the well-being of the world,” Anderson said. “We live in an urban age. The policies and programs that mayors implement determine the daily well-being of citizens.”
Kulkarni from Rourkela said the success of his city’s cold storage program is even more gratifying as many cities in India have already replicated and other countries are looking to start similar programs.
He said the program has already eliminated 75% of produce waste in Rourkela and increased the income of smallholder farmers in the area by 25%.
“I started working in government to ensure that there is some change, that there are people who go home happy,” Kulkarni said. “They get something tangible and seeing that change gives us satisfaction.”
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