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Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative
Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative
Last year Oklahoma City Mayor Holt was selected to join forty mayors from around the world to participate in the third class of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative (BHCLI). The year-long program provides mayors and executive leadership education opportunities to learn best practices, share ideas and discover new innovative ways to lead cities.
The program also provides participating mayors the opportunity to choose an area for their cities to focus on – cross-boundary collaboration, using data and evidence or innovation. Because of the newly created position of a chief innovation officer for the City, Mayor Holt selected the innovation track.
As part of the program, a group of 12 City employees, along with two leadership sponsors, are learning new methods to guide and implement a people-centered innovation process.
Along with the BHCLI team, City staff works with the Centre for Public Impact and a design coach to learn effective ways to tackle problems by putting residents at the center of designing and testing new ideas.
The third class of mayors to participate in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative are: Mohammed Adjei Sowah (Accra, Ghana), Sandy Verschoor (Adelaide, Australia), Kelly Girtz (Athens, GA), Hardie Davis (Augusta, GA), Richard Irvin (Aurora, IL), Steve Adler (Austin, TX), Matúš Vallo (Bratislava, Slovakia), Byron Brown (Buffalo, NY), Lori Lightfoot (Chicago, IL), Mary Salas (Chula Vista, CA), Scott Brook (Coral Springs, FL), Eric Johnson (Dallas, TX), Nan Whaley (Dayton, OH), Jenn Daniels (Gilbert, AZ), Eckart Würzner (Heidelberg, Germany), Steve Williams (Huntington, WV), Danene Sorace (Lancaster, PA), Leirion Gaylor Baird (Lincoln, NE), Satya Rhodes-Conway (Madison, WI), Jacob Frey (Minneapolis, MN), Bonnie Crombie (Mississauga, Ontario), Yxstian Gutierrez (Moreno Valley, CA), LaToya Cantrell (New Orleans, LA), Ras Baraka (Newark, NJ), Nuatali Nelmes (Newcastle, Australia), David Holt (Oklahoma City, OK), Kate Gallego (Phoenix, AZ), Nicholas Gradisar (Pueblo, CO), Claudio Castro (Renca, Chile), Hillary Schieve (Reno, NV), Kim Norton (Rochester, MN), Lovely Warren (Rochester, NY), London Breed (San Francisco, CA), Miguel Trevino (San Pedro, Mexico), Adrian Perkins (Shreveport, LA), Rick Kriseman (St. Petersburg, FL), Anna König Jerlmyr (Stockholm, Sweden), Jane Castor (Tampa, FL), Reed Gusciora (Trenton, NJ), Rafał Trzaskowski (Warsaw, Poland), and Brian Bowman (Winnipeg, Manitoba).
Innovation
Innovation
Innovation is about creating something new. It can be incremental or revolutionary, but it’s always about something that didn’t exist. The creative process starts by asking questions and, at the core, requires collaboration. A culture of innovation requires seeing the value in others' perspectives, being able to share ideas that seem silly or impossible without fear of ridicule and recognizing that we won't get it right the first time. To innovate means abandoning the idea that it has to be perfect or complete – instead making something, learning from it and then improve it....then keep improving it.
What we are learning
What we are learning
We are learning a new way of working and making sure people are the center of the innovation process.
Our focus
Our focus
We’ve been talking with people about their neighborhoods. Over the last couple of months, residents have shared their stories, needs, wants and hopes about safety and strength.
A few things we've learned so far from our research:
A few things we've learned so far from our research:
Residents are frustrated about a lack of knowledge of City information and processes. This keeps residents from being solution-oriented, and lowers their expectations of living in a safe and secure neighborhood. The City should increase residents’ knowledge about services and processes, or it will erode trust and a sense of safety in communities.
Today, fewer people know their neighbor. When neighbors know each other, whether it is a good or bad relationship, it provides insight into the shared values of the neighborhood. Therefore, building stronger relationships can increase trust, inspire community action and build safer neighborhoods.
Residents that do not take care of their property are contributing to blight, people want their neighbors to take care of their property because it benefits everyone in many ways. However, they feel frustrated at others that aren’t invested in their property and feel powerless to do anything about it. People will become angry, apathetic, or move away if they are able. This eventually creates inequity in our City.
Other insights
Other insights
How residents view the role of lighting is different than how the City views and sometimes implements lighting. To make a safer and better lit city, the City needs to adopt same views of lighting as our residents.
People are frustrated with the process, response and communication when they report a streetlight outage. To ensure trust and confidence the City and OG&E must meet and exceed resident expectations.
Expanding community policing initiatives and better communication would reduce tension between neighborhoods and public safety officers.
Organized neighborhood and homeowners associations can create stronger neighborhoods and reduce the likelihood of economic decline and inequality between “good” and “bad” neighborhoods.
"What people say, what people do, and what people say they do are entirely different things." Margaret Mead, Anthropologist
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