President Lawrence S. Bacow
As a president twice, and adviser to many other university leaders, Lawrence S. Bacow says he often counsels them that their second year in office, after the honeymoon, is often the toughest. That was true for his predecessor, Drew Gilpin Faust, who set about making plans for Harvard’s future, only to run head-on into the Great Recession, a decimated endowment, and years of austerity and dreams deferred. She in turn reminded Bacow that the coronavirus’s surge during his second year overturned every aspect of the University’s academic life: not just finances, but in-person teaching, residence on campus, research, travel, and more.
What’s New in Civic Tech: Harvard Unveils Local Gov Center
Plus, Philadelphia’s Digital Literacy Alliance has announced its winter 2020 grant cycle recipients, NYC overhauls its online vaccine finder platform and NYC releases a new broadband-related RFP. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Shutterstock/mark reinstein
Officials have announced the creation of the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University, which aims in the simplest terms to strengthen local government performance the world over.
At this week’s Bloomberg CityLab event perhaps the world’s preeminent annual gathering of local government experts and officials former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that Bloomberg Philanthropies is making a $150 million investment in the project. A subsequent press release about the center noted that the goal is to essentially work with Harvard to build upon the trajectory of the Bloomberg Harvard Ci
The pandemic has been a massive public health concern, but it also set off a global economic crisis. As countless renters and homeowners across the country lost income or jobs, many were at risk of losing their homes. Nobody knows exactly how many people are on the brink of eviction or foreclosure, though there’s consensus that a large portion of the population is at risk, particularly low-income households and people of color. In the city of Rochester, landlords who own three or fewer properties reported that 44.4 percent of their apartment buildings had at least one unit in arrears, according to a landlord survey conducted for the city by a Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative researcher. Of the 2,289 landlords invited to participate in the survey, 10 percent responded.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is giving $150 million to Harvard University for a program designed to help mayors around the world more successfully lead their cities by training them to better manage, innovate and share best practices.