mayors and businesses driving economic...

Private Sector Associates of The U.S. Conference of Mayors

THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF MAYORS

United States Conference of Mayors Business Council Best Practice Report:

Mayors and Businesses Driving Economic Growth


Kevin JohnsonMayor of SacramentoPresident

Stephanie Rawlings-BlakeMayor of BaltimoreVice President

Mick CornettMayor of Oklahoma CitySecond Vice President

Carolyn G. GoodmanMayor of Las VegasChair, Mayors Business Council

Tom CochranCEO and Executive Director

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,393 such cities in the country today, each represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the Mayor.

Printed on Recycled Paper.

do your part ! please recycle !

Foreword

The United States Conference of Mayors is proud of the members of the Mayors Business Council and

the work they have accomplished with cities to improve the quality of life in America’s cities. They have

worked hand in hand with our cities to bring our nation back from the worst recession since the Great

Depression. Working together, our cities have become more livable and more competitive, and the

economy is growing stronger every day.

I am pleased to announce this first-ever United States Conference of Mayors Business Council Best

Practice Report: Mayors and Businesses Driving Economic Growth which showcases outstanding and

innovative public/private partnerships submitted by the Mayors Business Council to inspire other cities

and companies to work together in addressing the economic challenges facing cities and our nation.

Mayors and business leaders agree that creative public/ private partnerships are a major force in shaping

cities of the 21st century and experience has shown when businesses and local governments work

together, our cities benefit and our nation is stronger.

The Mayors Business Council has been an integral part of the structure and activities of The United States

Conference of Mayors for over 15 years. Central to the mission of our Business Council is the goal of both

improving the business environment in cities and sharing the successful public/private partnerships that

take many forms with benefits ranging from economic development and environmental improvements to

better schools, a more educated workforce, and connected cities through technology.

In an era of diminishing federal funds and increasing unfunded federal mandates, the Conference must

continue to strengthen its relationship with the business community by nurturing and celebrating the new

and creative partnerships between cities and businesses.

Tom Cochran CEO and Executive Director The United States Conference of Mayors

Contents

Accela Organizes Baltimore Engineering Projects 5

American Beverage Association Tackles Recycling 6

Bank of America Works to Create Summer Youth Jobs 7

Best Buy Engages Chicago Youth with Technology 8

Black & Veatch Microgrid Promotes Reliability, Sustainability 9

Citi and New York City Raise Awareness of EITC 10

ecoATM Gives Back in San Diego 11

Graffiti Resource Council’s “Clean Sweep” of East Oakland Street 12

HDR Takes Holistic Approach to I-4 Ultimate Project 13

Health Care Service Corporation Adds Value to City Benefits 14

International Franchise Association: DiversityFran 15

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Global Cities Initiative 16

KHAFRA Engineering Assists in Atlanta’s Clean Water Program 17

Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson Aids Houston Collections 18

EZTransparency™ Increases Participation in Budget Process 19

Pacific Gas & Electric Celebrates Long Partnership with San Jose 20

PayNearMe Reduces Reliance on Cash Transactions 21

PeopleForBikes Generates Support for Memphis Bike Lane 22

Philips Helps Los Angeles Meet Street Lighting Goals 23

SEIU Combats Wage Theft 24

Siemens Works to Improve Houston Energy Efficiency 25

Sodexo Looks to Close Summer Meal Gap 26

Southwest Airlines Support Placemaking Projects in 13 Cities 27

Starbucks Solutions City Seeks to Re-Engage Opportunity Youth 28

UnitedHealthcare Maximizes Denver Wellness Outcomes 29

Urban Integrated Solutions Develops Smart City Strategy 30

USA Funds Recognizes College and Career Readiness Efforts 31

Veolia Helps Akron Streamline Water System 32

Waste Management Helps Joliet Simplify Recycling 33

Wells Fargo’s Leading the Way Home® 34

Zipcar Helps Reduce Parking Demand in Baltimore 35

5The United States Conference of Mayors Business Council

United States Conference of Mayors Business Council Best Practice Report: Mayors and Businesses Driving Economic Growth

CHALLENGE: City engineers were challenged to manage thousands of infrastructure projects, street incidents, and events that take place each year. Infrastructure projects were managed with long, face-to-face meetings followed by a battery of emails and phone calls that often led to additional meetings. In addition to the City’s own projects, staff also had to coordinate with local utilities, creating additional layers of complexity. Despite the time and effort put into this process, oversights could occur, frustrating citizens — and when they involved street cuts, those oversights were costly. Because staff were so reliant on paper-based processes and spreadsheets, it was especially challenging to gain data-driven insights that would help improve efficiencies and demonstrate the agency’s effectiveness.

DESCRIPTION: The City brought on Accela Right of Way Management, which provides dynamic, map-based coordination, to offer visibility into street activities, reduce the impact of infrastructure projects on residents and businesses, and save time and money. One of the biggest success factors is to have one or more designated project managers on the customer side. Accela works with the agency to identify all key stakeholders within the public right of way to ensure all relevant information is brought into the new system. The Accela team relies on each department to provide appropriate data files to ensure everything works correctly in the system and to keep the project timeline on schedule. It’s also important to take the opportunity to review the business processes along with the system processes in detail so that they make sense for current operations and complement one another. In addition, Accela staff provide a substantial amount of onsite support and WebEx-based training. Because Accela Right of Way Management is a cloudbased system, a lot of the work can be done remotely, and the implementation takes weeks to months, not years.

IMPACT: Today, the team proactively reviews projects during monthly meetings, which opens up collaborative opportunities. The City of Baltimore has brought in an ecosystem of users, including the Department of Public Works, Department of Transportation, and Department of General Services, along with area utilities. Combined, these entities have uploaded more than 1,500 projects into the right-of-way database. As a result, the City and its partners have avoided hundreds of costly conflicts while also uncovering opportunities for acting proactively. The City of Baltimore quickly realized $390,000 in paving cost savings. The City projected a total cost savings of over $900,000 per year. BGE has also realized similar paving cost savings of $380,000, with a projected annual cost savings of over $1 million.

Funding: General Purpose City Funds

For more information, contact:

Tim Woodbury Director of Government Relations [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Innovation, Cost Savings

Accela Organizes Baltimore Engineering Projects

How-To:

• It was important to build a scalable solution. Different agencies use different data formats, so a right-of-way management solution has to be able to convert data into spatial representations that can be viewed in real time. The solution also has to be easy to use, so people without GIS experience can manage information.

• We deployed a Saas solution configured in the cloud that does not require in-house servers or in-house IT dependencies. The foundation of our service is Oracle spatial 11g, which is critical for scalability, security, and performance. In order to provide a universal representation of the roadway, background, and the ability to geolocate attributes within the map, we used ADCI/NAVTEQ for the map data source to ensure accuracy. We also leveraged Esri’s GIS technology to create the visualization and perform the geocoding and routing within the application.

General Tips:

• One of the biggest factors in a smooth implementation process is for the customer to have champions within each relevant department who will be heavily involved and invested in the success of the project.

• Begin communicating to all users early on in the process so they understand what to expect and when. Many municipalities are moving from a paper-based process of communicating across interoffice departments to an entirely electronic one. Making clear how each department’s current processes will be impacted will help ensure a smooth transition.

6 The United States Conference of Mayors Business Council


CHALLENGE: Community residential recycling. Challenge was to evaluate existing services and design an effective, efficient and sustainable recycling service for residents.

DESCRIPTION: ABA selected two cities to undergo rigorous evaluation of existing infrastructure in order to improve residential recycling. These cities, Knoxville and Hartford, participated with a team of recycling experts to find the most efficient and effective residential recycling program. Through a grant from American Beverage Association, Knoxville’s existing solid waste and recycling system and the costs of different options to increase recycling were analyzed. Curbside recycling collection using large volume carts for single stream material was recommended, with every other week collection and a sign up process for cart delivery and collection service offered as methods to reduce costs. The results of a successful, single stream recycling pilot led the City of Hartford to switch from dual stream to single stream recycling collection, using 64-gallon carts and the RecycleBank rewards system. The pilot resulted in a doubling of recycling quantities on the five routes, from roughly 8 tons per week to 16 tons per week. Based on the successful pilot results, Hartford transformed the recycling collection services for residents to include single stream recycling collection using large carts, comprehensive multi-lingual education and outreach and a rewards program that partners with local and national retailers.

IMPACT: Both Knoxville and Hartford have succeeded in their goal to increase residential participation in recycling at the curb while significantly reducing the ammount of materials going to waste. Education and outreach with citizens has provided answers to questions on what happens to collected recyclables, which is the most often asked question by residents about recycling. From a budget standpoint, these cities were able to provide comprehensive recycling through a net neutral budgeting allocation, factoring in the reduction of costs for waste disposal.

Funding: Federal grants, private sector funding provided by ABA, Public Works budget allocation


Kate Krebs, Senior Environmental Policy Advisor American Beverage Association [email protected]

David Brace, Public Works Department City of Knoxville [email protected]

Marilynn Cruz-Aponte, Hartford Public Works Department [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Innovation, Environmental Impact

American Beverage Association Tackles Recycling

How-To:

• Both cities took a collaborative approach, with extensive engagement with community groups, citizen advisory committees, city staff, and elected officials. Existing solid waste and recycling systems were evaluated with a menu of the costs of different options presented to stakeholders. Once the new system was chosen and approved by local elected officials, a comprehensive, grassroots education program was developed. In addition to conventional media and publicity, strategies targeted mailings, door-to-door outreach, community educational forums, and print materials. These were distributed not just at homes but also at local libraries and through local retailers. In Hartford, educational materials were translated so that the Hispanic and non-English speaking Caribbean residents would find the information useful. Continued education and outreach reminders are sent to all residents in both cities, with Knoxville continuing to use their slogan.

General Tips:

• Involving all stakeholders in the development of these projects enabled the project team to identify barriers to success and quickly make changes to overcome them. This collaborative model of project management – which included the Mayor’s Office - meant planning and evaluation, and once approval was achieved timely implementation and external communication became seamless. Each city held regular meetings and conference calls to track project timelines and implementation. Meeting assignments were allocated and reported back through all channels. This collaborative approach achieved quick resolutions to many issues.



CHALLENGE: Summer youth employment opportunities have been declining for years due to high unemployment rates for young people and declining public and private resources. The employment shortage disproportionally impacts low-income youth and young people of color.

DESCRIPTION: Bank of America has partnered with U.S. mayors across the country to provide paid summer jobs to local teens in 34 communities, many at nonprofits serving critical community needs. In addition to providing philanthropic funding to support jobs for young people, Bank of America also hosts summer interns in its financial centers. Additionally, bank employees help interns learn how to manage their earnings effectively with hands-on financial education through Better Money Habits lessons and encouraging participation in the DollarWise program. This experience helps teens begin to develop workforce skills and professional relationships.

IMPACT: More than 1,300 summer jobs for low-income youth in 2015.

Funding: Foundations and Philanthropy


Whitney Rosenbaum Vice President Boston Community Relations Manager Bank of America 617.434.8777 [email protected]

Abigail Goward Hollingsworth, [email protected] 980.388.3081 704.797.1338 (Mobile)

Tags: Workforce Development

Bank of America Works to Create Summer Youth Jobs

How-To:

• Bank of America worked through its local market teams to support summer youth employment. Bank of America local markets were encouraged to connect to their local summer youth employment initiative and provide philanthropic funding.

• When local markets provided funding to the program, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation provided a match at the national level to increase the impact of the local donation. This matching program allowed the local markets to expand their impact.

• Additionally, Bank of America’s foundation connected with the bank’s staffing department to coordinate hiring of summer interns in banking centers in key locations.



CHALLENGE: Partnerships are best forged when they not only align with and benefit each partner, but when the combined efforts provide a greater good than either could provide alone. The Chicago City of Learning/Best Buy Partnership is such a case. Best Buy has long been involved in community education and giving, having invested more than $300 million since 1995 in programs that “leverage technology to inspire and engage teens and help them prepare for college and careers.”

DESCRIPTION: In the summer of 2014 Best Buy became the Chicago City of Learning’s (CCOL) first corporate partner, seeing in CCOL a clear alignment with Best Buy’s emphasis on technology and an opportunity to reach a new and broad audience through CCOL’s engagement with more than 200,000 young people each year.

IMPACT: This project’s impact can be defined through the skills earned for future career and education success. Best Buy was able to bring state-of-the-art technology curriculum and devices to provide an unparalleled experience to the youth of the City of Chicago. These engaging and interactive classes were CAD Design and 3D Printing, Robotics Programming through Coding, and Music Production.



Sadie Stockdale Jefferson [email protected]

Andrea Wood [email protected]

Tags: Education

Best Buy Engages Chicago Youth with Technology

How-To:

• We structured the partnership to take advantage of each organization’s strengths and capacities. CCOL’s broad network of over 100 participating organizations and 200,000 youth participants provided Best Buy with access to new audiences. Conversely, Best Buy’s $100,000 contribution provided CCOL with the ability to enhance our outreach, visibility, and education activities.

General Tips:

• Best Buy proved to be more than simply an investor. In addition to providing material support, Best Buy has become a great programmatic partner, designing badges for the Best Buy Geek Squad Academy, providing learning stations and workshops at our Destination: Chicago Maker Parties.

• In the fall of 2014 Best Buy launched the Best Buy Challenge, an engagement campaign designed to increase awareness of CCOL, encourage youth to claim their accounts, and encourage youth to engage in online activities. Best Buy promoted the challenge in our local stores with flyers and posters. Best Buy welcomed the inclusion of the Best Buy Challenge in the broader CPS Connects initiative, using its own resources to create special assemblies and mini-workshops at selected CPS elementary schools. Ultimately, Best Buy provided individual challenge winners with laptops and iPads and two school winners with a Best Buy Geek Squad experience.

• An additional investment Best Buy has made in the City of Chicago is at Little Black Pearl Art and Design Academy, where Best Buy opened a Teen Tech Center. One of eight in the nation, the Best Buy Teen Tech Center is a free afterschool program where students can learn about programming, robotics, music mixing, filmmaking, and more.

• Find Best Buy is not only a strong business resource throughout the city, but has proved itself to be committed to the advancement of the general public through partnerships with strong cities and tech education.



CHALLENGE: Resiliency and sustainability.

DESCRIPTION: To help clients realize greater levels of sustainability and to ensure reliable operations, Black & Veatch constructed a microgrid to power the company’s Innovation Pavilion at its World Headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas. A microgrid is a small-scale electrical grid with its own power system that can operate separate from or alongside the electric grid. Commissioned in 2015, Black & Veatch’s microgrid uses renewable energy, natural gas, and battery storage, which allows the company to evaluate the latest energy technologies and resources as part of its ongoing operation. This means the company’s energy experts can more effectively serve clients who plan to install these advanced systems. As an added benefit, Black & Veatch is reducing its energy costs while providing its engineers with hands-on experience with these innovative technologies.

IMPACT: A demonstration area within our own World Headquarters at Black & Veatch shows our city clients how a microgrid system can be utilized in a smaller scale to larger scale applications at their new commercial developments, educational institutions, critical emergency response centers, and business centers.

Funding: Private Financing


Clinton O. Robinson Black & Veatch 913-458-3999 [email protected]

Bill Ebel City Manager Overland Park, KS 913-895-6101 [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Innovation, Environmental Impact, Impact on City Economy, Resiliency

Black & Veatch Microgrid Promotes Reliability, Sustainability

How-To:

• Resiliency is critical to the continuation of services in every city. It is not only important to know how you deal with an emergency but how quickly you can rebound from the incident and provide city and private services.

• Companies are implementing their own resiliency programs and it is mission critical that cities become aware of these developments and collaborate with business to make the city as a whole more resilient.

• We can envision private investment, utility operation and maintenance, and city benefit from this collaboration.

General Tips:

• A microgrid only addresses energy resiliency and sustainability. Future developments will include water and communications resiliency and sustainability in the same packages.



CHALLENGE: The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) offers a vital cash infusion for working families. In 2013, the EITC helped lift nearly 6.2 million people out of poverty, more than half of whom were children. However, up to 25% of eligible taxpayers do not claim the EITC, and only 3% of New York City filers claiming the EITC use free Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites. Lowincome filers leave EITC funds unclaimed each year, and over three-fourths pay an average of $250 to file their taxes despite being eligible for free preparation and financial counseling . In 2014, 96,611 returns were filed through the Tax Credit Campaign partners. In 2015, the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) sought to assist 150,000 low-income filers.

DESCRIPTION: The de Blasio Administration invested more than $3 million in a campaign that included expansion of tax prep services from 140 to 200 sites; advertising and outreach throughout the NYC transit system, local and ethnic newspapers, radio, TV, targeted direct mail, digital media, text messaging, community events, and on-the-ground outreach efforts; a five-borough trilingual phone-a-thon; robocalls to 270,000 low-income households; and an online map of all tax sites enabling people to search for the most convenient free tax filing site based on a number of criteria, such as language of service, location, and hours of operation. Citi contributed $250,000 to expand the capacity of the free tax prep sites, provided communications support for the ad campaign, funded Spanish-language radio ads on local media outlets, and supplied volunteers for the EITC Phone-a-Thon. Citi worked with the NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) and the Food Bank For New York City to provide free tax preparation services through Virtual Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites at 8 NYCHA sites and 8 JobsPlus locations for NYCHA residents. Citi Community Development convened stakeholders and led the launch of Designing for Financial Empowerment (DFE): an initiative to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of free tax prep services.

IMPACT: This year, approximately 150,000 low-income New Yorkers filed their taxes at free VITA sites -- a 50 percent increase from last year and the highest number of filers since the campaign began in 2002. This year’s combined activities helped return nearly $250 million in savings and EITC refunds to New Yorkers and expanded access to financial planning and other additional services for tens of thousands of households. Virtual VITA filed 1,318 tax returns and secured $1,827,584 for those low-income residents. Food Bank filed 4,901 tax returns for NYCHA residents with refunds totaling $9.8 million. In all, 401 (30%) were new or “quasi-new” tax filers who otherwise might not have filed if not for the service at the NYCHA tax sites. DFE is now entering its final phase, where it will test new services for free tax preparation. In the meantime, the “discovery” phase of the project – which involved ethnographic, economic, and field research – uncovered several issues and challenges facing free tax preparers and low-income New Yorkers.

Funding: Private Financing, General Purpose City Funds


Jamie Alderslade [email protected]

Debra-Ellen Glickstein [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Innovation, Impact on City Economy, Financial Inclusion

Citi and New York City Raise Awareness of EITC

How-To:

• Commitment from the top: The EITC campaign was driven by a clear vision and statement of priority from the de Blasio Administration. This was expressed in terms of agenda, messaging, and the organization and investment of resources.

• Engage partners with complementary strengths: The City gathered the support of local communities, elected officials, volunteers, partner agencies, employers, and the private sector. Each group brought unique strengths to the partnership, and delivered results that they may not have been able to achieve alone. In Citi’s case, this meant providing access to in-house expertise in communications and service design, as well as resources at scale, such as marketing and advertising assets and external communications channels.

• Leverage private sector support to foster and encourage innovation: Enlisting technical support from private sector partners can enable cities to experiment and innovate in ways that they might not have been able to do otherwise, bringing in additional resources, expertise, and ideas, and decoupling some of the perceived risk of testing new approaches. DFE has been an example of this kind of partnership: an initiative which was conceived and launched with Citi’s support, and one which has leveraged the unique strengths and contributions of the academic, private, and public sectors to develop new approaches to public service design.



CHALLENGE: ecoATM, Inc. was founded as a high tech incubator business in San Diego with the mission of providing Americans with an easy, safe and convenient way to reduce e-waste by recycling their mobile devices. We are the first company to create an automatic selfservice kiosk system to buy back old phones, tablets, or MP3 players. Our 400+ employees have processed more than 4 million devices that have come in from across the nation and diverted toxic chemicals in devices from ending up in landfills. With locations in 42 states, we are helping tackle the e-waste challenge by complementing the government’s recycling initiatives.

DESCRIPTION: San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has focused on strengthening small businesses, helping launch high tech industries, and improving green opportunities for San Diego’s environment. ecoATM pays it forward by working closely with the city to mentor emerging industries. We led by example and built our headquarters to be LEED® certified to the Silver level, installed electric vehicle charging stations in our employee parking lot, and reduced water usage by 32%. ecoATM is certified to some of the highest e-waste and data standards including ISO 14001 (environmental management), R2 (responsible recycling) and ISO 27001 (information security management system).

IMPACT: ecoATM strongly believes in giving our team members the opportunity to give back and doing our part within the community. We have won multiple awards such as San Diego Venture Groups and the first annual Innovation Entrepreneur Award from the Consumer Electronics Association. Our team works with civic groups, educational institutions and business mentoring groups to promote environmental issues and mentor incubator businesses through groups such as EvoNexus. Members of this non-profit organization have the opportunity to be mentored by having a one-on-one meeting with successful business executives.

Funding: Private Financing, Federal Grants


Bonnie Garcia [email protected]

Sarah Bates National Science Foundation Public Affairs Specialist [email protected]

Tags: Environmental Impact, Impact on City Economy, Jobs Created, Business Benefits

ecoATM Gives Back in San Diego

How-To:

• Many high tech businesses fail because they are not supported or the local government lacks the resources to help them grow. San Diego’s Incubator program helped ecoATM obtain two National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grants.

• We created more than 400 jobs and expanded operations into 42 states through our growth.

• Our active participation in regional issues enables us to share lessons learned and to mentor other businesses to overcome workforce development problems, navigate the regulatory process, and expand public/private partnerships to solve issues and supplement the government’s recycling mission.

General Tips:

• E-waste is a problem for all communities. Of roughly 422 million idle or inactive mobile devices in the U.S. by the end of 2015, only about 99 million will be recycled.



CHALLENGE: This project was focused on cleaning up the graffiti vandalism on 2.25 miles of San Leandro Street in East Oakland. The East Oakland Beautification Council needed paint, supplies and manpower to accomplish this task.

DESCRIPTION: The parties involved included the East Oakland Beautification Council, the Graffiti Resource Council, Recology, Oakland Public Works, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Union Pacific Railroad, and Turner Group Construction. The East Oakland Beautification Council designed the project. The Graffiti Resource Council contacted Recology, who donated paint for the initial clean-up and additional paint for future clean-up. Oakland Public Works Department, BART,Turner Group Construction and Union Pacific Railroad supplied the manpower and managerial services.

IMPACT: Prior to “Clean Sweep,” San Leandro Street–all the way from the Oakland border to 69th Street—was completely tagged with graffiti vandalism. Once the manpower and the paint was secured, the clean-up was completed and the entire neighborhood was cleansed of graffiti vandalism, including the fences and columns supporting the trains. The impact was immediate and spectacular. The street and surrounding infrastructure was clean. In addition, the paint used was recycled paint that was donated to the effort so there was cost to the city of East Oakland or the Beautification Council.



Heidi McAuliffe 202-719-3686 [email protected]

Tags: Cost Savings, Environmental Impact, Impact on City Economy

Graffiti Resource Council’s “Clean Sweep” of East Oakland Street

How-To:

1. Identify specific area targeted for action.

2. Identify public and private sector partners such as local businesses, public works, law enforcement, and allied NGOs.

3. Conduct a “town meeting” to discuss the project with partners and seek specific commitments of time, talent, and resources.

4. Coordinate paint and resource delivery.

5. Establish the date and ask media to attend and record the event.

General Tips:

• Using recycled and donated paint keeps this useful product out of the waste stream.

• The ancillary benefits to cleaning up the graffiti is that it instills a positive attitude in the local neighborhood and residents will actively work to keep the area clean.

• Removing graffiti vandalism helps to restore pride in the neighborhood, a feeling of security, and property values.



CHALLENGE: The I-4 Ultimate Project is Central Florida’s largest transportation project to date and the largest publicprivate partnership in the U.S. to date. It will cost $2.3 billion in year-of-expenditure dollars, and includes 21 miles of reconstruction, as well as 85 miles of new mainline roaway. The project will reconstruct 15 major interchanges and more than 145 bridges, rebuild general use lanes, and add four variable priced managed lanes. DESCRIPTION: As part of the I-4 Mobility Partners team, we are responsible for the design of the I-4 Ultimate project. This public-private partnership (P3) project is a 40-year concession, during which the concessionaire will design, build, maintain and operate Interstate 4 through downtown Orlando. Construction began in 2015 and will be completed by 2021. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is the project owner. Estimated design and construction costs are $2.3 billion. The I-4 Ultimate project will reconstruct 21 miles of mainline Interstate 4 in Orange and Seminole counties. Variable-priced express lanes will be constructed in the median of the existing facility, and the general use lanes will be completely reconstructed. The express lanes will be operated with variable tolls, which are adjusted throughout the day to improve traffic flow. Additionally, the I-4 Ultimate Project will include direct connections from the I-4 express lanes to State Route 408, a major east/west toll facility in downtown Orlando. Other project features include capacity improvements such as additional auxiliary lanes, turn lanes, pedestrian bridges, and enhanced aesthetics along the facility. Envision will also be employed during the project development process as the basis for incorporating sustainable solutions. The I-4 Ultimate will be America’s first-ever Envision-certified platinum highway.

IMPACT: When completed, the project will relieve congestion in one of the country’s most heavily traveled areas, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “We’ve been able to move this project from the financing drawing board to breaking ground in near record time because the department’s early involvement. The I-4 Ultimate is the sort of highway improvement America’s drivers need, and it underscores the importance of passing the President’s Grow America Act to make more investments to modernize our aging roads to keep up with future demands.” I-4 is often considered the backbone of surface transportation in Central Florida. It provides a crucial link between Tampa on the west coast and Daytona Beach on the east coast, as well as serving the Orlando Metro area and past some of the most popular travel destinations, including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort, and SeaWorld. I-4 also connects Orlando to LEGOLAND and Busch Gardens Tampa. Those destinations and growth in resident and visitor populations have contributed to increased regional traffic congestion. “Safety will be improved, and the corridor will enable efficient travel in a sustainably and economically-built corridor that uniquely reflects Central Florida in its design,” said Karl Reichelt, Executive Vice President of Skanska Infrastructure Development.



Kimberly Schulz 213-308-6110 [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Cost Savings, Impact on City Economy, Jobs Created

HDR Takes Holistic Approach to I-4 Ultimate Project

How-To:

1. The project vision connecting communities, improving economies, and enhancing livability is embodied in the approach to create the FDOT’s premier, long-desired, signature corridor. This one-of-a-kind facility will exemplify the Central Florida experience by reflecting its local context, history, unique community character, and landscape.

2. “One of the things that I have personally emphasized with the team is the aesthetic aspect of it,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. During a city workshop, officials announced that artwork from local artists, which could include monuments, sculptures, and murals, would end up being part of the project. A $1.5 million fund was created to add artwork along the corridor. Design features will include:

a. Improved ramps and turn lanes b. Green space at Parramore c. Improved bridge architecture d. Lake Ivanhoe gateway feature when entering downtown e. Aesthetic overpass lighting f. Landscaping and fountains g. Lighting and design features for downtown Bridge District

3. The project also set aside $3.4 million for a pedestrian bridge and bicyclist bridge over I-4 and a tunnel walkway. Sound barriers will also be added in select areas.



CHALLENGE: The new city employee health care benefits feature improves customer service and value of benefits to employees while helping reduce cost to the City. The benefit provides City of Laredo employees with resources to make better decisions on obtaining overall lowest cost quality healthcare.

DESCRIPTION: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) provides health insurance benefits to city employees in Laredo, Texas. As the health care system continues to go through significant changes, BCBSTX believes it’s important for consumers to have a high-touch, personalized option available to better understand their health care decisions. Today’s technology, coupled with personal interaction, provides an effective combination that engages members and encourages them to make better health care decisions for themselves and their families. In January 2015, the city added the BCBSTX benefits value advisor (BVA) feature to assist city employees and their families with health care decision-making. A Benefits Value Advisor is a live health care expert that combines proprietary data and tools and best-in-class customer service to provide information and guidance to help consumers maximize their health care benefits. The program, developed by BCBSTX and increasingly used by private sector employers, provides health care cost and quality transparency, helps employees understand their benefits, enables employees to schedule provider appointments, and expedites precertification coordination. It uses comprehensive real-time information to guide employees toward more educated and cost-effective decisions. The program also integrates the employee’s benefits with any cost-sharing requirements and a deductible aggregator so employees know their estimated liability for a procedure.

IMPACT: While the program is new to Laredo city employees, it has achieved significant savings for Blue Cross Blue Shield private sector employers. Health care costs vary widely for some services. For example, 2013 analysis showed that an MRI can vary by 458% and a CT scan could vary by 794%. Using the BVA, the average savings per claim was $2,560 when a member chooses a BVA identified provider for quality and cost savings. Savings accrue to the employee and the city.



Darren Rodgers (312) 653-1505 [email protected]

Monica Flores (956)727-6460 [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Innovation, Cost Savings, Greater employee benefits satisfaction

Health Care Service Corporation Adds Value to City Benefits

How-To:

• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas provides this optional health benefit for employers, both public and private, to provide to their employees.



CHALLENGE: A study by the IFA Educational Foundation identified basic obstacles faced by minorities (including women) seeking to own a franchise and some challenges faced by franchisors seeking to recruit minorities as franchise owners. Obstacles were categorized as three gaps: an informational gap, a relational gap and a capital gap.

DESCRIPTION: IFA, through its Diversity Institute, is committed to promoting and fostering diversity and inclusion within IFA, the franchising community, and in communities across the country. The DiversityFran program (formerly known as MinorityFran) was created in 2006 to build awareness of franchising within diverse communities and to increase diversity in franchising. After studying gaps, we developed “One-Day Opportunities in Franchising Seminars” to be held in cities across the country. These seminars address all three gaps. An extension of the one-day educational program is the ‘Meet with the Mayors’ program, which seeks to eliminate the barrier that often exists between public sector leadership and those achieving success in the business community. The program improves the relationship among economic, public, and community leaders so as to find areas of cooperation for development and growth. The International Franchise Association delivers these programs at no cost to the city, though attendees are charged a nominal fee to attend. The One-Day Opportunities in Franchising Seminars not only provide citizens with information regarding business ownership through franchising, but also connect franchisors to city officials to promote economic development.

IMPACT: The impact of this successful project was enhanced communication between the Mayor, the city’s economic development department, business owners, constituents, and other economic stakeholders with an ultimate goal of increasing the economic base in the respective city and job creation.

Funding: IFA Education Financing


Miriam Brewer International Franchise Association [email protected]

Mayor Elizabeth Kautz, Burnsville, MN 952-895-4490 [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Impact on City Economy, Jobs Created

International Franchise Association: DiversityFran

How-To:

• One-day Opportunities in Franchising Seminars conducted in various cities to addresses the gaps faced by minorities and women seeking to own franchises. Though the initial programs were developed to increase minority participation in franchising, they are not limited to racial or ethnic minorities and are open to all who have an interest in franchising. These programs seek to educate individuals about franchising as a means of business ownership thus impacting economic development/job creation in the respective cities.

• The Meet with the Mayors Program enhances the relationship of IFA members (franchisors, franchisees, and suppliers) and their local Mayor. Through this partnership, the program connects the public sector leaders with private sector success to better each locality. A secondary goal is to develop a plan on how to work most effectively with the Office of the Mayor and the city’s Economic Development Office to drive smart and effective business expansion through franchising.

General Tips:

• You must find the right partners on the ground to assist with the marketing and promotion of these events. Additionally, it is crucial to allow adequate time to promote.



CHALLENGE: San Diego is the 17th largest city in America, yet it leads the world in biotechnology, clean technology, sports innovation, defense technology, and telecommunications, and, according to Brookings, is the third most patent-intense region in the world. That is because policymakers, businesses, and educators in San Diego are working collaboratively to create a thriving innovation ecosystem. San Diego’s world-class universities and research centers foster a talented workforce, attract top academicians, and produce research that powers numerous paradigm-shifting, life-saving technologies. Across an ocean and a continent, London is seeing similar economic achievement. London’s exports represent 25 percent of the U.K.’s national exports—a sum that is valued at about £130 billion—and is particularly strong in service exports, where it accounts for 50 percent of the U.K. total. At the same time, London is on course to continue growing faster than the U.K. economy. And while London continues to export goods across a range of manufactured sectors (including the growing pharmaceuticals sector), it maintains its strength in financial and business services, media, tech, and architectural surveying and construction services. London also leads the way in the U.K.’s exports of £100 billion of goods and services to the U.S., its largest single trading partner. London alone exported nearly £4 billion in goods to the U.S. in 2013.

DESCRIPTION: The Global Cities Initiative (GCI) is a five-year collaboration between the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase that aims to help leaders in U.S. metropolitan areas reorient their economies toward greater engagement in world markets. GCI aims to equip business, civic and government leaders with the information, policy ideas and connections they need to help their metropolitan areas thrive in the global economy. GCI is helping city and metropolitan leaders from cities like London and San Diego become more globally fluent by providing an in-depth, data-driven look at their regions’ standings on crucial global economic measures, highlighting best policy and practice innovations from around the world, and, through the Global Cities Exchange, developing regional strategies to boost global trade and investment. While both London and San Diego are focused on creating success at home, they are also focused on creating a strong international market for what they produce. And they are working together – sharing best practices, challenges and learning where their trade and investment coincide. GCI is designed to improve that work. London is San Diego’s second-largest source of foreign direct investment, and the U.K. is one of San Diego’s largest export markets. At the same time, businesses in both cities are working together to help solve local needs, like managing major transportation systems.

IMPACT: Mark Cafferty of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation said, “In San Diego, we like to say that the secret to our success is that we collaborate to compete. To us, it’s about government, private industry and academia working together to move the region forward. This is also true on a global scale. Our relationship with the Global Cities Initiative has helped San Diego build a strong connection with London, one our region’s top export markets and foreign direct investment sources in the world. And it’s one that makes sense because of the synergies between our innovation economies, which are both anchored by strong biotech and technology industries. Our MetroConnect Prize will essentially give local San Diego companies up to $10,000 in matching grants to help them connect with priorities markets such as London. We are tackling this head on.”


Danielle Borrin Hertz [email protected]

Sean Barr San Diego Regional EDC Vice President Economic Development [email protected]

Tags: Innovation, Impact on City Economy, Business Benefits

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Global Cities Initiative

How-To:

• Recognizing that cities are growth centers, JPMorgan Chase & Co. joined the Brookings Institution three years ago to launch the Global Cities Initiative to better understand the impact metropolitan areas play in the global economy. Together with business and civic leaders, the Global Cities Initiative is harnessing that knowledge to help cities grow by fostering connections between global markets. San Diego and London are prime examples of metropolitan centers thinking strategically to continue to grow their local economies.



CHALLENGE: Improvements needed to be made to the sewer cleaning operations, sewer fines were high, and there was an absence of public parks along the streams.

DESCRIPTION: As part of the City of Atlanta Clean Water Program, we took over the leadership of the vehicle maintenance department. At the inception of the Clean Water Program, the City’s maintenance shop had several sewer vacuum trucks that were not available for service to clean the sewers. Our leadership helped remove the log jam of maintenance orders and get the vacuum trucks out of the repair shop and out onto the streets for sewer cleaning. In addition, we were able to negotiate the abatement of $10,000,000 in sewer fines and the conversion of other fines into stream bank restoration/enhancement payments. These payments into the stream bank program provided green space along the stream banks for the growth of grasses and aquatic vegetation to assimilate natural cleaning of the river, streams, and creeks.

IMPACT: Improved the water quality in the Chattahoochee River Basin. The City of Atlanta has been recognized by Federal Judge Thrash for its remarkable improvement of water quality and containment of spills into the Chattahoochee River.

Funding: Watershed Funding


Valentino Bates 404-525-2120 [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Innovation, Environmental Impact, Increased Tourism

KHAFRA Engineering Assists in Atlanta’s Clean Water Program

How-To:

• As you negotiate with the Federal EPA and your state agency on the payment of fines, suggest that the fines go to local watershed enhancement programs and projects rather than a strict fine to EPA or your state.

• This way, the payments go directly to benefit your watershed and water quality efforts in your local communities.



CHALLENGE: To improve City of Houston court revenue and reduce warrant rates, the City initiated an aggressive public awareness campaign and enforcement program in 2004, working with the law firm of Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP. Together they launched a media campaign and enforcement program that has generated revenue from some of the City’s largest and most persistent scofflaws and increased overall voluntary compliance.

DESCRIPTION: The law firm helped expand the enforcement program, supported the City’s warrant sweep efforts to address chronic offenders, added a litigation program targeting commercial violators, and implemented two license plate recognition initiatives to locate offender vehicles. AutoVu, a license plate recognition system, was installed in a law firm vehicle and helped identify scofflaw vehicles, stolen vehicles, and those tied to Amber Alerts. The second system was operated by a third party to help locate and tag vehicles with traffic violations.

IMPACT: Over $230 million has been collected. Approximately 54 percent of all dollars placed has been resolved through payment, cancellation, or other methods. Public outreach and strict enforcement have produced great results. Greater public awareness has resulted in quicker payments. This has also reduced the backlog of delinquent accounts.

Funding: State of Texas allows for add-on collection fee to cover cost of service.


Charlotte Lang Booker, J.D., Clerk of the Court 713.247.4105 [email protected]

Richard Hill, Partner, LG Law Firm 713.844.3400 x 3450 [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Innovation, Cost Savings, Impact on City Economy, increased revenues for city operations, including public safety

Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson Aids Houston Collections

How-To:

1. City staff sought out a vendor to provide full-service collections while treating the debtors with respect throughout the collection process.

2. Once a contract was signed with Linebarger Goggan, the City and law firm determined the best approach for collections, the levels of service the City desired, and a schedule for implementing the program.

3. Linebarger Goggan works closely with the municipal court and the Houston Police to initiate warrant sweeps. PSAs and news stories announce the sweeps and advise citizens of the consequences of failing to pay. The law firm mails advance notices to citizens notifying them of the pending sweep and informing them on how to resolve their cases.

4. The firm works with MIG, a license plate recognition service, to notify violators of the need to address outstanding violations. The firm transmits data to MIG on violators and provides high profile notice stickers to MIG for distribution. These gave offenders the information they received in letters, driving the point that they had been located.

5. Following the media campaign, police initiate the sweep. While arrest is an option, their goal is helping citizens find ways to pay fees and fines.

6. Commercial entities and high dollar scofflaws are targeted for special efforts. Many frequently ignore citations for parking illegally and disrupting downtown traffic patterns. When letters and calls fail to produce payment, the law firm files suit.

7. Once accounts are 61 days delinquent or more, the City turns them over to Linebarger Goggan for collection.

General Tips:

• The sooner accounts can be turned over to a dedicated firm, the more likely the City will reap benefits. Older accounts are harder to collect.

• Hiring a law firm allows a city to use a professional services contract, which is generally quicker than standard procurement processes.

• A city should always review collection performance and its efforts to provide quality, respectful service to the offenders.

• A city should recognize that the best value for these services is not usually the lowest priced vendor, as the level of service and the focus on all delinquent accounts will likely suffer with a low-bid vendor.

• And, whenever statutes permit, a city should opt for passage of add-on fees at the local level or support their passage at the state level. This ensures equity in the collection system, as only those that require these services (and incur the cost of these services), actually pay for them.



CHALLENGE: EZTransparency™ is a visual program by MuniServices to improve the delivery and understanding of city budgets. EZTransparency™ reduces staff time on information requests for budget information. It is a simple approach to bring a municipality transparency and does not require municipal staff or IT resources to build and implement. League City, Texas adopted this visual budget tool to provide the public a format to easily navigate, visualize, and understand budget data. With a click viewers can study the details of any account and sub-accounts; this includes revealing the City’s entire check register allowing for search and sort capabilities for easy viewing of when and to whom checks are written. The White House Open Government initiative to promote efficiency and accountability and to strengthen our democracy has had a significant impact on public awareness for transparency at all levels of government. Citizens are increasingly expecting more transparency from their elected officials. Citizens are not accountants. Taxpayers expect to know where the city finances are coming from and where they are being spent. Currently cities do their best to publish their budgets online but have been technically restricted to the format which results in hundreds of document pages that are difficult to navigate or understand, defeating the purpose of transparency. Citizens are familiar with one click drill down technology that has been prevalent in smart phones, tablets, and any household computers, and expect a similar ease of use when navigating the city budget and check register documents.

DESCRIPTION: Using a technology platform helps to simplify a complex process and to engage and bring together all stakeholders in one of the most important responsibilities in city government budget development. Cities can partner with private entities to ensure that the latest technology is applied to maximize transparency and communication between elected officials, staff, and citizens.

IMPACT: Citizens are more aware of where their tax dollars are being spent and as such gain trust in city government and elected officials. Council members are more familiar with the budget process and have quicker access to dollar amounts during public presentations or discussions. Municipalities have reported that visual budgeting and searchable chack registers have reduced open records requests, increasing staff efficiency.

Funding: Internal City Funding Source


Lisa Broussard 281.335.8100 x61267 [email protected]

Caron Park, Budget Manager 281.554.1371 [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Innovation, Cost Savings, Environmental Impact, Impact on City Economy, Jobs Created, Increased Tourism, Business Benefits

EZTransparency™ Increases Participation in Budget Process

How-To:

1. Initial meeting with City stakeholders: Meeting with city management and council members to review graphical format and select the various metric values.

2. City provides current budget in PDF format: The need list is limited andthe City provided the current budget.

3. EZTransparency™ transformed the budget into a visual and interactive format. No system integrations are required, minimizing technical staff resources.

4. EZTransparency™ goes lives to the public: A link was placed on the City website which directs the user to the graphical budget.

General Tips:

• We include a simple 15 second video on the home page that highlights the features of the website and its simplicity.

• In a few minutes, city employees, council members, and citizens can understand the software and quickly understand the budget so they can become evangelists of the technology to promote transparency.

• It is important for the city to use the technology during public meetings to make citizens aware that the new information technology has been adopted. The sooner citizens and citizen groups understand the budget, the sooner the city gains the benefits.



CHALLENGE: PG&E is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. With more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. But at our core, we are a local company, with local employees doing business on a local level. This is how we approach our work with cities and with Mayors. For nearly a decade, PG&E has been working in close partnership with the City of San Jose on their long-term and forward-thinking initiatives that make up Green Vision, which was launched in 2007 under then-Mayor Chuck Reed. Green Vision touches 10 key areas for the City of San Jose, from job creation in clean technology, to recycling targets, to fuel efficiency for the City’s fleet, to tree planting. Even before Green Vision’s inception, PG&E served as a partner, advisor, and enabler of San Jose’s efforts.

DESCRIPTION: The public-private partnership best practice that we have developed between the City of San Jose and PG&E is a true focus on the “partnership” component. Both the City of San Jose and PG&E view the relationship through a partnership lens – rather than one of simply a city and a utility. From the City’s perspective, there are key initiatives and areas of focus where they see tremendous advantages for their residents and businesses – in terms of cost savings, conservation goals and job creation. From PG&E’s perspective, we want the City of San Jose to test, implement and learn from the wide range of initiatives tied to their Green Vision. Through this public-private partnership, PG&E performs the role of the enabler of technologies that support the City’s Green Vision. As an example, smart light poles that are being implemented will improve safety and the delivery of technology to the community. By working with their local utility, PG&E, San Jose is able to advance the implementation of the latest technology at a much faster rate.

IMPACT: We see success based on achieving the goal of the program and bringing meaningful change and improvements to residents and communities. For several of the programs, the City of San Jose – as the capital of Silicon Valley – aimed to implement cutting-edge technology. Smart Poles are the new frontier in light posts that feature a cabinet in which Wi-Fi and cell equipment can be placed, thus expanding the reach of the internet to residents. As the technology is installed in key test areas throughout City of San Jose, the goal is to not only test it, but also save energy and create safer neighborhoods. Three key Silicon Valley leaders – San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino, and PG&E President Chris Jones – teamed up to chair the Smart Grid Task Force. The task force produced two annual reports and updates on the role a smarter electric grid would play in energy delivery, efficiency, and job creation – especially in the technology hub of Silicon Valley. The partnership has been incredibly successful. San Jose exemplifies a forward-thinking city in California demonstrating how electric and gas utilities can be viewed as partners to advance energy efficiency. PG&E is consulted regularly about how and where new ideas and initiatives can and should be implemented. Likewise, PG&E looks to San Jose when new ideas and initiatives from the utility are considered for implementation. This exchange of ideas enables a timely response andbetter service for residents.

Funding: General Purpose City Funds, Private Funds


Richard Dye 202.638.3517 [email protected]

Terri Killgore 408.535.8102

Tags: Innovation, Cost Savings, Environmental Impact, Business Benefits

Pacific Gas & Electric Celebrates Long Partnership with San Jose

How-To:

• The replicable nature of the San Jose-PG&E relationship is worth the time and attention it takes. Increasingly, cities are taking an active role in their municipal energy use, as well as that of its residents and businesses. As this role increases, a partnership with utilities is essential.

• Both the City of San Jose and PG&E saw the need for partnership nearly a decade ago and we are proud to say that the partnership has developed and strengthened over the course of a decade, spanning two Mayors and dozens of City Council members.

General Tips:

• At PG&E, we believe it is in everyone’s best interest to include the utility in energy and environmental efforts. San Jose, the nation’s 10th largest city and Capital of Silicon Valley, is taking a page from the high-tech mind set to innovate their policy-making process. San Jose’s Green Vision is a long-term policy initiative that has spanned two Mayors in the City. PG&E’s ability to provide input in the crafting and strategic guidance on the implementation of Green Vision has provided value to the City of San Jose and positively impacted both parties as well as residents and businesses.



CHALLENGE: The City of North Las Vegas was receiving thousands of monthly walk-in cash payments at their central office as their residents waited in line to pay their water bills. The City needed a fast, convenient, and secure way for residents to pay their water bill seven days a week, so they turned to PayNearMe.

DESCRIPTION: PayNearMe linked a unique UPC barcode to every billing account that was printed on every billing statement. Residents can now take their monthly statement into local authorized convenience stores to pay their water bills with cash. PayNearMe is an electronic cash transaction network and technology platform that enables billers to accept cash remotely from cash-preferring residents at over 17,400 retail locations across the U.S. The PayNearMe retail network includes retail partners 7-Eleven and Family Dollar. PayNearMe offers a breakthrough electronic cash-transaction network that makes cash bill payments quick, easy, and safe—creating a better experience for residents, cashiers, and billers.

IMPACT: Nearly 25% of their walk-in cash payment traffic migrated to PayNearMe within the first 90 days. PayNearMe continues to see week by week growth as more residents migrate to PayNearMe.

PayNearMe Reduces Reliance on Cash Transactions

How-To:

• For the City of North Las Vegas, PayNearMe provides a unique UPC barcode for each resident directly on their bill. Residents can also have the barcode sent to their mobile phone. The UPC barcode is the unique identifier linked to the water bill account number that enables perfect error free remittance.

• The resident presents the UPC barcode to the retail clerk who scans it at the register along with any other purchases being made, cash is exchanged, and receipts are given. The process is complete in under a minute. A customizable register receipt is the resident’s proof of payment.

• The City is notified in real-time of guaranteed good funds to be deposited into the municipality’s bank account a few days later via an ACH transaction through an FDIC insured bank.

• Each PayNearMe barcode is tied to a unique account number supplied by the City so there is no ambiguity as to where to route funds or how to apply payments. PayNearMe provides a 100% good funds model, which means PayNearMe is contractually obligated to remit funds for confirmed transactions, with no fraud or chargeback risk to the City.

• In addition to the City of North Las Vegas, PayNearMe has substantial experience setting up municipalities on its cash transaction network. PayNearMe has implemented similar solutions for the City of Fairfield, City of Tracy, City of Glendale, City of Pittsburgh, and Park Water Co.

General Tips:

• Cash-consumers don’t have to fill out any forms, disclose their personally identifiable information to a teller, or wait in long customers service lines just to make a cash payment. Instead, they can make cash payments 24/7 in less than 60 seconds at a local store and (in most cases) have the amount posted to their biller’s account immediately. As such, the benefits of PayNearMe extend to any business and government agency that wants to digitally extend their network of cash collection points and remove the risks and costs of manually collecting cash on-site.



Bruce Gaskill Strategic Account Executive [email protected]

Romina Chapman Utilities Business Services Manager, North Las Vegas [email protected]

Tags: Innovation, Cost Savings, Business Benefits



CHALLENGE: Broad Avenue is a historic commercial district in east-central Memphis. Isolated in the 1960s by construction of Sam Cooper Boulevard, it suffered an economic collapse. By 2006, the area was described as “a ghost town.” Broad Avenue, with five travel lanes and very little traffic, encouraged speeding and contributed to the image of a wasteland, despite businesses that continued to operate there. Meanwhile, Broad also formed a potential link between the Shelby Farms Greenline bike path and Overton Park, a beloved forest park. The Broad Avenue Arts Alliance needed to change the public narrative, create vitality, and reconnect to the city’s transportation network, all in a fiscally responsible way.

DESCRIPTION: Neighborhood advocates built support for an investment in Broad Avenue by conducting a two-day live demo of a protected bike lane. The event drew praise and catalyzed support for changes. The team followed up by creating the country’s first internet crowdfunding campaign for a bike lane—a two-way planter-protected bike lane that would run in front of Broad Avenue’s storefronts and connect Overton Park with the bike path, turning the district into a highlight of the region’s trail system. The project was dubbed the Hampline. The successful campaign, one of the first on the new civic crowdfunding platform ioby.org, raised $69,000 in private contributions. While this amount is far from enough to construct the $4.5 million project, it was successful as a strategy to build public support.

IMPACT: The Broad Avenue strip has attracted more than $25 million in new private investment and has added 28 new businesses and 30 significant renovations. Vacancies plummeted from 55 percent in 2010 to 10 percent in 2014. Foot traffic has surged. Memphis, which had zero bike lanes in 2010, now has 69 miles of bike lanes. The Hampline is scheduled for construction in late summer or fall 2015. Mayor A.C. Wharton cites the Broad Avenue model as a perfect example of his economic development strategy for Memphis: instead of endlessly chasing money by annexing more and more of the city’s outskirts, he’s pursued a data-driven strategy of making small, targeted investments in the historic districts that unlock larger private-sector investment. Memphis’ live-demonstration-and-crowdfunding campaign combination was also used as the model for a similar project in Denver, Colorado.

Funding: Private Financing, Foundations and Philanthropy, Federal Grants, General Purpose City Funds


Nikki Javurek 303.449-.4893 x109 [email protected]

Kyle Wagenschutz 901.576.6710 [email protected]

Tags: Innovation, Cost Savings, Environmental Impact, Impact on City Economy, Jobs Created, Increased Tourism, Business Benefits

PeopleForBikes Generates Support for Memphis Bike Lane

How-To:

• Local champion: Pat Brown moved T Clifton Art to Broad Avenue in 2008 in search of cheap rent and decided to help develop the street. Brown was a visionary and convener throughout the process.

• Patron for early stages: The Hyde Family Foundations supported early efforts and the live demo.

• Well-planned demonstration: This was crucial in helping the community see what was possible. The event was one of the first in the country to use a live demo as public outreach process for a street project.

• Dedicated fundraising coordinator: Support from Livable Memphis led to a grant from Artplace America to pay for a half-time staffer who created and promoted the crowdfunding campaign.

• Close collaboration with city government: The crowdfunding component built and demonstrated public excitement about the project, which justified public investment. In addition to helping pull together public money for the project, Mayor Wharton headlined a traditional dinner fundraiser for the project that supplemented the crowdfunding campaign.

General Tips:

• As with other crowdfunding campaigns, online exposure alone isn’t enough to draw donations. It’s important to have someone who can identify potential donors and ask them to support the project; the function of the crowdfunding effort is to help donors feel a sense of shared commitment. Broad Avenue advocates also drove urgency by identifying local organizations to offer matching grants on certain days.

• A major feature of live demonstrations is not just changes to the street, but recruiting business owners or would-be business owners to set up pop-up stores in empty storefronts during the event.



CHALLENGE: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti wanted to make his city more walkable, maintaining safety while controlling operational costs. To accomplish that, the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting (LA BSL), needed to make its streetlight system more robust, easier to maintain and energy efficient. The LA BSL is one of five bureaus of the LA Public Works Department and is responsible for the design, construction, operation, maintenance and repair of the 220,000 lights in the City of Los Angeles.

DESCRIPTION: The LA BSL sought to deploy a lighting controls system to remotely monitor and maintain their street lights – accounting for energy use and status. The LA BSL deployed a thorough process where extensive pilots were conducted to determine which lighting controls best met the city’s specific needs. The resulting retrofit solution from Philips will help LA protect its investments by making street lights smart and connected. Using the Philips CityTouch lighting management software, LA BSL can remotely control street lights, monitor their status and accurately report how much energy each light is consuming. As a result, Los Angeles will revolutionize lighting maintenance as the first city in the world to control its street lighting through mobile and cloud based technologies.

IMPACT: First and foremost, the citizens of Los Angeles will enjoy better visibility on well lit streets with lighting that can be scheduled for the needs of a particular neighborhood. As the region’s first smart lighting system, the streetlights can be programmed to adapt to weather, traffic, public safety needs, maintenance and repairs. This secure system is controlled remotely, saving thousands of dollars in operational costs. Unlike first generation control systems, managing each of the street lights remotely removes the need for manual adjustments.

Philips Helps Los Angeles Meet Street Lighting Goals

How-To:

• Collaboration

• Partnering

• Multi-step process

• Pilot approach

• Use of prescriptive methodology: test, evaluate, select.

General Tips:

• Understand the Mayor’s vision for the City and offer a solution that supports that vision.

• Build trust with partners.

• Keep a consistent dialogue and strive to deliver at every milestone.

• Understand specific work flows and provide solutions that facilitate those activities.

• Find the win-win.

Funding: Internal City Funding Source


Jean Cantrell Business Council Representative 202-962-8567 [email protected]

Ed Ebrahimian Director-Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Innovation, Cost Savings, Environmental Impact, Business Benefits



CHALLENGE: Raising the minimum wage isn’t a partisan issue for the American public. In fact, 2014’s midterm elections provided a vivid illustration of the bipartisan appeal of raising the minimum wage—even voters in deep red states approved minimum wage proposals by large margins. Cities are leading this movement, enacting minimum wage increases that supersede both state and federal standards. However, while raising the minimum wage will improve conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers, these victories raise new challenges. Countless numbers of workers will see little improvement due to wage theft, unless we can establish a significantly improved enforcement regime. We can address these problems through a new policy to establish a robust wage enforcement program that involves community groups and is funded through a small fee on business.

DESCRIPTION: Resources to battle wage theft are small compared to the scale of the problem. Consequently, either the enforcement remains constrained or efforts to increase resources will pose uncomfortable conflicts with taxpayers. To remedy, we must shift the source of revenue for enforcement to a fee on business.

All businesses will pay the fee as a condition of doing business; all revenue generated is to be used for enforcement. Fee determined based on business size (for example, assessed per hour worked by each employee), fee is used to fund a robust community-based inspection regime, capable of conducting random audits on all employers. Any group funded to assist with enforcement should be a 501(c)(3). Funds should be used to create an adjudicative process in which both employers and workers can initiate a request for review, establish a Fee Schedule so that employers demonstrating a record of compliance can receive a self-certification program in which their fees are reduced, or create a far-reaching education and outreach program, through which labor standard enforcement offices and community-based enforcement entities administer a comprehensive regulatory program that reaches all workers.

IMPACT: Funding a robust enforcement regime through a fee on business ensures that workers actually earn the statutory minimum wage. It puts the onus on employers to show responsibility in order to do business and receive favorable treatment by government, rather than on government (or workers and worker organizations) to prove an employer has acted irresponsibly before it loses privileges or is penalized. This enforcement approach additionally levels the playing field between good and bad employers within a particular industry by making it much more difficult for businesses that violate wage and other labor standard laws to operate without sanction.

Funding: Business Fee


Karundi Williams 202-730-7823 [email protected]

Tags: Innovation, Cost Savings, Impact on City Economy, Business Benefits

SEIU Combats Wage Theft

How-To:

• The Seattle and San Francisco minimum wage campaigns raised wages and created new city enforcement capabilities. The critical enforcement-related advance in these two cities has been the government’s use of community organizations to engage hard-to-reach populations that experience a high incidence of wage theft.

• But these innovations may never reach a scale sufficient to address the challenge—the resources are small compared to the scale of the problem and for the foreseeable future, will be drawn from the general fund.

• As more and more cities continue to raise wages locally, it is important to concurrently adopt enforcement mechanisms that ensure employers act responsibly and pay into a system that holds all employers accountable.



CHALLENGE: Siemens worked with the City of Houston in conjunction with the Clinton Climate Initiative on two separate projects to both improve energy efficiency of municipal buildings and also maximize energy efficiency of traffic signals.

DESCRIPTION: Siemens worked with the City of Houston and Clinton Climate Initiative to retrofit facilities for the City’s Health & Human Services, General Services Department, Solid Waste, and Parks & Recreation departments to improve energy efficiency and conservation efforts and reduce operational costs. The second project worked in tandem with the City of Houston’s Traffic Department to dramatically reduce the amount of electricity used annually by updating technology used in signal bulbs, boost operational savings by reducing the traffic department’s bulb replacement cycle, and to replace 8-inch signal heads with 12-inch signal heads to improve driver safety.

IMPACT: Siemens provided and installed new solar thermal collectors in municipal buildings, irrigation controls and replacements, retrofitted high-flow with low-flow water fixtures, provided both indoor and outdoor comprehensive lighting options, provided HVAC efficiency improvements, and installed new building automation systems to manage energy consumption. Working with the Traffic Department, Siemens surveyed more than 2,400 intersections and created a master electronic database to provide critical information to the maximization of energy efficiency in traffic signals. Siemens also retrofitted 40,000 traffic lamps and 7,700 pedestrian signals to improve the City of Houston’s utilization of incandescent bulbs in traffic signals, which were both energy and operationally inefficient, thereby costing more to operate and maintain. The City of Houston saw large annual savings in electricity, natural gas, water, operational costs, and saw an annual CO2 reduction of 9,267,208 pounds. The Traffic Department experienced an annual electricity savings of nearly 10 million kWh, an annual electrical cost savings of over $1.3 million, and an annual operational savings of more than $550,000.

Siemens Works to Improve Houston Energy Efficiency

How-To:

1. The project’s first phase focused on retrofitting the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center and Fire Station #50 totaling 37,499 square feet to update facility technologies to maximize energy efficiency.

2. Phase two covered 55 facilities totaling 1.3 million square feet to address infrastructure needs in the City’s buildings, parks, and services facilities.


Chad Nobles [email protected]

Laura Spanjian, Director of Sustainability City of Houston [email protected]

Tags: Cost Savings, Environmental Impact, Impact on City Economy, Business Benefits



CHALLENGE: During the school year, 21 million kids receive free and reduced-price meals, but when school lets out for the summer, only 3.5 million participate in summer meal programs. Sodexo created Feeding Our Future to help close the gap and ensure children get the nutritious meals they need to thrive.

DESCRIPTION: As the one of the largest employers in the world, including 130,000 employees across 9,000 sites in North America, Sodexo has a nearly unparalleled capacity to engage and add value in the communities it serves. The company’s work to engage its people in the fight to end childhood hunger, Stop Hunger, is one such example. Sodexo mobilizes entire communities, including employees, consumers, clients and suppliers to join forces to help end hunger by supporting various programs, including the summer feeding program Feeding Our Future®. Each summer Sodexo works with local hunger relief organizations and/or local community leaders to address a need in the community to provide summer meals to kids at risk of hunger during summer break from school. U.S. Sodexo’s Feeding Our Future program is a solution to close that summer meal gap. Through the program, the Sodexo Foundation provides a grant to a local Sodexo foodservice operation to provide meals for kids through city programs, local summer camps, churches, community centers, etc. The model is a best practice where Sodexo is able to meet some basic needs of each community, but in a way that is tailored to that community, e.g. filling a specific meal gap or supplementing other programs like the USDA Summer Food Service Program, another great partner for cities in the fight against hunger.

IMPACT: During the school year, 21 million kids receive free and reduced-price meals, but when school lets out for the summer, only 3.5 million participate in summer meal programs. Sodexo created Feeding Our Future to help close the gap and ensure children get the nutritious meals they need to thrive. In 2014 the program served its 4 millionth meal. Cities served include: Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Camden, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Spokane, St. Cloud (MN), St. Louis, Syracuse, Terre Haute, and Washington (DC).



Lauren Brayer Sodexo Foundation [email protected]

Marcia Bowen City of Orlando Parks and Rec [email protected]

Tags: Hunger

Sodexo Looks to Close Summer Meal Gap

How-To:

• The key to success for Sodexo’s Feeding Our Future program is to remain steadfast in the mission of fighting childhood hunger, but to be flexible in execution. The program was developed as a way for Sodexo to engage the company’s local workforce (via the Sodexo Foundation grant), but to also continue to keep hunger issues top of mind in the communities it serves. Whether the local team works with the Mayor’s office to identify the need through the Parks and Recreation department like Sodexo does in Orlando, or directly through the local YMCA community center like in Atlanta, the important piece of the puzzle is engaging the company’s local resources to be involved with their city, and to be in tune with their needs and taking action.



CHALLENGE: To revitalize underused public spaces across the country through placemaking, creating opportunities for community connection, economic development and an increased quality of life for residents and visitors.

DESCRIPTION: Projects have been completed in Detroit, San Antonio, Providence, San Diego, and Baltimore. In Providence, we helped Downtown Providence Parks Conservancy build on the momentum of several years of placemaking work in Burnside Park. The project funded construction of small building purchase of a suite of colorful amenities, and support for additional programming. The project was an important momentum-building step in a long-term commitment by the city of Providence to invest in and improve public spaces downtown. The raised profile of activities in the park attracted multiple new programming partners, increased local sponsorship of existing park programming, and helped spur the creation and funding of a new internship program. Through expanded programming, new employment opportunities were created for local artists, cultural workers, and food vendors. New partnerships were developed to reduce the environmental footprint of the park, encourage the use of recycled and non-toxic materials, recycle waste, and minimize trash. Programming was implemented to educate the local community on environmentalism, limit smoking within the park, and collaborate with officials at the City of Providence. In San Antonio, the grant unlocked thousands of dollars of municipal funding that supported infrastructure rebuilding. The project led to a renewed commitment by the city to providing a wide range of programming in that park, and attendance increased dramatically. In Detroit, the project has been linked to an increase in positive perception of downtown.

Southwest Airlines Support Placemaking Projects in 13 Cities

How-To:

• Southwest chose to focus on placemaking because of its accessibility and authenticity within communities. Our partner, Project for Public Spaces, has decades of experience in communities around the world. Starting in 2013 we worked with PPS to implement pilot projects in Detroit, Providence, and San Antonio. These helped us develop a framework for our program that now supports placemaking projects in 13 cities.

• We now have a public application process that helps us locate and support the most impactful projects each year. We have learned that finding a committed, enthusiastic, and resourceful local partner is essential to the success of any project we fund. We have seen how important strong support at the municipal level is to our local partners, and this is now a key factor in our selection process.

• We embraced the spirit of placemaking, seeking out expertise and involvement from multiple partners, learning by doing things, and staying flexible.

General Tips:

• A key impact of placemaking is an increased community capacity for transformative change. This capacity is forged through partnerships that are developed in the placemaking process. Southwest Airlines and PPS work with the grant recipient to identify relevant organizations (arts institutions, civic groups and local businesses) to create robust, attractive and accessible programming (e.g. an outdoor reading room in partnership with the public library or a movie night in the park in partnership with a local film club). By helping to strengthen these community connections, we believe our placemaking projects can have an impact that reaches far beyond the original public space we helped to activate. This “ripple effect” of placemaking is highlighted in the MIT white paper “Places in the Making” (partially funded by Southwest Airlines).

• We have also recently made strengthening connections between our local partners a program goal. In April 2015 we held our first ever Heart of the Community cohort convening in Dallas, a two day event focused on creating a peer-to-peer learning network for new and existing partners.



Megan Lee, Sr. Manager Community Outreach Southwest Airlines 214-792-1051 [email protected]

Bob Gregory, Senior Vice President Downtown Detroit Partnership 313-566-8250 [email protected]

Tags: Environmental Impact, Impact on City Economy, Jobs Created, Increased Tourism



CHALLENGE: More than 290 million young people around the world are neither in school nor employed – one of the fastest growing populations. These young men and women represent a huge, untapped opportunity for an infusion of productivity and creativity in the workforce. At the same time there are also challenges for employers to find qualified candidates. The problem is not unique to U.S. cities nor can it be solved by government alone. Solutions City, a Starbucks-inspired program, partners with Mayors to solve for chronic unemployment, hopelessness, and issues that preclude opportunity youth from reaching their full capacity. Solutions City brings together various community stakeholders (i.e. government, non-profit, community, and business) together to formulate strategies to re-engage opportunity youth by equipping them with marketable skills that enable them to be economic and social contributors to communities.

DESCRIPTION: Through a series of community-focused town hall meetings, Mayors convene community stakeholders who are best-in-class experts to: (1) identify challenges affecting opportunity youth; (2) create action plans that specific target opportunity youth and solve for issues affecting successful outcomes; (3) assemble resources to support community-based solutions; and (4) engage employers who are looking for qualified candidates to fill jobs that support economic growth in cities. Starbucks provides meeting venues at its stores, local convening support, jobs, and connections to its supply chain and corporate peer networks to support program success.

IMPACT: Solutions City town halls have brought together individuals, organizations, and employers who previously had not collaborated to solve for socio-economic issues impacting young people. The town halls created job opportunities for thousands of opportunity youth, and instilled hope and inspiration in young people and their families. Communities are also launching new programs and adjusting their existing programs based on the broad community feedback, including launching new youth campaigns to give a face to the issue and specific new programming and tools to support youth. Solutions City has also enabled ordinary citizens to join conversations and provide creative input into processes typically handled by government entities and private employers. Finally, Solutions City afforded Mayors to connect with constituents by engaging them in problem-solving and instilling a sense of ownership for successful outcomes.

Funding: Private Financing, Foundations and Philanthropy


Blair Taylor, Chief Community Officer 206.318.5677 [email protected]

MacKenzie Garvin, Esq., Office of Mayor Rawlings-Blake 443.984.3880 (Office) 443.623.6137 (Mobile) [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Innovation, Cost Savings, Environmental Impact, Business Benefits

Starbucks Solutions City Seeks to Re-Engage Opportunity Youth

How-To:

• Solutions City requires strong collaboration between Mayors, private sector business leaders, committed NGOs, concerned citizens, and motivated youth.

• The success of the collaboration comes from decisive and determined stakeholders committed to periodic meetings, formulating actions plans, convening appropriate resources, inviting and including opportunity youth in all aspects of the action plan, and attracting employers who are committed to working towards successful outcomes.

General Tips:

• Successful outcomes are more probable when the community sets forth clear goals and objectives for measurable outcomes (i.e. 1000 jobs/hires by December 2015).

• Engage dedicated resources that will monitor and lead the program from start to finish.

• Engage all levels of contributing organizations: mayors, senior executives, front-line employees, and impacted youth.



CHALLENGE: A significant portion of municipal employees were living with a chronic condition. The City and County of Denver looked to create an effective, sustainable, incentive-based wellness program that would help drive engagement and meet its goals.

DESCRIPTION: The mayor introduced a program across all carriers where employees were challenged to have an annual wellness exam and complete a health assessment. In doing so, members received a $240 incentive for completing the program

IMPACT:

• Cancer accounts for 10% of net paid, down from 12%.

• 25 back surgeries, down from 32.

• Doubled health assessment completion: was 325 in 2013, 748 in 2014.

• In the first year of Incentives for Health, 718 members completed their physician visit, and wellness visits increased by 2%.

• 47% feel stress a lot or most of the time – with that feedback the City offered 27 stress and wellness classes in 2014 and are offering more than 100 stress, wellness and weight loss related classes in 2015.

• In 2013, 2014 and 2015 employees were invited to have a free diabetes screening and onsite classes.

UnitedHealthcare Maximizes Denver Wellness Outcomes

How-To:

1. Established a baseline for employee health risk through the Incentives for Health program

2. Offered Employee Wellness Incentive

3. Onsite screenings for pre-diabetes

4. Diabetes Prevention and Control Alliance

5. CARE24 onsite health and wellness classes

6. Use of UHC wellness fund credits for program incentives/giveaways, focus groups, onsite biometric screenings, health fairs, SPARKS program

General Tips:

• Develop a communications campaign and calendar to help drive participation and keep employees on track.

Funding: Private financing, wellness credit


Katie Wilson [email protected]

Heather Britton [email protected]

Tags: Cost Savings, Health and Wellness



CHALLENGE: Smart city initiatives and sensors installed are often run by different departments. There is often little sharing or city-wide dashboard. The challenge was to go across the “silos” or “centers of expertise” to define a city wide and integrated smart city strategy. This while also developing a business plan to cover the costs through new revenue streams.

DESCRIPTION: Urban Integrated Solutions developed a smart city strategy geared toward making the city smarter by integrating data into one open platform. This also allowed the city to re-use sensors for other purposes, i.e., crossing silos. This saved money, in addition to selling new services bringing to generate additional city revenue. Being an open, cloud-based platform allowed other providers to integrate their services into the new smart city platform, including the local university. Now instead of solely providing data to its citizens and businesses, the city provides useful information, ranging from traffic flow to heat maps with climate information.

IMPACT:

• Created new revenue streams for the city to finance the smart city initiatives.

• Interaction with citizens and businesses improved considerably.

• Brought different city departments and the utility company together.

• Rather than a standard solution, the city got a realistic and achievable smart city solution specifically tailored to its needs.

Funding: Federal Grants, General Purpose City Funds


Erwin A. Rezelman 212.220.7117 [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Innovation, Cost Savings, Environmental Impact, Impact on City Economy, Business Benefits

Urban Integrated Solutions Develops Smart City Strategy

How-To:

• Not linked to any specific hardware or sensors, Urban Integrated Solutions was able to provide independent advice to the city focussed on the best solutions for the project.

• Get city departments and stakeholders into the project to discover the value and benefit of the integrated solution.

• Secure mayoral investment in the project.



CHALLENGE: Enhancing college and career readniess in local communities.

DESCRIPTION: USA Funds partnered with The U.S. Conference of Mayors to develop a competitive grants program to recognize and expand creative initiatives that mayors have developed in their communities to advance both college and career readiness and college completion. The awards recognize cities for developing strong and enduring collaborations between K-12 and higher education systems and employers to address college preparation and long-term career success.

IMPACT: Raised visibility of best practices in local community initiatives to enhance educational attainment levels and career readiness through recognition of three award-winning cities and forum highlighting award-winning practices.

USA Funds Recognizes College and Career Readiness Efforts

How-To:

1. USA Funds provided grant funding to The U.S. Conference of Mayors to design and promote a competitive grant program to recognize one small, one medium, and one large city for excellence in mayor-led programs that promote college and career readiness.

2. Developed selection criteria and engaged panel of third-party judges to review applications.

3. Awards announced at 83rd Annual Conference of Mayors.

4. Award-winning cities presented their best practice programs during a forum at the annual conference.

Funding: Private Financing, Foundations and Philanthropy


Stephanie Nellons-Paige Director for Metro Engagement and Relations 443.610.3487 [email protected]

Tags: Impact on City Economy



CHALLENGE: The water industry is undergoing many changes and challenges, impacting utilities across the nation. The City of Akron Water and Water Reclamation Department, serving approximately 300,000 residents, has experienced many of these challenges, including rising costs and environmental regulations. The City is also under a Consent Decree with USEPA and OEPA to spend $1.4 billion on a combined sewer storm water control plan.

Over the years, the City has been proactive in downsizing operations to meet increasing financial liabilities, and has continued to seek new ways of generating revenue while positioning itself as a global utility leader. The City of Akron is working together with Veolia to help Akron’s water and wastewater utilities support economic development while implementing innovative technologies, developing cost savings, and identifying revenue generation initiatives through their Akron Global Water Alliance (AGWA) program.

DESCRIPTION: From Veolia’s private sector experience with its own Veolia Innovation Accelerator program, a partnership was established to help Akron identify optimization opportunities with the AGWA program and Akron’s water utility technology demonstration capabilities. The starting point was a discovery process that allowed Veolia to become familiarized with, and for Akron to document, AGWA’s procedures and management roles and responsibilities. These were then measured against a set of innovation management best practices that allow Akron to measure its current state against a future improved state that it wishes to achieve.

Similarly with identifying optimization opportunities for the AGWA program, a discovery process was conducted to gain familiarity with Akron’s current and past demonstrations projects. The statuses of these projects were measured against demonstration project best practices. Veolia also provided recommendations on expanding demonstration capabilities while also suggesting example innovators with which to analyze for further engagement.

IMPACT: While the city of Akron and Veolia are in the early stages of executing the plans, the intention is to help grow AGWA and suggest specific demonstration project engagements with innovators to accelerate Akron as a Center for Water Excellence. The overall focus is on improving operations and positioning Akron for growth, financial stability, and job creation. When the program is fully implemented, the Akron utilities will be better positioned to optimize their utility performance and work with economic development agencies to offer their facilities and expertise to industries, investors, and companies interested in developing and marketing water-related products and technologies.



Sandy Sullivan 401.965.8922 [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Innovation, Cost Savings, Impact on City Economy

Veolia Helps Akron Streamline Water System

How-To:

1. Discovery

2. Analysis

3. Establishment of a baseline, informed by both the technical and operational expertise and open innovation program experience of Veolia. Together with the economic development goals of the City of Akron, best practices were prioritized to allow Akron to develop a measuring stick against which to continuing building its leadership position as an innovator.



CHALLENGE: The City of Joliet wanted to increase recycling by providing all residents with larger recycling carts. Joliet applied for and received a $519,000 grant from the US Department of Energy, which helped defray the cost of a portion of the carts. Waste Management, Joliet’s waste and recycling services provider, worked with the City, and together we developed a comprehensive waste and recycling automated collection system that provided all 44,000 households with new waste and recycling carts.

DESCRIPTION: Waste Management and the City of Joliet went beyond the immediate recycling needs of the city and developed a more creative and comprehensive waste and recycling services solution, benefitting all residents. The outcome was that all residents were provided both waste and recycling carts; recycling rates increased significantly with no additional costs to the City, and the City of Joliet agreed to extend its service agreement with Waste Management for an additional four years.

IMPACT: The City of Joliet provided residents more convenient and efficient waste and recycling collection services while reducing overall costs and lowering fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in more effective and sustainable City services for all residents.

Waste Management Helps Joliet Simplify Recycling

How-To:

• 2009/2010 - City of Joliet applies for DOE grant

• Summer 2010 - Joliet is awarded DOE grant

• Late summer 2010 – Waste Management provided new proposals to the City that included options to extend the number of waste and recycling carts to all households

• September 2010 - City approved 2-cart proposal

• Fall 2010 - Letters sent to residents informing them of the new waste and recycling program

• Early 2011 - Waste and recycling carts distributed to all Joliet households

• April 2011 – Every-other-week recycling implemented throughout Joliet

• July 2011 - Quarterly recycling updates mailed to residents and City officials informing them how the program was being implemented and received by residents

• October 2013 – City receives the Illinois Governor’s Sustainability Award

• 2014 – to date – Joliet initiated Waste Management’s new Recycle Often. Recycle Right.℠ public education and outreach campaign. Joliet was among the first cities in Illinois to introduce the community-based social marketing campaign that encourages stakeholders to improve the quality of recyclable materials.

General Tips:

• Look beyond the immediate issues/challenges and think creatively and collaboratively to develop solutions that benefit more residents and improve the quality of community life every chance you get.

Funding: Federal Grants, Private Funding from Waste Management


Calvin Booker Vice President of Public Affairs Waste Management 678.428.2960 [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Cost Savings, Environmental Impact



CHALLENGE: Wells Fargo’s Leading the Way Home® program is a national effort focused on foreclosure prevention, stabilizing communities, and sustainable homeownership through education. It is designed to help communities and customers understand and act on efforts to stabilize their current housing situation and build a strong community for the future.

DESCRIPTION: The U.S Conference of Mayors and Wells Fargo formed a national alliance in 2011 focused on foreclosure prevention, property disposition, homeownership promotion, and community development. The alliance is designed to address housing challenges through strategies developed by Wells Fargo and outreach initiatives that involve mayors, their staff, and their constituents. Wells Fargo utilized best practices developed through our Leading the Way Home messaging to educate mayors on Wells Fargo programs and assist in delivering a series of activities to help broaden the knowledge of available services offered by Wells Fargo. Through the alliance, we developed new or continue building/working on established relationships with local mayors and other city leaders. The alliance helped strengthen local relationships by connecting them with the national team through our association with a third party that mayors know and trust. We also routinely invite mayors to forums in conjunction with Home Preservation Workshop events to review property preservation, real estate, community development, and retail practices.

IMPACT: With the intention of preventing unnecessary foreclosures and preventing community blight, the program has educated 32 mayors since 2011 on the home preservation process. It has provided in-depth review of efforts to help people stay in their homes, as well as the sharing of best practices on property management and disposition and an overview of the opportunities renovation lending provides to communities. News articles from the forums provided additional opportunities for Mayors across the U.S. to learn more about our property preservation best practices, renovation lending, MERS, and additional home preservation workshops that may be coming to their areas. The San Diego forum provided an opportunity to work with the mayor and a local non-profit to have a follow up single servicer event in their city and to help assist 33 customers with their home preservation options. Building Relationships: The USCM – Wells Fargo forums have provided an opportunity for additional outreach to local mayors.

• San Diego provided an additional opportunity to work with the mayor and a local non-profit to have a follow up single servicer event in their city and to help assist 33 customers with their home preservation options.

• Longmont mayor visited the disaster mobile unit following Colorado flooding to view our efforts in his community.

• Irvington mayor met with Wells Fargo management to discuss home preservation efforts and solutions in his city.

• Patterson Mayor Jeffrey Jones met with Wells Fargo management about home preservation efforts, partnership, and economic development growth to move the City forward. The Mayor shared his vision for the city with the group.



Kimberly Martin 515-324-6099 [email protected]

Gene Lowe 202.293.7330 [email protected]

Tags: Service Delivery Improvement, Innovation

Wells Fargo’s Leading the Way Home®

How-To:

• USCM and Wells Fargo efforts have addressed effective strategies, relationships, and best practices around the disposition of distressed, vacant, and abandoned property around the nation, including successful strategies and relationships for the local disposition of REO property.

• USCM and Wells Fargo teamed up to determine locations of forums and to reach out to Mayors in the area to participate.

General Tips:

• Since 2009, Wells Fargo has participated in nearly 1,500 foreclosure events, including 117 Home Preservation Workshops for nearly 46,000 customers. We work with nonprofits to reach homeowners facing mortgage payment challenges and work to help them avoid foreclosure.

• Home Preservation Workshops add to our overall outreach efforts. When they participate, about eight out of ten who demonstrate an ability to make mortgage payments end up avoiding foreclosure. For those who choose to manage the challenges on their own, only half avoid foreclosure.



CHALLENGE: In 2009, the Parking Authority of Baltimore City (PABC) issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a car sharing organization to help decrease parking demand in congested neighborhoods. Zipcar, with its service that supports residents who wish to decrease their reliance on personal automobile ownership and increase their use of alternative forms of transportation, answered the call.

DESCRIPTION: In 2010, Zipcar won a contested RFP issued by the PABC to provide car sharing services to the residents of Baltimore and to reserve parking spaces on-street and in City-owned garages. With the help of the highly visible on-street parking spaces, the service blossomed from its original 18 parking spots to over 220 today, 105 of which are city-owned and 87 of which are curbside. As part of the contract, Zipcar surveys its membership base each year to gather crucial data which has proven that Zipcar members in Baltimore have either gotten rid of a vehicle or have delayed purchasing a car and that they walk, bike and take public transit more after joining Zipcar. In order to procure City-owned parking spaces, Zipcar and the Parking Authority work with City Council members, community associations, and nearby businesses to build consensus around each new location to ensure that residents are on board with the service and understand the value of Zipcar’s presence to make it easier for everyone to find an available parking space. Once a neighborhood area has been deemed attractive or requires additional cars due to demand, the Zipcar General Manager will often join the Parking Authority on a “drive around” to personally survey the area, propose locations, and weigh the pros and cons of each. To summarize, the best practice is three-fold. 1.) The two teams outlined their goals and objectives, aligned them, and worked with the community to meet them. 2.) Transparency. Both parties are in constant communication and are transparent with data, challenges, and opportunities. 3.) Agility. Both the city and Zipcar can act quickly to offer service across a variety of neighborhoods, unencumbered by complex process or bureaucracy from the ground up, instead of top down.

IMPACT: Third party data has proven that each Zipcar eliminates the need for up to 15 personally owned vehicles and can support the needs of up to 50 driving members. The city estimates that Zipcar has saved Baltimore $75 million dollars – the cost to build a parking garage to house all of the vehicles removed from city streets. Nationally, with every Zipcar we add, up to 15 personally owned vehicles are removed from city streets, reducing congestion and alleviating parking challenges. In Baltimore City, 42% of surveyed Zipcar members reported that they either gave up a vehicle or delayed the purchase of a car because of Zipcar in their community.

Zipcar Helps Reduce Parking Demand in Baltimore

How-To:

1. Establish clear alignment on goals and objectives of partnership

2. Determine approval steps for acquiring new parking spots.

3. Be agile and open to change. Each neighborhood may react to spots being given to Zipcar in different ways.

4. Be transparent:

a. The PABC and Zipcar need to be transparent with constituents and constantly evaluate spots together.

b. Be transparent about success by conducting a survey of Zipcar’s impact each year and sharing with city and media.

General Tips:

• This relationship provides the city with a much greater value than just a transactional arrangement. If the city of Baltimore viewed this only as a monetary relationship it could prevent expansion into low-income zones, or less desirable zones. Low/reduced parking costs enable us to expand the service without high barriers to entry.



Jeremy Pomp General Manger Zipcar Baltimore [email protected]

Peter Little Executive Director Parking Authority of Baltimore City 443.573.2800 [email protected]

Tags: Innovation


Tom Cochran, CEO and Executive Director

1620 Eye Street, NWWashington, DC 20006

Tel: 202.293.7330Fax: 202.293.2352

usmayors.org

mayors and businesses driving economic...

Documents