Bloomberg Philanthropies, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropic initiative, will fund the creation of the What Works Cities Initiative to help cities take advantage of data to influence policymaking. Bloomberg Philanthropies will grant 100 cities with between 100,000 and one million residents a total of $42 million to better collect, analyze, share, and apply data forimproved decision-making. Several of the initial partners that will work with participating cities include Harvard University’s Government Performance Lab and John Hopkins University’s Center for Government Excellence.