Mike Bloomberg is dropping $42 million on 100 US cities

Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has a plan to improve 100 other cities across the United States, and he's dropping $42 million to see it happen.

Through his charitable organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the multibillionaire will fund a program that helps municipal governments around the country use data to do their jobs better, according to a press release.

The cities themselves haven't been chosen, but they'll all be "midsized." Only 275 can apply and then Hizzoner will chose who gets the funds.

Bloomberg described his plan in a Huffington Post blog earlier this week:

City governments have a responsibility to make the most of every dollar, and data helps them do that. When cities keep close track of their progress, they can quickly change course when programs don't work as expected, rather than throwing good money after bad. Data also allows cities to direct funding to programs based on results, not intentions -- and it allows the public to hold mayors accountable for getting the job done.

The program will partner with a number of data-analysis organizations, including the Sunlight Foundation, Results for America, and research centers at Johns Hopkins University and the Harvard Kennedy School, to help the 100-odd midsize cities use and analyze data to better serve their citizens.

Cities with between 100,000 and 1 million residents are invited to apply to the program, which they can do here.

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