Media Contact for Mayor's
Challenge:
Jessica Anderson
212.885.0492
Jessica.Anderson@hkstrategies.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Santa Monica is awarded $1 million prize to support an innovative
initiative to be the first in the nation to create and implement a Local
Wellbeing Index
NEW YORK (March 13, 2013)
– Mayor
Pam O’Connor today announced that the City of Santa Monica is one of the five
winners in the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge, a competition to
inspire American cities to generate innovative ideas that solve major
challenges and improve city life – and that ultimately can be shared with other
cities to improve the well-being of the nation. Santa Monica was selected as a
Mayors Challenge winner out of a pool of over 300 applicant cities, based on
four criteria: vision, ability to implement, potential for impact, and
potential for replication. Santa Monica will be awarded a $1 million innovation
prize to implement its idea to become the first City in the US to measure
wellbeing at the local level, and use that information to drive the City’s
decision-making process in order to address critical wellbeing gaps in the
community. Santa Monica will also receive a sculpture created by world-renowned
designer Olafur Eliasson to commemorate each of the Mayors Challenge winners.
“Participating in the
Mayors Challenge has been an intensely rewarding experience. We are thrilled
beyond belief to be one of the winners,” said Mayor Pam O’Connor of Santa
Monica. “Now that the door is open to implementing the big idea we’ve been
thinking and talking about for months, I can’t wait to get started. Our Local
Wellbeing Index is going to be a game-changer, not just for Santa Monica, but for
cities across the country and beyond.”
“Economists and
governments around the world are increasingly looking for metrics to understand
just how well their cities—and citizens—are doing,” said Michael R. Bloomberg,
philanthropist and Mayor of New York City. “Santa Monica can be a real pioneer
in this effort, and Bloomberg Philanthropies is eager to see Mayor O’Connor’s
idea become a model for the country.”
Santa Monica will team
with top national and international researchers to create a Local Wellbeing
Index. This diagnostic tool will provide a multidimensional picture of the
state of wellbeing in the community by quantifying variables related to key
drivers of wellbeing, including economics, education, health, social
connectedness, and physical environment. When applied, the Local Wellbeing
Index will guide City staff in its policy setting, decision making, and
resource allocation processes in order to ensure that tax dollars are being
spent effectively and efficiently to create the conditions needed for people to
thrive.
The Mayors Challenge is a
competition to inspire American cities to generate innovative ideas that solve
major challenges and improve city life. Mayors of U.S. cities with 30,000
residents or more were eligible to compete, with 305 cities representing 45
states submitting applications last September. Providence was
awarded the $5 million grand prize, while Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia
were also awarded $1 million prizes. To learn more about the Mayors
Challenge, visit bloomberg.org/mayorschallenge.
The Mayors Challenge is
the latest initiative of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Project, which aims
to spread proven and promising ideas among cities. Other Mayors Project
investments include Cities of Service, Innovation Delivery Teams, and Financial
Empowerment Centers.
About Bloomberg PhilanthropiesBloomberg Philanthropies is
on a mission to improve and lengthen lives. We focus on five key areas to
create lasting change: Public Health, Environment, Education, Government
Innovation, which includes the Mayors Challenge, and Arts & Culture.
Bloomberg Philanthropies encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg’s charitable
activities, including his foundation and his personal giving. In 2012, $360
million was distributed. For more information, please visit www.bloomberg.org.
For more information on Bloomberg Philanthropies, media should
contact Meghan Womack, meghan@bloomberg.org.
About Santa Monica’s Wellbeing Project
For more information about the City of Santa Monica’s
Wellbeing Project, visit www.smgov.net/wellbeing.
City of Santa Monica Contacts:
Julie Rusk, Assistant Director, Community and Cultural Services,
310.710.2739 julie.rusk@smgov.net
Dean Kubani, Manager, Office of the Sustainability and the
Environment, 310.710.0520, dean.kubani@smgov.net