How Pro Bono Business Can Help Hurting City Halls

In November, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced New York City would need to eliminate more than 10,300 people from its payroll to address the city's budget deficit. These cuts are painful and include more than 6,000 teaching positions, 350 police department civilian posts, 200 jobs in the sanitation department and 200 jobs at the Administration for Children's Services.

These layoffs may be most shocking in their sheer volume, but nearly every city in the nation is facing similarly painful decisions. For smaller municipalities, the number of cuts may pale in comparison, but they are often far more disruptive as the governing bodies don't have a large staff to absorb the loss.

In Chicago, a city certainly not immune to these realities, City Hall has an asset that may help it weather the storm. Through a powerful partnership with local business leaders, City Hall has developed a nonprofit organization called the Civic Consulting Alliance. This unique program enables the mayor to access pro bono resources from the top consulting firms in the city.

Every year, companies like Deloitte, Leo Burnett and Bain provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in pro bono consulting services to the city. These consulting services enable the city to be smarter about how to use the limited resources they have at their disposal. For example, CCA helped the city redesign workflow for the police department that resulted in the equivalent of adding dozens of officers to the force--all without spending a penny.

CCA has been engaged in a wide range of projects for the city, from developing the city's environmental scorecard that helped realign city priorities to addressing the reality of deferred maintenance of Chicago's famous "L" rail system.

It is going to take a lot of initiative, tools and creativity to address the challenges in our cities today. We can't simply look to business to create jobs; we need them to be part of a new model of local government that makes use of pro bono talent to address community issues and advance the government's agenda.

The CCA model is one tool that every municipality should explore creating. Companies are hungry to make a difference, and there is a clear model now for how to channel their passion and expertise to have an impact in a time when it is most needed.

 

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Comments

[Corey Marshall]

06:44 PM on 03/04/2011

With the myriad challenges facing city governments right now, cities must find ways to leverage resources and build capacity in ways that depart from traditional solutions. This must be about more than simply inefficient or unpopular programs - though they may be a part of the solution. Tools such as the CCA and pro bono partnerships with governments can help to not only improve services in a difficult fiscal climate, but also to build capacity, provide opportunities for professional development, and strengthen the collaboration between businesses and the cities in which they operate.

CCA has done an amazing job engaging officials in Chicago and providing them with valuable help; SF is working to build this capacity as we speak, and I know many more have inquired into developing their own CCA. Let's hope more cities will move to do the same.

[Alexander Gail Sherman]

02:18 PM on 03/04/2011

Many cities request pro bono help from businesses. To get the most from these investments, as Chicago has, cities need to (1) Prioritize pro bono projects for long-term impact, and agree on those priorities with the business sector and (2) Set up a structure to maintain the collaboration and build trust with both government and business leaders. These efforts can't be outside-in. You need demand from City Hall.

[Brian Fabes]

01:41 PM on 03/04/2011

For those interested in developing models like Civic Consulting in their own cities, structures exist to build on. The Pro Bono Institute, for example, helps attorneys from all parts of the legal profession increase the magnitude and impact of their pro bono work. New, locally tailored models of multi-sector pro bono collaborations might start with the work their members are already doing in cities across the country.

[Sandra Slater]

10:30 AM on 03/04/2011

Wonderful idea. Let's call on professionals to give back in a meaningful way. The cities (and country) are in trouble and we've been called to serve. "Ask not...."