The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston made an announcement on May 3 that has nothing to do with monetary policy or interest rates.  For that reason, it may be the most important statement it makes all year.  What's being announced, the 'Working Cities Challenge,'...

"Data! Data! Data!" cried Sherlock Holmes in the Adventure of the Copper Beeches, "I can't make bricks without clay."

Data is central to the most effective "collective impact" initiatives across the country. Collective impact is a strategy in which partners come together across sectors, targeting the same set of measurable...

Click here to read an original op-ed from the TED speaker who inspired this post and watch the TEDTalk below.

Much has already been said about how big data is dramatically changing the way that organizations make decisions. Today, more data is being created from more...

Mexican business leader and philanthropist Carlos Slim, whom Forbes magazine terms "the richest man in the world," recently donated $3 million to help low-income Hispanic families in the U.S. with school-age children get high-speed broadband and computers in their homes. He also agreed to join the board of...

I have a city bias. I live in New York and Washington, D.C. I run a collaborative of the nation's leading foundations and financial institutions, Living Cities, which has invested more than $1 billion in cities over the past 20 years. I've had the privilege to see amazing things happen...

John Tolva and Brett Goldstein are leading us into a Brave New World. John is the newly appointed chief technology officer for the City of Chicago and Brett, the city's chief data officer. Together, they are turning the promise of Big Data into reality in one...

Social innovation has been a hot topic for a number of years now, but never more so than today. Conferences, awards, magazines, even a White House-led Social Innovation Fund, are dedicated to it. And for good reason. People have lost confidence in the institutions that they historically relied upon to...

( This post is an open letter to President Barack Obama regarding the new White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers.)

Dear Mr. President:

We fully support your decision to create The White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers.

As a philanthropic collaboration of...

The emerging green economy provides us with unprecedented opportunities -- from lowering energy and transportation costs to creating jobs with meaningful career ladders. In order for this to happen, however, we must intentionally build a "gateway" that connects low-income people and the places they live to these opportunities.

America's...

Almost a year ago, Living Cities--a philanthropic collaborative of 21 of the world's largest foundations and financial institutions--set out to find local approaches that could limit the potentially devastating impact of the sub-prime mortgage crisis on urban neighborhoods. As so often happens, while looking for technical solutions, we...