The city of Minneapolis has hired six new staff members to lead a grant-funded effort to figure out how to distribute basic city services more equitably among all residents.
The Innovation Team, which began work Monday, is funded with a three-year grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies. Minneapolis is eligible to receive up to $2.7 million over three years. During that time, the team will analyze data and spot problems in how the city provides a range of basic services, such as plowing snow or handling graffiti complaints.
The team includes two program managers, two business and data analysts and a data scientist. It will be led by director Don Joseph, who has previously worked at Target Corp., Bloomberg L.P., Citigroup and Moody's Corp. Most of the team members have experience working in local government and education around the Twin Cities. Other team members are Tracy Roloff, Zoe Thiel, Gopal Narayan, Elizabeth McNamara and Vince Vu.
Minneapolis was one of 11 cities to receive funding through Bloomberg's Innovation Teams program last year.
The organization oversees charitable work funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and has announced plans to spend $45 million expanding its Innovation Teams program over the next few years.
Erin Golden