9 Bold Ideas Your Mayor Should Know

INNOVATION: FIGHTING CRIME WITH MOBILITY. Using public transit to connect low-income areas to the rest of the city has proven to be an effective strategy in reducing crime in Medellín and other cities.

INNOVATION: FOOD HUBS. Creating a food hub in a food desert restarts the local economy, brings food to residents and builds partnerships between community organizations and local businesses.

INNOVATION: FUNDRISE. Crowdfunding can be used to finance community development projects too, which gives local ‘investors’ a monetary stake in projects and allows neighbors to fund the projects they like best.

INNOVATION:COOPERATIVE BUSINESS. Worker-owned cooperatives like Evergreen Cooperative’s Green City Growers in Cleveland are a way to directly link the success of a business to the health and stability of its community. By giving workers equity in a cooperative business, employees, rather than far-away stockholders, reap the benefits of growth. When the company does well, so does the entire community.

INNOVATION: SHARED TAX BURDEN. Traditionally, city residents have shouldered the brunt of the tax burden, paying for amenities that residents throughout the region use such as cultural institutions, safe walkable downtowns and public parks. Sharing the tax burden means suburbanites chip in for the places that keep the region thriving.

INNOVATION: PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING. Participatory budgeting, which originated in Porto Alegre, Brazil and is spreading across the Americas, allows members of the public vote on how government spends taxpayer funds. It is a radically democratic way to ensure public needs are met and residents have their voices heard.

INNOVATION: MEDICAL HOTSPOTTING. What if the people most likely to end up in the emergency room of a public hospital were given access to the specialized preventative care usually afforded only to those who can afford it?

INNOVATION: SOCIAL URBANISM. Key to Medellín’s rise has been its pioneering “social urbanism,” in which investment in public infrastructure like libraries and parks is combined with institution building and better infrastructure, like public transport, all targeted toward improving life for people in the city’s neediest areas.

INNOVATION: RESTORATIVE JUSTICE. By focusing on healing and not retribution, restorative justice brings victims, offenders and community members together in a process that is less expensive and more effective than traditional judicial proceedings.