Government

Mayor Cory Mason was selected to join the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, an intensive, yearlong program that equips mayors and senior officials with the tools and training to tackle complex challenges and improve outcomes for residents. Racine was one of only 40 cities worldwide selected for the 2024–25 cohort.

The Initiative is a partnership between Bloomberg Philanthropies, Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. It represents a national model for strengthening local government through leadership development, applied research, and cross-sector collaboration.

Racine’s participation delivers lasting value by expanding capacity and developing internal talent:

• Executive Leadership Development
  Mayor Mason and two senior staff members are participating in Harvard-led executive education alongside peers from five continents.
  
• Professional Growth Across Departments
  City employees from multiple departments are engaging in specialized training and workshops.
  
• Workforce Strategy & Data Capacity
  Cross-departmental teams are partnering with Initiative experts to use data to improve hiring outcomes and build a hometown workforce.
  
• Harvard City Hall Fellow on Staff
  Racine hosted a Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellow, Roberto Andrade, who is helping design systems to better integrate community feedback into City operations.
  

A major theme of Racine’s involvement is utilizing data to enhance local hiring, eliminate employment barriers, and increase the City workforce’s representation of the community it serves. Working with Initiative advisors and through internal focus groups, the City is:

• Refining hiring processes and outreach to expand access to public sector jobs
• Tracking key metrics on recruitment, retention, and community representation
• Identifying positions that are difficult to fill and exploring strategies to grow local talent pipelines
• Improving transparency and alignment between hiring practices and community needs

“We’re using this opportunity to make City Hall more accessible to Racine residents – not just as a place to receive services, but as a place to build careers,” said Mayor Mason.

Over the summer of 2025, Racine welcomed Roberto Andrade, a Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellow originally from Mexico City and a master’s student at the Harvard Kennedy School. With five years of experience in Mexico City’s government, leading policy innovation and data-driven projects, Roberto brought a sharp focus on cross-departmental collaboration and responsiveness to resident needs.

In Racine, he was embedded in the Customer Service Department, where he helped bridge quality-of-life data with frontline service delivery. His fellowship centered on transforming the City’s approach to service data—moving from fragmented systems to integrated, actionable insights that can shape policy and operations.

“Aside from gun violence, the most common complaint I hear from residents is about poor customer service,” said Mayor Cory Mason. “Roberto’s work is helping us better understand how our services impact real people in real time. His contributions will leave a lasting mark on how we respond to and engage with Racine residents.”

Highlights of Roberto’s Work:

• Integration Team Dashboard: Roberto developed a system that merges data from Public Works, Police, Fire, and Customer Service departments to identify properties with overlapping issues. This dashboard now informs biweekly coordination meetings, supports early intervention, and helps staff access detailed property-level insights.
• Customer Service App: He designed an intuitive visualization tool that organizes CRM data into categories like inquiries, complaints, transfers, and permits. The app tracks trends, highlights staff performance, and enables smarter resource planning.
• User-Centered Design: Both tools were built using secure, free, and automated platforms—prioritizing simplicity, sustainability, and scalability to ensure ongoing use beyond the fellowship.

What This Means for Racine:

• Coordinated Action: The Integration Team Dashboard supports a unified, real-time view of complex property issues—helping departments act sooner and more collaboratively.
• Smarter Customer Service Management: The Customer Service App improves how Racine monitors and manages thousands of service requests annually, helping to align budget, staffing, and performance with resident needs.
• Data-Driven Governance: Roberto’s work shifted the City’s perspective on data, from a reporting obligation to a strategic asset. His approach reinforced the idea that cities don’t always need more data; they need better tools to use what they already have.

“This summer, I was excited to bring my background in civic innovation to Racine,” said Roberto. “By asking the right questions and building tools that are simple, secure, and sustainable, we helped lay the groundwork for more responsive, transparent, and human-centered governance.”

Read more about Roberto’s work:

Bridging Quality-of-Life Data Analysis and Customer Service (cityleadership.harvard.edu)

Through its participation in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, Racine is building a smarter, more responsive local government—one that leads with evidence, cultivates talent, and partners with the community to solve problems.

The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is a program of the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University. Learn more at cityleadership.harvard.edu.