Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh and Bloomberg Philanthropies have agreed to extend funding of the city’s innovation team into 2018.

The innovation team, or I-Team, was established under former Mayor Stephanie Miner in 2015. It was formed to identify ways to improve government policy.

The team was responsible for saving the city more than $1.2 million in infrastructure costs and winning $750,000 in New York state infrastructure grants since 2015, according to a press release from Walsh’s office.

It was funded through a $1.35 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies that was intended to last through the end of 2017. Bloomberg Philanthropies has funded innovation teams in more than a dozen cities, according to the organization’s website.

Though the innovation team is technically not a part of the city’s government, it’s based in City Hall and reports to the mayor.

Adria Finch, director of Syracuse’s I-Team, said the team has previously faced minimal challenges in the past due to its “access to the administration” and assistance from the mayor.

Overall, she said, different departments in Syracuse’s government have been open to trying new ideas and accepting help from the team.

Finch said she has noticed impacts of the team’s work.

“People aren’t afraid to change the ways we’re doing things,” Finch said. “People realize that just because we’ve always done it this way, (it) doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.”

Each year, the innovation team addresses one prominent challenge facing the city. In 2015, the team focused on issues of infrastructure in Syracuse and developed 13 initiatives to address roads, sewers and water lines.

The I-Team’s priority in 2016 shifted to fostering equal economic opportunity for residents, primarily through housing.

The five-member team plans to continue its work in 2018 by creating a new “performance office” and using citizen input to decide their area of focus, Finch said. The performance office will work with every department in the government, she said.

She described the performance office as a tool to measure performance and productivity of various city operations and then assess where there could be room for improvement.

Residents of Syracuse can submit and vote on the issue that will become the innovation team’s priority this year. Finch said she believes the use of residents’ input will expedite their work, as the team could have a narrower area of focus in a shorter amount of time and develop plans early.

Ideas can be submitted to the I-Team’s website until Jan. 24. The most popular ideas will be released to the public and there will be a voting period of two weeks. The finalist submissions will go to Walsh’s desk for a decision, which is expected to be announced at the end of February.

Walsh, in a statement, said he supports the team’s decision to include residents’ ideas in the decision-making process.

“This is among the first of what we anticipate to be many opportunities for the people of our city to be involved in decision-making processes that impact them and our community at large,” Walsh said.

Published on January 16, 2018 at 9:08 pm

Contact Quinn: qdgawron@syr.edu