WHEREAS, municipal government is being continuously challenged to do more with less, and these challenges compel a holistic approach to entrepreneurial civic innovation that can help the City of Philadelphia deliver services to its constituents more efficiently and effectively;
WHEREAS, entrepreneurial civic innovation requires the ability to experiment and to occasionally fail;
WHEREAS, many cities are embracing entrepreneurial approaches to help them address and solve civic problems and issues;
WHEREAS, Philadelphia is becoming a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship in both the civic and private sectors;
WHEREAS, Philadelphia is one of a growing international network of cities advancing innovative and entrepreneurial means of achieving civic improvement and excellence; and
WHEREAS, The City is working to reinvent public-private partnerships by creating new models for collaboration and by providing platforms for knowledge transfer to take place;
NOW THEREFORE, I, Michael A. Nutter, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, by the authority vested in me by the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter, do hereby order as follows:
A. The Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (“Office”) is hereby established. The Mayor shall appoint two Co-Directors for the Office, who shall be responsible for the day-to-day management of the Office and for proposing its strategic direction. The Co-Directors shall report to the Mayor or his designee(s).
B. The Mayor and his designee(s) shall guide the Co-Directors in determining the Office’s strategic direction by approving new lines of work and ensuring that the projects and operations of the Office are serving the interests of its stakeholders, including the residents of Philadelphia and City departments.
A. Acting under the guidance of the Mayor or his designee(s), the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics shall develop and promote innovative and entrepreneurial approaches to and processes for solving complex civic problems.
B. The Office shall work to encourage the region’s entrepreneurial, startup, and business incubator communities to solve civic problems and shall promote those solutions in partnership with the Office of Innovation & Technology, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, and other City departments and offices as well as outside partners.
C. Substantively, the Office shall focus on projects that have the potential for improving quality of life in the civic space generally, as well as projects that can create more efficiency and effectiveness within and connectivity to City government.
At the direction of the Mayor, the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics shall perform the following functions and duties, in conjunction with City departments and others:
A. Encourage and cultivate innovation in the civic space, inside and outside of government;
B. Serve as a catalyst for and partner to City departments and external organizations that seek to use entrepreneurial and innovative methods to address problems in Philadelphia;
C. Shape, attract investment to, and guide pilot and prototype projects;
D. Evaluate the impact of such pilot and prototype projects and regularly report the results to the public. If appropriate, help scale projects within Philadelphia and for use in other cities;
E. Work with the Office of Innovation and Technology and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development to ensure Philadelphia’s position as a national/international leader in civic innovation and entrepreneurship;
F. Work with the Mayor’s Office of Grants to create a funding stream that enables sustainable investment in innovative civic efforts.
All City Department, Office, and Agency heads shall ensure the cooperation and participation of their staffs with this Executive Order and with the work of the Mayor’s of New Urban Mechanics.
This Order shall take effect immediately.
Date: 12/10/12
/s/ Michael A. Nutter
Michael A. Nutter, Mayor
Source: http://www.phila.gov/ExecutiveOrders/Executive%20Orders/2012_EO05-12.pdf