Athens

Advancing Athens’ Public Priorities Through a Private Partnership Vehicle

CitiesAthensAdvancing Athens’ Public Priorities Through a Private Partnership Vehicle

Bloomberg Associates partnered with the City of Athens and Mayor Giorgos Kaminis to create a system that would facilitate high-impact partnerships between the public and private sectors to address pressing needs.

The Athens Partnership is now driving change and advancing city priorities at an unprecedented pace… We are leveraging resources and expertise to benefit Athenians and strengthen our city.

Georgios Kaminis, Former Mayor of Athens

Relevant Expertise

Modernize Municipal Systems and Processes

Private Partner and Sponsor Models

Challenge

Greece’s economic hardship greatly affected the residents and businesses of Athens, and, in turn, the public funding available to deliver municipal services. Recognizing that the city’s challenges cannot be managed by government alone, there was a renewed emphasis to address public needs by augmenting limited public sector resources with private sector support. The city sought the expertise of Bloomberg Associates to help formulate a model to create and implement successful and transparent public-private partnerships.

Approach

Using aspects of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City model, launched by Mayor Bloomberg, BA helped Athens to develop a systematic and open way to manage and build partnerships between the city and the private sector. The team worked with the city to create an entity that would serve as an independent, nonpartisan organization, positioned to intersect between city government and private sector partners – a model that had never been employed in Greece. The Athens Partnership was established in 2015 to support city priorities in all areas of service, including poverty alleviation, health, education and community development.

Impact

Under Mayor Kaminis, the Athens Partnership helped launch more than a dozen large-scale projects, all designed to have maximum impact on Athens residents and offer rapid and meaningful results. The goals of these initiatives include strengthening public services, engaging citizens and stakeholders, creating more livable and sustainable neighborhoods, energizing culture and tourism to boost the economy, and identifying and increasing resources for effective public programs.

Some of the projects launched include: Open Schools, which used school buildings after-hours as vibrant community centers with free classes and activities for all ages; Designed for Better Learning, which transformed the physical environment and educational experience of 24 poorly conditioned public schools to highly innovative spaces for learning; the creation of the Athens Coordination Center for Migrant and Refugee issues, bringing together the major entities serving refugees to strategically share resources and data to address immediate and future needs of refugees; and the Chanion Multi-Service Clinic, which provides free medical and social services in a one-stop service center.