Jorrit de Jong-Bio
Jorrit de Jong is the inaugural director of the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University and the Emma Bloomberg Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Management at Harvard Kennedy School. His research, teaching, and engagement with practice focus on the challenges of making the public sector more effective, efficient, equitable, and responsive to social needs.
His scholarly research has been published in academic journals such as Public Administration Review, Cities, Public Management Review, Administration & Society, Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Review of Public Personnel Administration, the International Journal of Public Administration, and the Journal of Public Health Management and Policy.
A specialist in experiential learning, Jorrit has taught strategic management and public problem-solving in degree courses and executive education programs at Harvard and around the world. Since 2016, Jorrit has been director and faculty co-chair of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, a joint program of Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School, funded by and executed in collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies. Over 300 mayors and their senior teams have participated in this year-long program designed to help cities tackle pressing problems.
Jorrit has designed and led field labs on neighborhood development, organized crime, human trafficking and other social issues that require multiple agencies to innovate together. As director of the Center for Government Studies at Leiden University, Jorrit co-founded the Kafka Brigade, an action research team that helped governments in the Netherlands and the UK diagnose and remedy bureaucratic dysfunction. Before that, he was founding co-director of a start-up technology firm for public sector innovation in Amsterdam.
He holds a PhD in Public Policy and Management (VU Amsterdam), a Master in Philosophy (Leiden) and a Master in Public Administration (Leiden). He has written extensively, including the books The State of Access: Success and Failure of Democracies to Create Equal Opportunities (Brookings 2008, co-edited); Agents of Change: Strategy and Tactics for Social Innovation (Brookings 2012, co-authored); and Dealing with Dysfunction: Innovative Problem Solving in the Public Sector (Brookings, 2016). Jorrit co-developed more than 60 teaching cases, simulation exercises, toolkits and learning modules on governance and leadership.
LinkedIn Posts
Exciting Job Opportunities at the Bloomberg Center for Cities.
These new roles will shape how we connect students with cities to advance urban problem-solving, and drive a global strategy leveraging the Center’s impact stories, academic research, curriculum development, executive education, city fieldwork, public events, student fellowships, and more. Read More…
Reducing Homicide in the City of Baltimore
The City of Baltimore has made impressive progress in reducing homicides over the past years. My colleague Kimberlyn Leary and I enjoyed spending a day with Mayor Brandon Scott (center), City Administrator Faith P. Leach, and their leadership team to reflect on conditions for successful problem-solving in cities. Read More…
A day in the life of a Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellow.
A few years ago, we launched the Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellows program. Recent Harvard graduates were placed in City Halls around the country to support mayors who participated in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative for two years. Many Fellows have since become city leaders in their own right. Check out this story about the amazing Bailey Siber who was recently appointed Chief of Staff to Mayor Holt in Oklahoma City. Read More…
Public Administration Review published our new study on mayoral transition work.
It’s hard to prepare for one of the hardest jobs in public leadership. However, systematic and realistic planning can help a mayor make the best use of their scarcest resource: time! Read More…
How housing inspections can improve community health.
When housing inspectors are empowered to connect residents with social services during inspections, cities see measurable improvements in community health. Read the Action Insights to learn more about research findings from a study supported by the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. Read More…
How to manage collective performance in collaborative governance.
This new article by Maurits Waardenburg, Martijn Groenleer and myself in Public Performance and Management Review (PPMR) is a systematic review of the literature to date and offers suggestions for navigating these challenges in practice as well as for further research. Read More…
Using data to improve City governance
“Understanding how to use data to address public problems is crucial for making local governments more effective (in a context of urgent and complex challenges), efficient (in a context of constrained resources), equitable (in a context of social inequality), and accountable (in a context of low public trust).” Read More…
New Teaching Case exploring joint-problem solving in City of Buffalo.
Very excited to share a new set of curricular materials designed to teach cross-agency innovation in government. Deeply grateful to the whole team and especially Oswaldo Mestre Jr. “Oz”, the protagonist of the case, a public servant I admire greatly. Read More…