Deadline: November 29, 2026
Proposals are invited for the Rockefeller Foundation Cities Deliver: AI Solutions for Public Services. Nearly half of the world’s population lives in cities. Public services shape those residents’ everyday lives. They affect whether they can get health care, find meaningful work, live safely, and have a voice in local decisions. City governments and their partners are on the front lines of delivering these public services.
Artificial intelligence now offers new ways to meet these needs. AI can help residents access services, anticipate problems before they become crises, and respond to resident needs more effectively. Putting these capabilities to work requires solutions built around residents’ needs and developed in partnership with city governments.
The Rockefeller Foundation and OpenAI Foundation are committing $50 million to Cities Deliver to support this work. The initiative will provide grants of $500,000 to $2 million to organizations working with city governments to improve public services through AI, especially for underserved communities. Together, these projects will aim to reach up to 100 million city residents worldwide.
Focus Areas
They are seeking proposals that improve access to and quality of public services in vulnerable or underserved communities in the following focus areas:
- Public Health: Solutions that extend the reach and readiness of public health systems, from frontline care and disease surveillance to population-scale prevention. Includes healthcare, disability services, food access, and nutrition.
- Economic Mobility: Solutions use AI to connect unemployed and underemployed residents to income, skills, and benefits. Includes AI-enabled benefits enrollment, career navigation and skills-based hiring, and employer-aligned training.
- Environmental Resilience: Solutions that help cities forecast, withstand, and recover from environmental shocks, protecting both people and the infrastructure they depend on. Includes public safety and emergency services, energy and grid infrastructure, and land management in communities at risk.
- Civic Engagement: Solutions that help city governments reach residents proactively and respond faster, from two-way service channels to participatory decision-making. Includes digital access and connectivity, court services, and permitting and regulatory processes. Excludes projects related to voting or elections.
Benefits
- Funding: $500,000 to $2 million over 24 months.
- Peer learning: A facilitated cohort, plus webinars, mentorship, and evaluation support based on demand.
- Technical support: Occasional AI product and engineering support, subject to capacity. This does not include bespoke support for each project.
- Visibility and network: Access to Rockefeller Foundation and OpenAI Foundation networks of city leaders, funders, and technical partners.
- Convening: Grantees and key stakeholders will be invited to participate in a global or regional convening to share experiences and lessons and to showcase their work.
Eligibility
Every project needs:
- An eligible lead organization:A nonprofit (including university labs and fiscally sponsored organizations) or a public benefit corporation. For-profits may qualify in limited cases with a charitable project, and no more than an incidental benefit to the for-profit company’s business. Governments may not apply directly.
- A city partner: All applicant organizations must have a city partner with a commitment to collaborate.
- A charitable purpose: A benefit to underserved, poor, or distressed communities, or to social welfare.
Existing grantees of The Rockefeller Foundation and RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC) are also eligible to apply.
They are looking for projects and partnerships that:
- Respond to demand: The project addresses credible demand from city government partners and the communities they serve.
- Start with the problem: The project tackles a significant problem that your city government has prioritized, which affects vulnerable communities or promotes social welfare.
- Then plan a solution: The project takes advantage of the latest capabilities of frontier AI models, and those capabilities are core to the proposed solution.
- Focus on readiness: Your team and city partner can integrate technology into public sector settings.
- Build for sustainability: The project is well-positioned to be sustained in terms of follow-on funding, city capacity, and integration with government systems.
- Act responsibly: Applicants demonstrate the ability to build and manage AI solutions safely and responsibly.
- Plan to learn: Applicants propose a clear learning agenda for assessing progress including evaluation, user feedback, and path to social impact.
Application
For more information, visit Rockefeller Foundation Cities Deliver: AI Solutions for Public Services.
