At a time when so much of American politics is focused on what divides us, an unlikely alignment is taking shape across the country.
From Maryland to Mississippi, from rural Audrain County, Missouri to the South Bronx, government and nonprofit leaders are following a similar playbook to solve problems and deliver better results for the people they serve.
They are Democrats, Republicans and independents; Members of Congress, governors, mayors and county officials; leaders of government agencies and nonprofits. Yet despite their differences, they are all using evidence, data and a relentless focus on results to address their most urgent challenges: reducing homelessness, interrupting intergenerational poverty, helping kids learn to read, preparing workers for good-paying jobs, and more.
We’ve told some of these success stories in this Substack. Now, we are excited to share that in September 2026, Results for America will release Do What Works: Smarter Government, Better Results, a new book that brings together nearly two dozen leaders to offer an on-the-ground report of the positive change taking place around the country — and lessons for how others can do the same.
More than a decade after Results for America’s national bestseller, Moneyball for Government, called on public leaders to harness the power of data and evidence to deliver better results for the American people, Do What Works offers rich, detailed accounts from leaders who have taken up that call and are showing how government can work better for everyone.
A Preview of What’s Inside
In Maryland, Wes Moore shares how the state is investing in what works to reduce child poverty and strengthen communities.
In Denver, Mayor Mike Johnston and Rosanne Haggerty, President and CEO of Community Solutions, tell the story of how the city set an ambitious goal to help 1,000 unhoused residents move off the streets — and achieved it in less than a year.
In Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves and Dr. Carey Wright, the former Mississippi Superintendent of Education, explain how years of evidence-based reforms helped more students across the state learn to read and raised test scores faster than in any other state in the nation.
In Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine highlights how a data-driven approach is expanding opportunities for Ohio workers and strengthening the state’s economy, including adding more than 124,000 private sector jobs and helping employ record numbers of Ohioans.
In Birmingham, Mayor Randall Woodfin describes how his city adapted an effective early childhood program from Providence, Rhode Island, and tripled the chances its youngest kids would be ready for kindergarten.
These are just a few of the stories featured in Do What Works — along with examples from Chicago, Tulsa, San José, rural Missouri, Dallas, Tennessee, New York and beyond. In the coming months, we will go deeper into several of these stories and share what they reveal about how leaders can make government work better, faster, and more fairly for the people it serves.
We’ll also bring these stories to events around the country, from the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin to Impact Maryland in Baltimore. Along the way, we’ll convene bipartisan leaders for conversations about what’s working for their communities, including gatherings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago; and at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.
You can pre-order the book now. In the coming weeks, we will share more details about how you can join the conversation — and help make results-driven government the rule, not the exception.