City of South Bend using AI in a resident-focused Program

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- South Bend is turning to artificial intelligence to help identify residents who may need assistance before they reach a crisis point.

The city recently secured funding through the Bloomberg Mayors Challenge, a global competition that awards cities $1 million to develop innovative projects aimed at improving residents' lives using generative AI technology.

According to City of South Bend’s Chief Innovation Officer Madi Rodgers, the city's new initiative, known as the CARE Project, will use AI-powered decision-making to provide better information to South Bend's Resident Success Team while ensuring people remain at the center of the process.

"The entire project is built on AI-driven decision making, but it is all in service of getting our resident success team better data to make decisions off of," Rodgers said. "What's really important to us at the city is keeping the human in the loop."

South Bend stands out among this year's recipients. City officials say it is the only city to have received a Bloomberg Mayors Challenge grant twice and is the smallest of the 24 cities selected worldwide for the 2026 program.

"We see AI as a tool in our tool belt in order to aid in those process improvements," she said.

The city is partnering with the University of Notre Dame to develop an AI-driven predictive model designed to enhance 311 services.

The system will analyze patterns in city data to identify residents who may be struggling and connect them with resources before problems escalate.

In a presentation, Rodgers said the model could detect signs that a resident is falling behind on utility payments while also neglecting property maintenance. Together, those indicators could signal that a household is experiencing difficulties, even if the resident has not directly requested help.

"Although I'm not at the dollar amount to be shut off for my water and utilities, something might be happening at my household where I might not be raising my hand saying I need help," Rodgers explained.

While the predictive model will require ongoing maintenance, city officials say the initial development costs are covered by the Bloomberg grant. Rodgers noted that much of the project's funding will go toward upfront investments, with operational expenses expected to decrease over time.

"The operational funding of this project will not require $1 million," Rodgers said. "A lot of this project work is a capital investment. This is one of those projects whose operational costs will go down over time."

The CARE Project remains in development, but city officials expect the program to begin assisting residents within the next year.