· Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Institute Announces Top 50 Innovations in Government
· Keep Busy at State Parks During Turn off the TV Week
· Register Early for 11th Annual Mickelson Trail Trek Bicycle Ride
· Spots Still Available for Becoming an Outdoor Family Event
Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Institute
Announces Top 50 Innovations in Government
Innovations in American Government Awards
Top 50 Programs to Compete for $100,000 Award
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., – Through the collaboration with the South Dakota Division of Parks and Recreation and the South Dakota Department of Health, South Dakota’s state parks have become vibrant, outdoor wellness centers. Because of their improvements, they have been named one of the top 50 innovations in government.
The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School today announced the Top 50 Programs of the 2008 Innovations in American Government Awards competition. Selected from a pool of nearly 1,000 applicants, these programs represent the best in government innovation from local, county, city, tribal, state, and federal levels.
Established in 1985 at Harvard Kennedy School by the Ford Foundation, the Innovations in American Government Awards Program is designed to improve government practice by honoring effective government initiatives and encouraging the dissemination of such best practices across the country. Over its 20 year history, the Innovations in American Government Program has honored 181 federal, state, and local government agencies.
Many award-winning programs are now replicated across policy areas and jurisdictions, serving as forerunners for today’s reform strategies and new legislation. Such programs also inform research and academic study at Harvard Kennedy School and other academic institutions around the world. In the midst of widespread cynicism in government, the Innovations in American Government Awards Program provides concrete evidence that government is working to improve the quality of life of citizens.
Each of the Top 50 programs underwent several rounds of rigorous evaluation from a committee of practitioners and policy experts from Harvard Kennedy School as well as renowned institutions nationwide. Selected programs address a number of important policy areas including health and social services; management and governance; community and economic development; education and training; criminal justice; transportation and infrastructure; and the environment.
Representing a range of jurisdictions from across the country, the Top 50 Programs include seventeen cities/towns, four counties, six federal agencies, three school districts, nineteen states, and one tribal government. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Maine have multiple programs represented in the Top 50.
“The 50 best innovations for the 2008 Innovations in American Government Awards demonstrate effective solutions to some of our nation’s most pressing issues,” said
Stephen Goldsmith, director of the Innovations in American Government Awards Program, Harvard Kennedy School. “From child welfare reform and improvements in homicide case review to promotion of our nation’s parks, these programs are improving the way we live our daily lives.”
“We commend the innovative initiatives of these Top 50 Programs,” said Gowher Rizvi, director of the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation. “In their path to finding new ways for doing the public’s business better, these programs are paving the way for nationwide - and even global - reform strategies.”
Finalists will be announced on June 3, 2008. On June 12, 2008, finalist programs will present their initiatives before the National Selection Committee, chaired by David Gergen. The event is free and open to the public. The winners of the 2008 Innovations in
American Government Awards will be announced and honored at an awards gala and reception in September of 2008.
About the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation
The Roy and Lila Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation advances excellence in governance and strengthens democratic institutions worldwide. Through its research, publications, leadership training, global network, and awards program – developed in collaboration with a diverse, engaged community of scholars and practitioners – the Ash Institute fosters creative and effective government problem-solving and serves as a catalyst for addressing many of the most pressing needs of the world’s citizens. The Ford Foundation is a founding donor of the Institute. Additional information about the Ash Institute is available at www.ashinstitute.harvard.edu. Applicants for the 2009 Innovations in American Government Awards are encouraged to apply at www.innovationsaward.harvard.edu.
2008 Innovations in American Government Awards Program: Top 50
Arizona
Construyendo Circulos de Paz/Constructing Circles of Peace
Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Santa Cruz County’s Constructing Circles of Peace program is a long-term, restorative justice counseling program that brings together multiple stakeholders – the perpetrator, victim, family, and community – in response to crimes of domestic violence.
Getting Ready: Keeping Communities Safe
State of Arizona
Arizona’s Department of Corrections’ real world re-entry effort, Getting Ready, begins the day inmates are admitted and continues throughout their sentence. This systemwide reform measurably reduces relapse, revocations, and recidivism.
California
Bank on San Francisco
City and County of San Francisco, California
Bank on San Francisco addresses the needs of unbanked residents by moving the marketplace to offer suitable financial products. Through a coalition of 15 financial
institutions, the original goal of banking 10,000 unbanked San Franciscans was met in just one year.
Neighborhood Action Team
City of Stockton, California
In a collaborative Action Team partnership, the Stockton Police Department is using market-based policing and code-enforcement strategies as the foundation of an
innovative renaissance movement in a distressed neighborhood.
Operation Archangel
City of Los Angeles, California
The City of Los Angeles’s Operation Archangel, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, developed Automated Critical Asset Management System, a secure interoperable web-based system to manage critical asset information.
Welcome Back Center
State of California
San Francisco’s Welcome Back Center assists internationally trained health professionals as they pursue re-entry into the health workforce.
Colorado
Climate Wise
City of Fort Collins, Colorado
Climate Wise is a voluntary program that assists local businesses in Fort Collins to reduce greenhouse gases and increase cost savings by reducing consumption. Climate
Wise provides businesses with practical tools, measurement techniques, and public recognition.
Connecticut
De-Illumination
Town of Old Saybrook, Connecticut
The focus of Old Saybrook’s De-Illumination Program is the reduction of streetlamp wattage and the elimination of roadway illumination in order to save money, reduce fossil fuel consumption, and limit illumination pollution.
Family Civil Intake Screen Process
State of Connecticut
Connecticut’s Family Civil Intake Screen Process is a scientifically-validated, comprehensive assessment methodology designed to identify parenting conflicts and
match the dynamics of the family with a corresponding array of evidence-based alternative dispute resolution services.
No Child Left Inside
State of Connecticut
Connecticut’s No Child Left Inside initiative reconnects families to nature by exposing them to outdoor recreational opportunities, thus growing healthier kids, fostering
environmental stewards, and showcasing the joy of playing outside.
District of Columbia
Positive Youth Development
City of Washington, District of Columbia
The District of Columbia’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services is becoming the nation’s first juvenile justice agency based on the tenets of Positive Youth Development, an effort to meet the needs of young people by building their competencies and enabling them to become successful adults.
Florida
School Improvement Zone
Miami-Dade County School Board, Florida
Thirty-nine chronically low-performing schools in the Miami-Dade County Public School District are provided extended day and school year instruction that utilizes research based educational materials and focuses on literacy as the core component.
Kentucky
Arts Toolkit
State of Kentucky
An arts-education partnership led by Kentucky Educational Television, Arts Toolkit created multimedia classroom resources that have expanded student experiences and
engagement in the arts, boosted teacher preparedness, and improved test scores.
Maine
Child Welfare Reform
State of Maine
Maine has achieved child welfare reform over the past six years through conscious, data-driven management, driven by the vision that every child needs a family.
Youth Leadership Advisory Team
State of Maine
Maine’s Youth Leadership Advisory Team, a national pioneer, engages youth in foster care with state and federal policymakers to create significant improvements in child welfare policies, legislation, and programs.
Maryland
Lethality Assessment Program
State of Maryland
Maryland’s domestic violence Lethality Assessment Program is an on-scene process by which law enforcement immediately identifies and links victims at risk of being killed to service providers.
Responsible Community and Economic Development Initiative
City of Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore, through the Responsible Community and Economic Development Initiative, addresses the physical, economic, and human conditions of a neighborhood in one
comprehensive plan and is seen as the new model for revitalizing the nation’s cities.
Massachusetts
Creating Consensus for Balanced Growth
Town of Barnstable, Massachusetts
The Town of Barnstable restructured town government and established programs to increase citizen participation in order to implement creative smart growth strategies that protect its historic character and natural environment.
Demand Response Program
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Demand Response Program is a no-cost contract that motivates and facilitates the use of regional utility programs by state agencies. This Commonwealth of Massachusetts program protects the electrical grid and has earned over $500,000 for state facilities.
Foreclosure Intervention Initiative
City of Boston, Massachusetts
Boston’s Foreclosure Intervention Initiative is a comprehensive proactive strategy designed to curb mortgage foreclosures on owner-occupied homes and prevent blight
through foreclosure prevention and foreclosure intervention.
MassDocs
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
MassDocs makes affordable housing development in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts easier by creating one set of loan documents that simplifies the closing
process, saving time and money.
Teacher Residency
Boston Public School District, Massachusetts
The Boston Teacher Residency, the Boston Public Schools’ own teacher recruitment, preparation, and retention program, takes a medical residency approach to addressing the issue of teacher quality for a major city.
Teen Prostitution Prevention Project
Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Suffolk County’s Teen Prostitution Prevention Project is a partnership among criminal justice, child protection, legal advocacy, and others who believe that only genuine
collaboration can yield positive outcomes for prostituted youth. This non-traditional alliance affords increased safety and well-being for often forgotten victims of exploitation.
Michigan
Election Reporting System
Maricopa County, Michigan
Maricopa County’s Election Reporting System is an online database for capturing and categorizing information, recording the source, and assigning resolution to staff that
receive instant notification based on the issue category.
Leadership Academy
State of Michigan
The strategic purpose of Michigan’s Leadership Academy is to select high potential leadership candidates and accelerate their development over two years to prepare them to step into high-level positions.
Traffic Safety Management System
Oakland County, Michigan
For 41 years, Oakland County’s Transportation Improvement Association has developed a "culture of traffic safety" with its innovative traffic management system focusing on programs that support the 3E’s of traffic safety: engineering, education, and enforcement.
Missouri
Division of Youth Services
State of Missouri
A national model for juvenile justice reform, Missouri’s Division of Youth Services has achieved exemplary results and cost effectiveness through regionally-based, small, humane treatment centers; group and family systems approaches; universal case management; and community engagement.
New Jersey
Jersey Fresh Marketing Program
State of New Jersey
The Jersey Fresh Marketing Program is a promotional and quality-grading effort aimed at emphasizing the freshness, safety, and superior quality of New Jersey agricultural products.
New Mexico
Home Program
City of Santa Fe, New Mexico
The Santa Fe Home Program requires 30 percent of new ownership housing and 15 percent of rental housing to be affordably priced, based upon earnings of 50 percent to 100 percent of the area median income.
New York
Acquisition Fund
City of New York, New York
New York City’s Acquisition Fund is a $230 million partnership that finances the purchase of land and buildings for affordable housing. Private finance tools allow smaller developers to compete in a tough market.
Officers Management Institute
City of New York, New York
The Fire Department of the City of New York’s (FDNY) Officers Management Institute, a customized management training program for senior fire and EMS chiefs, has catalyzed the FDNY’s rapid enhancement of operational and technological capabilities to meet the complex challenges of a post-9/11 world.
Project Zero
City of New York, New York
New York City’s Department of Probation’s Project Zero enhances public safety and reduces the number of juvenile delinquents removed from home and incarcerated in New York State facilities through family-focused, community-based programs.
North Carolina
Homicide Cold Case Squad
City of Charlotte, North Carolina
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Cold Case Homicide Squad pairs detectives with a volunteer review team that determines which cold homicide cases are worthy of
reinvestigation and conducts analyses.
Learn and Earn
State of North Carolina
North Carolina’s Learn and Earn Initiative allows high school students to jumpstart their college education or gain job skills without the burden of tuition expenses.
Oregon
Home Again
City of Portland, Oregon
Home Again is a plan to end homelessness in Portland and Multnomah County by focusing on the chronically homeless, coordinating access to services, and investing in
programs that offer measurable results.
Lobbying Entity Registration and Reporting Program
City of Portland, Oregon
To create transparency in government, Portland requires lobbying entities to register with the city and report whom they lobbied and the subjects discussed. Elected officials are also required to report any gifts over $25.
Pennsylvania
Fresh Food Financing Initiative
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s Fresh Food Financing Initiative increases access to fresh, affordable food by providing grants and loans to supermarkets and grocery stores in underserved communities.
Managed Fee for Service/Access Plus
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
ACCESS Plus is a groundbreaking way to deliver health care services to low income children and families that takes the incentives for prevention and disease management found in managed care and adapts them to fee-for-service settings.
South Carolina
Family Violence Reduction Project
City of West Columbia, South Carolina
West Columbia’s Family Violence Reduction Project uses enhanced investigation techniques in combination with advanced technology to curb domestic violence; child
and elder abuse and neglect; and sexual assault within the city.
South Dakota
Outdoor Wellness Centers
State of South Dakota
Through the collaboration with the South Dakota Department of Health and the South Dakota Division of Parks and Recreation, South Dakota’s state parks have become vibrant, outdoor wellness centers.
United States Federal Government
Future Leaders Growing Future Leaders
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Forest Service cultivates young and new employees as future agency leaders through a self-sustaining development program largely run by the future leaders themselves.
Global Maritime Domain Awareness
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation’s Maritime Safety and Security Information System is a novel, low cost, and rapidly deployed, global vessel traffic
monitoring system used to enhance Global Maritime Domain Awareness.
In Service Support / Fast-Forward
United States Department of Defense
The United States Navy’s Service Support / Fast Forward aligns Navy and Marine Corps funding directly to engineering, logistic, and program management knowledge products in a fully measurable fashion leading to a continually improving organizational response.
Intelligence Community Civilian Joint Duty Program
Executive Office of the President of the United States
The Intelligence Community Civilian Joint Duty Program requires intelligence professionals to complete assignments outside their agency to achieve executive rank,
with the goal being to develop leaders that can break through stovepipes that prevented the intelligence community from "connecting the dots" prior to 9/11.
Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation
National Science Foundation
The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation fosters students’ academic, social, and professional integration through summer bridge activities, skills-building, research experiences, mentoring, and scientific conferences. Among 200,000 minority participants annually, more than 25,000 receive Bachelor’s degrees.
New Markets Tax Credit Program
United States Department of the Treasury
The United States Treasury’s New Markets Tax Credit Program provides tax incentives, on a competitive basis, to induce private-sector, market-driven investment in businesses and real estate developments located in distressed communities.
United States Tribal Government
Solid Waste and Energy Management
Yukon River Tribes
Sixty-six indigenous tribes have improved the solid waste systems on the Yukon River, removing six million pounds of hazardous materials and recyclables through
“backhauling” – loading waste onto planes and barges that would otherwise return to the mainland empty.
Virginia
Knowledge Management
Commonwealth of Virginia
Knowledge Management supports the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in achieving its mission by strengthening VDOT’s ability to share critical knowledge and experiences to improve ongoing processes and products.
Washington
Government Management Accountability and Performance
State of Washington
Washington’s Government Management Accountability and Performance’s improves government performance by relying on performance measures, citizen participation, and a disciplined approach to executive decision-making to achieve better results.
Partnership Approach to Safe Routes to School
Auburn School District, Washington
This innovation addresses two large-scale problems: transportation inefficiency and childhood inactivity. Partnerships between Auburn School District and community
residence and professionals increase safe walking and cycling routes to and from school.
Keep Busy at State Parks During Turn off the TV Week
PIERRE, S.D. – According to The Television Project, by age 18 the American child has spent more time watching television than any other single activity. So put down the remote and head to one of South Dakota’s state parks during national Turn off the TV week April 21-27, 2008.
“With the weather warming up, we are excited to have an increased number of visitors to our parks,” said Bob Schneider, Assistant Director of South Dakota Parks and Recreation. “Spring is a great time to get outdoors and to get your family reconnected with nature.”
State Parks and Recreation Areas offer individuals and families numerous activities from canoeing or fishing to disc golf and geocaching. While enjoying a hike or bike ride on one of the many trails located in the state parks, you can take the time to learn about the animal tracks that you see or to identify the birds that you hear. Or get a group together and start a basketball, soccer, softball or volleyball game in one of the day use areas located in many state parks. You and your family can also check out a number of outdoor games such as bocce ball, ladder ball and croquet from the park office. Outdoor activities are an excellent alternative to watching TV or playing video games for any family in any part of our state.
For more information about activities available at state parks, visit www.SDparks.info. Visit healthysd.gov for details about National Turn off the TV week.
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Register Early for 11th Annual Mickelson Trail Trek Bicycle Ride
PIERRE, S.D. – Sign up early for the eleventh annual Mickelson Trail Trek Bicycle Ride to be held September 19-21, 2008. The 3-day trek takes cyclists through 109 miles of South Dakota’s pristine Black Hills on the George S. Mickelson Trail.
“The trek is limited to 600 people, so we encourage riders to reserve their spots soon,” said Mickelson Trail park manager, Dana Garry. “This event continues to grow, and we want to make sure that people are aware of the importance of early registration.”
On day one of the trek, riders will travel 44.5 miles from Custer to Edgemont. Day two takes cyclists 39.5 miles from Custer to Rochford, and the final day has them completing the final 24 miles between Rochford and Deadwood. Riders will be able to see picturesque canyons, streams and rock walls.
Early Bird registrations postmarked before July 15, 2008, will cost $150 per person. The cost after July 15 is $175 per person. Registration includes an annual trail pass, shuttle service, commemorative merchandise, refreshments, noon meals, and one evening meal.
For more information on the Mickelson Trail, visit www.MickelsonTrail.com or contact the Black Hills Trails office at (605) 584-3896.
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Spots Still Available for Becoming an Outdoor Family Event
PIERRE, S.D. - Twelve spots remain for families interested in learning about outdoor cooking, fishing techniques, GPS units (Global Positioning System), canoeing and many other outdoor skills. The 2008 Becoming an Outdoor Family weekend is hosted by the South Dakota Division of Parks and Recreation and will be held at the Chief White Crane Recreation Area near Yankton on June 20 – 22.
"This is a great opportunity for families to spend time together,” said Visitor Services Coordinator Lynn Spomer. “We offer many fun, learning experiences in the outdoors." Families can participate as much or as little as they wish.
A potluck dinner will be held on Saturday night. Each family will be asked to make a dish over the fire to share with the group. Instructions and a list of needed ingredients will be provided after registration is complete.
Lodging will be in campers or tents which are provided by participants. Camping will be on designated sites.
The $50 fee per family covers all sessions, program materials, use of equipment and a campsite for two nights. Those registering after May 20 pay $60 per family. A park entrance license is required.
For more information and to register, go online to www.SDparks.info and click on Outdoor Learning or call (605) 773-3391 to request an information packet.
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