What Happened?
The mayor of San Francisco unveiled an innovative technology fellowship program aimed at improving the city’s infrastructure and processes.
So What?
Every city, including yours, is strapped for resources. By relying on the private corporations to ostensibly fund “sabbaticals” for experts, the city has outlined a creative model that can tackle ongoing challenges without any capital outlay. This is a model that is imminently replicable in your city.
The Model
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee premised his fellowship on the White House’s new Innovation Fellows program, which will pair private-sector experts with specific government agencies to address major challenges.
In San Francisco, the Mayor’s Innovation Fellowship Program will host four fellows for nine-month terms. Those fellows will tackle four types of challenges:
- Open Data—Fellow will work with city departments to promote the release—and usage—of government data
- Civic Marketplace—Fellow will establish a framework for identifying opportunities, “ideation,” prototyping, and paths to market
- Civic Participation—Manage challenges to ImproveSF, an online civic engagement platform
- Technology Policy—Establish strategy for overall effort, and develop at least one policy that will be implemented by the city
The city created a innovation Website and online application where prospective fellows can apply for the positions.
The Catalyst
Earlier this year, the city received a scathing report on the state of its technology. Saying that a “culture shock” was needed, the report said that the San Francisco’s citywide technology culture was “ineffective and poorly organized, hampered by a hands-off Mayor, a weak Committee on Information Technology, an unreliable Department of Technology, and a departmentalized culture that only reinforces the City’s technological ineffectiveness.” Ouch.
Since then, the city has hired a chief innovation officer, and has made strides to improve its technical acumen and governance.
Your City Too?
This “fellowship” strategy is 100 percent replicable in your city.
The mayor in San Francisco is asking the corporate sector to fund sabbaticals for those interested in working with the municipality. Corporations should be eager to participate, as they benefit from the PR, and by creating closer ties to the city. In addition, the fellowship is a creative and progressive employee-retention benefit that can be offered to certain employees.
The key is making sure you have specific and clear goals and deadlines for such a program; the last thing you want is a rudderless fellowship program. With a specific objective, such as, for example, “launching a first OpenData initiative using crime data from the Police Department,” fellows with the right skills can be recruited and set to work.
Visit the fellowship program Web site to see how San Francisco develops and promotes their program, and see if a similar program is appropriate for your city.