What Happened?
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, which is part of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, recently recognized 111 innovative government initiatives as part of its “Bright Ideas” program.
So What?
The ideas vetted by the Ash Center are all worth reviewing, as they demonstrate a creative range of solutions to issues that every city faces: crime, economic development, education, environmental protection, and more. Gov1 editors strong recommend that subscribers take a few minutes to check out the Bright Ideas program; the Ash Center has even set up a searchable database of winners.
Examples
Among the many examples of winners published by the Ash Center were the following:
- Blight Reduction Strategy—With over 50,000 vacant and dilapidated properties, New Orleans suffers from one of the largest blight problems in America. The city launced a blight reduction strategy called BlightStat, which has significantly reduced blighted properties by prioritizing code lien foreclosure sales. An aggressive, coordinated data-tracking strategy helps the city monitor performance track benchmarks.
- Build A House Program—Chesterfield County, Virginia, developed a program that provides over 300 technical school students with real-life work experience in building group homes for people with intellectual disabilities. The program has dramatically cut costs for the locality, and is a collaboration of three units of local government and one nonprofit organization.
- Business QuickStart—Rhode Island has made it easier for entrepreneurs to quickly identify the regulatory forms needed to start a business in the state. A business wizard asks questions based on the entrepreneur’s needs, and suggests applicable state forms to complete. Relevant forms are grouped together for simplicity sake, and everything is searchable.
- Charter School System—The city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, developed public-private partnerships to establish a municipally managed public charter school system in 2000, providing an award-winning, accredited curriculum. With six schools and an academic village that is home to the Charter High School, a performing arts center, regional library, sports center, and two colleges, the charter school system serves 5,200 K-12 students each year. The charter schools have received state and national recognition for their achievements and are celebrating the high-school graduation of the first kindergarten class.
- Combined Sewer Overflow Control Technology—In order to meet federal environmental mandates on combined storm and sanitary sewer overflows, the city of South Bend, Indiana, installed real-time monitoring and control “smart valves” technology. The program uses distributed sensing and control logic, which optimizes performance of infrastructure already in place, saving the city an estimated $114 million over a conventional approach. Gov1 covered South Bend’s high-tech sewer initiative earlier this Spring.
- MassGrown & Fresher—This project, launched by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, aimed to enhance the viability of local agriculture. The initiative leverages an interactive and data-rich “Agri-Google” map, social network media, and partnership opportunities within the private and public sector to connect consumers to local agriculture.
Refer to the full list of winners for additional ideas and inspiration, including interesting medical, education, transportation, and other initiatives.
Apply For Next Year
If you’re interested in submitting one of your own initiatives to the Bright Ideas program, you can nominate a program here. The Ash Center has even provided tips and examples to make the process easier, and there is an eligibility guide with more detailed information. If you have questions, contact the Ash Center via email, or call them at 800-722-0074.