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This week: a mobile food market in Halifax, reducing criminal recidivism in Pennsylvania, and free college tuition in Texas
Government Innovators Network 
 
October 1, 2015
In This Issue

What's New

In the News

Data-Smart City Solutions

Better, Faster, Cheaper

 

WHAT'S NEW


police officer speaking to mother and child

Public Safety Webinar

October 13, 2015

Join us on October 13 at 1:30 pm EDT for a free webinar: "A New Vision for Policing: Insights from the Harvard Public Safety Summit." Panelists include Police Chiefs Kathleen O’Toole (Seattle) and Scott Thomson (Camden, New Jersey). More information and register>>

seal of the innovations in american government award

Innovations in American Government Award

Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation

Programs from San Francisco and New York were named winners of Harvard's 2015 Innovation in American Government Award and Public Engagement in Government Award. Read the announcement>>

IN THE NEWS


De Blasio to Announce 10-Year Deadline to Offer Computer Science to All Students

New York will soon require that its 1.1 million public school students have access to computer science education. The new program, dubbed Computer Science for All, will be funded by an $81 million public-private partnership and is aimed at teaching students skills like basic coding, robotics, and web design. Part of the initiative will involve training nearly 5,000 teachers, from those who will teach the subject exclusively to others that can naturally incorporate the subject into their curriculum. Chicago and San Francisco have also committed to bolstering access to computer science for its students.

Boston Mayor Announces 'Chief of Streets' Role

Boston has appointed the city’s first “Chief of Streets,” a cabinet-level position that will be in charge of the city’s initiatives to improve mobility and service for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, and transit riders. The new chief will aim to both foster innovation and to ensure that the departments under his oversight collaborate effectively to address the city’s transportation challenges.

Halifax creates mobile food market

Halifax, Nova Scotia, has unveiled a mobile grocery store plan to bring fresh fruit and vegetables into neighborhood food deserts, areas that have few quality and affordable grocery stores and poor access to public transit. Under the Mobile Market Project, a repurposed city transit bus will visit regional communities each week to sell affordable food items. The 21-week pilot, which is modeled after similar initiatives in Toronto and Ottawa, is expected to begin in October.

Free Freshman Year? Texas State Hopes To Try It Out

To help defray the costs of college while accommodating the non-curricular obligations of students, the Texas State University System will provide students with the option of taking online courses for their freshman year, thereby avoiding tuition. Under the plan, called Freshman Year for Free, students that take 10 free courses and pass tests ($90 each) for college credit can begin attending college classes as a sophomore. While open to everyone, the program targets nontraditional students, who may have families or full-time jobs. More than 30 classes will be offered, from US history to astronomy.

In New York City and Chicago, the smart city is here — and it's keeping track of everything

This article charts how sections of New York City and Chicago are fulfilling the promise of the smart city trend. NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress is working with New York’s Hudson Yards neighborhood to build the country’s first “quantified community," which will measure data on air quality, pedestrian traffic, energy production and consumption, and the health and activity levels of workers and residents. The community will include over 17-million square feet of commercial and residential land with a school, hotel, and public space. Related initiatives to “smarten” cities are proliferating worldwide.

Spider vans crawl US roads to prove poor conditions to lawmakers

In order to better assess road conditions for more effective responses, transportation departments from Seattle and Phoenix to South Dakota and Connecticut are using multi-armed “spider vans” with high-definition cameras, mapping lasers, and GPS equipment to scan and record roads. Armed with data from these vans, engineers and public officials can better target resources to those stretches of roads that are in the worst condition. The data that is gathered is also allowing engineers to predict when the next road failures will occur.

DATA-SMART CITY SOLUTIONS


Come Drought or High Water

The Internet of Things is helping cities manage their water resources — at home, in the pipes, and in the fields. As urbanization and the need to feed a growing population demands more from our water supply, the smart use of the Internet of Things will help to save money and conserve precious resources for the next generation.

BETTER, FASTER, CHEAPER


The Pay-for-Performance Approach to Reducing Recidivism

The early success of a Pennsylvania program for parolees shows the potential for one form of privatization. The initial success in reducing recidivism is solid evidence that performance contracts are more likely to succeed than traditional privatization contracts because they focus both government officials and contractors on outcomes.

ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER


Innovators Insights is the news digest from the Government Innovators Network on the latest in government innovations. This digest is sent out every two weeks and is compiled and written by the editorial staff of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School. In each issue, the editorial team identifies top policy and programmatic news that is related to government innovations so that you can stay informed about creative government at its best.

Editor: Jessica Engelman
Researcher & Writer: Brendan St. Amant
Note: The stories in this newsletter link to source articles on other websites and may not be available after a certain length of time.



ABOUT THE ASH CENTER


The Roy and Lila Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation advances excellence in governance and strengthens democratic institutions worldwide. Through its research, education, international programs, and government innovations awards, the Center fosters creative and effective 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 Center. Additional information about the Ash Center is available at http://ash.harvard.edu.

 
 
Copyright 2015 THE PRESIDENT & FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE