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| Prisoner Rehabilitation |
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The Virginia Department of Corrections' new Green Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Vocational Program will provide prisoners with the training necessary to pursue careers in the energy efficiency field. The yearlong program, which instructs inmates on how to service and maintain increasingly complex, digitally-controlled HVAC systems, will take place in a new 2,000-square-foot facility for the purpose. The program is part of a larger, statewide effort to help inmates achieve success after they leave prison.
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| Services to Specific Populations |
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In Multnomah County, Oregon, persons with mental illnesses dialing 911 will be diverted to a call center staffed with mental health professionals when appropriate. Dispatchers will now quickly screen a call to make sure the person is not a threat to themselves or others, share certain details with the counselors about the person and the nature of the call before they transfer, and stay on the line until the next conversation is underway. Officials observe that these callers can sometimes react negatively to a uniformed officer arriving to assess their situation, which can lead to their being taken into custody unnecessarily. The program hopes to address the historic lack of information sharing between law enforcement, mental health personnel, and emergency dispatch systems.
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| Public Safety |
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Residents getting ready to brave the winter weather in Wayne County, Michigan, can take advantage of a Web application that displays in real-time where snow-removal vehicles have plowed and laid salt, helping drivers map a safe route to their destination. The Compass Website also allows users to view the road conditions from an onboard video camera on the snow-removal vehicles, and there are plans to add an interactive component that allows residents to report road conditions. In addition to providing Compass users with additional mobility functionalities, the application allows the county to demonstrate its ongoing activity during a snow emergency.
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| Regulation |
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From overgrown vegetation to graffiti, residents of Gresham, Oregon, are now empowered to monitor code compliance cases with the city's online tracking system. The public can search cases by address or last name, and can learn about the property owner, violations found, actions taken, and whether the case has been resolved. The site also provides information regarding how city staff carries out its inspection work, how to submit a complaint, and general code compliance resources.
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| Sanitation |
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For several years, Taiwan's garbage trucks have played classical music as they travel through crowded residential areas, drawing forth residents with their garbage. Conceived by Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration as a way to decrease pests and odors in outdoor public trash disposal areas, the trucks musically notify residents that they are to bring their garbage directly to the trucks, ensuring that the garbage never sits on the curb attracting vermin and releasing odors.
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| Education and Technology |
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Increasingly, educators are using technological tools to record and upload their lessons, assign them as homework, and then assist students in class with related exercises about the lessons the next day. These "flipped" classrooms—so called because they turn teachers' workdays upside down—are favored by some as providing educators with more time to work with students, more educator control over their lessons, and more student control over where and when they can absorb the material. Critics question the efficacy of the format and whether low-income students will be able to take advantage of this type of instruction.
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| Emergency Response |
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Emergency responders in Nassau County, New York, will follow the yellow dots when arriving at the scene of an accident. Under the program, motorists with medical concerns affix yellow dot stickers to the back of their vehicles' rear windows. Upon seeing the dot, emergency responders know immediately that vital motorist information is in the vehicle's glove compartment. The yellow dot concept has spread to at least nine states during the past few years.
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| The Crazy Ones, the Misfits, the Rebels |
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Real solutions to seemingly intractable public problems are out there. The challenge is to force change that endures by cutting through bureaucracy, fearlessly facing down opposition, and insisting on maximum performance. No one knew how to effect change better than Steve Jobs. What can public-sector leaders learn from his legacy of disruptive innovation?
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| The Man Who Put the 'M' in OMB |
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Roy Ash, former director of the Office of Management and Budget, is gone—but his legacy is a profound change in the way we manage our governments. Ash’s insistence on top-level executive commitment to management change remains relevant to mayors, governors, and innovators at all levels of government.
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| Fiscal Wisdom Among the Razorbacks |
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Arkansas' unique approach to budgeting, a product of the Great Depression, is helping the state keep out of the red. It's hard to argue with the results. Since 2007, Arkansas has finished each year with a surplus.
Newsletter produced by: Jessica Engelman, editor; Brendan St. Amant, researcher and writer.
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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.
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