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| Criminal Justice |
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To reduce the necessity of holding inmates for extended periods in segregation cells, the Alger Correctional Facility in Michigan started the "Incentives in Segregation" pilot project to reward positive behavior. Under the program, inmates work through six stages over several months, with each stage requiring certain tasks and granting certain privileges. The program boasts that it has reduced major incidents of misconduct in segregation by more than half and reduced days in segregation by 10 percent. States such as Ohio, California, Colorado, Maine, and New York are looking to replicate the program.
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| Governance and Politics |
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Maricopa, Arizona’s city council is piloting the use of iPads to reduce the paper waste that accompanies its meetings. Using the tablets and the free iLegislate app, officials are able to access agenda data on the go, take notes, and set follow-up tasks. Since its entry into the pilot, Maricopa has saved monies on paper, printing supplies, and personnel costs associated with assembling and distributing agenda packets.
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| Courts and Legal Services |
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The California Attorney General has launched a special task force to take on high-tech crimes in the state. Besides targeting identity theft (the state has over 1 million complaints per year), the new eCrime Unit will focus on Internet fraud, computer and electronic theft, intellectual property crimes, and child exploitation. The unit will rely on a team of experienced 20 attorneys and investigators to gather technical evidence across jurisdictions and initiate prosecutions.
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| School Social Service |
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Nevada’s Clark County School District hopes to staunch one of the highest dropout rates in the country by pairing at-risk students with mentors from the Las Vegas business community. Professionals must pass a background check and undergo training before being matched with a student. A similar program is already underway in Colorado.
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| Organizational Management |
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With a nod towards speed dating, federal government groups are holding speed mentoring sessions several times a year to match mentors with federal employees looking for professional guidance. In 2011, the Federal Acquisitions Fellows Coalition, an interagency group of procurement workers, has sponsored 15-minute mentoring sessions where employees can gain access to leaders in their field. The Chief Human Capital Officers Council has held a similar event for emerging human resources leaders.
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| Adult Education |
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In Texas, the Austin School District has unveiled an immigrant-integration program that is helping parents learn English along with their children. The "Maestro en casa," or "Teacher at home," program provides parents with workbooks and a CD containing prerecorded lessons that teach conversational English. Lessons are also provided on health care, finance, workplace issues, citizenship, and the public education system. The goals are to ensure that students keep practicing their English at home and to help parents integrate into the school community. Around 1,000 parents are currently participating in the privately funded program.
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| Community Asset Development |
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Through the SaveUSA program, New York City is offering eligible low-income individuals a 50 percent match of their tax refund of up to $1,000 if they deposit the refund in a special account and maintain the initial deposit for approximately one year. The program, which began last year, is funded by a combination of federal and private grants, and has already helped many citizens open a bank account for the first time. The program has expanded to include Newark, New Jersey; San Antonio, Texas; and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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| Government's Data Detectives |
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A recent report calls on government leaders to employ data analytics and invest in trained data analysts. They are a growing corps, providing sophisticated analysis of the information governments collect to help leaders make better decisions.
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| Golden Rules for Transforming Human Services |
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A human-services summit at Harvard University featured an array of proactive leaders, describing how they are reframing their operations and employing supportive technologies to focus on people rather than programs, outcomes rather than outputs, and transformation instead of transactions. These leaders, along with academics and industry experts, shared a commitment to a number of "golden rules."
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| Transit and the Power of 'No' |
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Not even the best transit projects pay for themselves, and we need a way to fund those that deliver economic and environmental benefits. It's time to rethink how we fund mass transit.
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Management Insights
A Governing.com Series |
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Philip Joyce argues that leadership skills should be examined more closely in political campaign debates.
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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