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| Courts & Legal Services |
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In response to research showing that a large percentage of high-risk defendants are released from jail while low-risk defendants are often detained during the pretrial phase, judges of the Yuma County Superior Court in Arizona are piloting a universal risk-assessment tool to aid judicial decision-making on pretrial release. The Public Safety Assessment-Court (PSA-Court) dashboard, created by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, gives judges an evidence-based evaluation of the likelihood that a defendant will commit a new crime or fail to appear for a court hearing by quantitatively analyzing nine risk indicators. The tool is slated to be implemented in more jurisdictions in Arizona over the coming months, and is currently employed by some counties in California, Colorado, North Carolina, and statewide in Kentucky.
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| Community Revitalization |
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In seeking to balance the concerns raised by long-time city dwellers with the advent of new arrivals, cities across the country are developing policy tools to mitigate the adverse effects of gentrification. For example, Philadelphia has enacted the Longtime Owner Occupants Program, which allows eligible homeowners to cap and freeze their assessments for 10 years if the assessments have increased by 300 percent or more due to the city’s new tax formula. Observers note that while the vitality of new residents is crucial for cities, measures are still needed to protect lower-income homeowners to preserve neighborhood stability and character. Detroit, Boston, Washington, Pittsburgh, and other municipalities are looking at other tax adjustments as part of a broader strategy to aid long-time homeowners.
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| Social Services |
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The Michigan Department of Human Services is changing the way it funds its services for foster children using a funding model based on performance and outcomes instead of allocating subsidies to providers based on the numbers of children that they handle. Under the change, children will be served by just one provider (instead of multiple caseworkers) who will be held accountable for each child's well-being, leading to more stability for the child. Officials hope that the policy change, which is influenced by similar moves in Florida, Illinois, Tennessee and Kansas, will improve outcomes for Michigan’s roughly 13,000 foster children.
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| Corrections, Probation & Parole |
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In order to bolster the efficacy of individual criminal justice reforms, Tennessee, Illinois, and Iowa are embarking upon a cross-state data-sharing initiative. State participants at the Cross Boundary Corrections Information Exchange Policy Academy, in collaboration with the National Governors Association and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, will create a system to effectively share corrections data and distribute best practices that reduce recidivism and costs. State teams will then begin developing and implementing statewide strategic plans to facilitate information sharing with other states.
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| Public Health |
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Boston physicians now have something new to prescribe to improve the health of their overweight patients: the bicycle. The city of Boston and the Boston Medical Center have partnered to create "Prescribe-a-Bike," which allows medical professionals to write prescriptions for memberships to a local bike-sharing program. Qualified low-income patients will pay $5 for an annual membership that entitles them to an unlimited number of trips for up to 30 minutes at a time. Organizers hope that the tool will not only get sedentary residents moving, but also provide an affordable and convenient transportation option for low-income residents.
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| Emergency Management |
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When disaster strikes, the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience (LACCDR) project seeks to coordinate public entities and community-based organizations to efficiently and effectively organize and communicate responses within the large and socioeconomically diverse area of the county. The LACCDR project, currently in its second year and created by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Emergency Network Los Angeles, and the RAND Corp., aims to provide leadership in activating networks of community agencies, from childcare centers to churches, to create audience-specific emergency management tools and plans. The LACCDR project is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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| Maryland's Data-Driven Approach to Reducing Infant Mortality |
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By employing data to target resources, Maryland is making progress on an important human services issue and using improved outcomes to help pay for the cost. The state has achieved remarkable results in a short time, particularly among African-Americans.
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| 10 Key Questions for Launching an Effective Government Program |
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There are some key lessons, gleaned from the experiences of previous efforts, that can increase the chances of success and help deliver more public value. Keeping these lessons in mind can improve the chances of success for any public-sector initiative.
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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