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| Highways |
Delaware has created a state-sponsored
garden in the place of roadside memorials, giving families an appropriate
place to mourn crash victims. Although important to family and friends,
transportation experts worry that the makeshift memorials distract drivers and can
pose safety problems. They are also technically illegal, but few agencies are
willing to take them down. Delaware’s garden has a pond with fish, water
lilies, and wildlife at its center. Engraved red bricks with the names of the
deceased line a path through the garden. Other states are looking into similar
initiatives.
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| Policing and Crime Prevention |
To fight auto theft, New
York and Dallas, with the aid of federal funds, have launched pilot programs to
swab
stolen cars for DNA. When officers encounter a stolen car, an evidence
collection team swabs the steering wheel, rearview mirror, and gear shift. The
genetic samples are then cross-checked against several databases. Officials say
that auto theft arrests can lead to the incarceration of more dangerous
criminals and assist law enforcement in detecting patterns related to chop
shops and organized crime. The program may be expanded if it proves cost-effective.
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| Health and Technology |
Under the Community
Health Data Initiative, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and
executives from technology companies are encouraging developers to create
software applications using newly available federal data on population health.
The goal is to take data off government “shelves” and make it accessible to
consumers and the community. HHS has also announced the Health 2.0 Development Challenge, which will award prizes
to the best applications of the data. An application from Google examines statistics
in neighborhood hospitals and Microsoft has created an application that allows
users to compare Medicare costs by region.
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| Education |
Based on research that physical
activity can improve learning, and that complicated movement stimulates
thinking, Illinois’ Naperville Central High School is sending its students to
physical education for the first period of the day. While many schools are
cutting physical education programs, Naperville officials note that math and
reading scores have risen sharply since they instituted this shift in schedule.
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| Accountability |
Hawaii has created the Vehicle Monitoring Service
to notify automotive fleet owners, such as rental car companies, when one of
their vehicles receives a citation that must be acted upon. When a rental car
receives a ticket, and the driver does not report it to the company, the ticket
chokes the Judiciary’s case management system. Unreported tickets can result in
the car getting towed while being driven by another renter, costing time and
money to ameliorate. The new service provides weekly reports to subscribers
with vehicles that have received violations during the past 31 days.
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| Public Health |
New York has unveiled a “cancer map”
that allows users to review cancer rates at the neighborhood level. Every
community near a potential environmental hazard, such as a factory, is included,
with data from 2003 to 2007. Users can overlay significant environmental
facilities and sites such as factories, brownfields, and even sellers of
commercial pesticides. Officials caution that broad conclusions should not be
derived from the data, as age, health behaviors, and screening practices are
not represented. Nevertheless, the map is being hailed as an important tool for
citizens to research and understand cancer trends where they live.
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| Community Development |
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The Corporation for National and Community Service will administer the Social Innovation Fund, a new public-private investment vehicle designed to help transformative nonprofit efforts expand their reach in addressing social challenges in low-income communities. The fund will also provide incentives for nonprofits to evaluate the effectiveness of their programs.
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| School Social Service |
Many public schools and
local farmers are partnering to get fresh fruits and vegetables into school
cafeterias while still being sensitive to lean budgets. Lunch menus dominated
by processed foods contribute to obesity and poor eating habits. Farm-to-school
programs are being strengthened in public schools in Kentucky, Oregon,
California, and Massachusetts.
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| Access and Insurance |
Colorado is making it easier to access insurance coverage with
legislation that calls for a single
uniform application form for all individual health insurance plans.
Currently, state residents are required to submit separate applications to multiple
insurers, which often require exhaustive questionnaires and lengthy
descriptions of their medical history. The new law will reduce this paperwork
and administrative burden by requiring that all insurers accept the uniform
application.
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| Job Training and Placement |
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The Texas National Guard has instituted the Job Connection Education Program, serving the seven counties of Dallas-Fort Worth, to help returning veterans transition to the workforce after their deployment ends. The pilot program, the first such program in the nation, helps vets improve their resumes, polish their interviewing skills, and places them onto career paths. Since March, the program has helped 11 soldiers get a job. While the national unemployment rate hovers at 10 percent, young veterans are experiencing 14 to 20 percent unemployment.
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| Louisville's COOL Approach to Growing Jobs |
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Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson has created Corridors of Opportunity in Louisville, an innovative retail-focused economic development program. It's quickly become a national model, with dozens of cities approaching Louisville in recent years to learn about how it works.
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| The Bureaucrat and the Telescope |
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The effort to put a man on the moon offers valuable lessons about bridging the divide between politics and bureaucracy and effectively managing public organizations.
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| From Data to Transparency in D.C. |
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In this short video, David Strigel of the District of Columbia’s Citywide Data Warehouse tells how D.C. went about making its data accessible and emerged as a transparency leader.
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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