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| Higher Education |
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In an effort to further prepare its workforce, Connecticut will offer free college courses to residents who left college before receiving their degrees. Under the “Go Back to Get Ahead” program, individuals who qualify can take up to three, three-credit courses at one of the state’s colleges or universities at no charge. The program will be available for a limited time and is on a first-come, first-served basis. It is estimated that 65,000 persons could potentially qualify for the program.
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| Courts & Legal Services |
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Atlanta, in partnership with Code for America, has launched “ATLCourt,” a new website that will allow residents to look up their court case and find answers to frequently asked questions about municipal court operations. A text system lets users text their court case number to receive details about their case and receive text reminders of upcoming court dates. The website is hosted on an open source collaborative platform that allows volunteer developers to create additional features and content.
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| Organizational Management |
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Yonkers, New York, wants to save fuel and wear and tear on its vehicle fleet, as well as improve air quality, by training its city employees in the principles of “eco-driving.” The pilot EcoDriving Program, which will be led by private, master instructors, will teach timed speed, shifting, and braking techniques that can help reduce fuel consumption up to 25 percent. The pilot targets those city workers whose job responsibilities require a significant amount of driving time, including some from the departments of Parks and Public Works, Office for the Aging van drivers, building inspectors, and fleet managers.
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| Emergency Management |
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In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the New York City Office of Emergency Management has unveiled a temporary housing prototype that could give displaced families somewhere to stay in the event of hurricanes and other natural disasters. The experimental units, while similar in some respects to FEMA trailers, are built for an urban environment, can be stacked on top of each other, and range from one to three bedrooms with full kitchens. Officials say that these units can be assembled off-site and erected within days of a disaster.
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| Public Health |
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In the coming 2014–2015 school year, Illinois will require that all high school students learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation and how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED). Prompted by a student death in 2008 that may have been prevented had an available AED been used, the law is designed to ensure that students facing an emergency will have the necessary knowledge to step in and take action. Students can opt out of the required training if they provide a written objection by a parent or guardian.
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| Service Delivery |
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Boston residents will soon be able to charge their phones as they relax on solar-powered park benches. The high-tech benches, or "Soofas," are being deployed in green spaces around the city, including Titus Sparrow Park, Boston Common, and the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Aside from charging phones, the benches will also collect data on air quality and noise levels.
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| Data-Smart City Solutions: The Innovation Fundamentals |
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No set of principles can guarantee success, nor is there any definitive ‘recipe’ for technology innovation. But adopting these four cross-cutting principles for technology success in human services can serve as a foundation for state and local government efforts to make technology a key component of efforts to improve services to the most vulnerable.
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| Paying the Price to Keep Government's Best Workers |
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Governments often lose talented workers because their bureaucracies either prevent them from offering the pay raises needed for them to retain the workers or make it difficult to do so in a timely manner. Trying to retain its most talented employees in a competitive job market, North Carolina gave thousands of them a pay raise.
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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