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| Service Delivery |
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To make its police department more accessible to citizens, Redwood City, California, will be hosting live video and text chats during the weekdays. These sessions will enable community members to receive live online assistance with questions or concerns from the police. It has already encouraged some citizens to report community issues without fear of having others know that they went to the police. Redwood City is believed to be the first local government to provide such a service to its citizens.
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| E-government |
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San Jose, California, has become the largest city to partner with Nextdoor, a private location-based social network, in order to communicate with its constituents. The partnership will allow the city to target specific messages to residents of a particular neighborhood and increase awareness about typical community announcements such as public meeting notices, utility shutdowns, volunteer opportunities, and emergency preparedness. The partnership will be free to the city.
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| Vocational Training |
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Kansas has unveiled a new program that will pay the tuition of eligible high school juniors and seniors enrolled in qualified technical courses at the state’s technical and community colleges. As a further incentive to get the buy-in of school districts, the program will provide $1,000 for each student who earns a technical certificate in a high-need occupation, such as truck mechanics, carpenters, electricians, masons, and computer specialists.
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| Alternative Education |
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Beginning in July 2014, Massachusetts students who are suspended or expelled will be provided with more educational options, such as alternative schooling, tutoring, and online learning. New legislation also establishes a maximum period of exclusion of these students of 90 school days. Critics worry that the law may burden cash-strapped districts. However, supporters observe that the law will help to lessen the educational repercussions of exclusion, and state reporting of the number of days students are barred from school will help the state determine if there are disparities in how these punishments are meted out.
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| Public Health |
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In an effort to stem and roll back rat infestations in New York City, building superintendents, owners, tenants, and community leaders are attending “Rat Academy.” Taught by the city’s health department, and officially dubbed “rodent management training,” the classes teach various interventions such as where to look for nests, how to plug gaps in areas where trash is stored before pickups, and further information about bait and traps. Participants are also directed to the city’s website which provides tools and information on area infestations.
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| Emergency Response |
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By allowing drivers to enter emergency contact information online, the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles is providing drivers with a simple device that might save their life. Currently, emergency responders may only know a victim’s address when they need to get access to important information such as allergies or disabilities. The new online tool allows anyone with a state issued driver's license, driver's permit, or identification card to go online and add two emergency contact names and numbers, allowing first responders to gain access to medical histories more quickly. Over 21,000 people have already taken advantage of the program.
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| An Old-School Mayor on the Forefront of Innovation |
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Boston's Mayor Tom Menino may be an "urban mechanic," but he's taking that concept to new and exciting levels. His Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics infuses technology, community participation and enhanced citizen responsiveness into the urban-mechanic model.
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| Crowdfunding: A New Way to Get Things Done in Government |
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Crowdfunding gives residents a way to show their support for projects they care about and save taxpayer money. At a time when citizen trust in government appears to be waning, this tool reduces the chance that capital projects will be selected for purely political reasons. Those that attract public support go forward, while those that don't must rely on traditional government processes.
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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