Five Government Programs Win Innovations Awards

Three state-government programs, one city program and one federal program are winners of the 16th annual Innovations in American Government Awards, receiving $100,000 grants to support replication activities.

Governing.com

The winning programs were chosen from nearly 1,000 applicants and 15 finalists. The awards, a program of the Institute for Government Innovation http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/content.cfm?CFID=56443&CFTOKEN=83329949 at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, are administered in partnership with the Council for Excellence in Government http://www.excelgov.org/

Applications for next year’s Innovations Awards are now being accepted, with a deadline of May 30 for paper applications and June 6 for online applications. (Click here for application information http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/content.cfm?activesection=8&activesubsection=13

This year’s winning programs:

· Chicago’s 311 System, the city’s comprehensive online and telephone information and response service. http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/nonsectioncontent.cfm?activesection=8&activesubsection=12&nonSectionURL=awards/recipients/contents/311_2002.htm

· New York State’s La Bodega de la Familia, a social services program focused on drug offenders on parole or probation. http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/nonsectioncontent.cfm?activesection=8&activesubsection=12&nonSectionURL=awards/recipients/contents/LBDLF_2002.htm

· The Ohio Appalachian Center for Higher Education, which helps students and parents make decisions about higher education starting as early as fifth grade. http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/nonsectioncontent.cfm?activesection=8&activesubsection=12&nonSectionURL=awards/recipients/contents/CHE_2002.htm

· The Vermont Energy Investment Corporations’ Energy Efficiency Utility, an independent, ratepayer-funded entity that delivers efficiency services to 43,000 customers. http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/nonsectioncontent.cfm?activesection=8&activesubsection=12&nonSectionURL=awards/recipients/contents/EEU_2002.htm

· http://www.FirstGov.gov , the comprehensive federal Web portal to government services and information. http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/nonsectioncontent.cfm?activesection=8&activesubsection=12&nonSectionURL=awards/recipients/contents/FG_2002.htm

Copyright © 2003, Congressional Quarterly, Inc. Reproduction in any form without the written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Governing, City & State and Governing.com are registered trademarks of Congressional Quarterly, Inc.

http://governing.com/articles/5innov.htm