Improving Performance with Intergovernmental Grants - Lessons from the Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Program

The authors share findings from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care (CoC) program that inform an in-depth examination of the federal government’s largest discretionary grant program intended to reduce homelessness. The research identifies HUD’s multi-pronged strategies that combine performance measures and capacity building supports to focus grant recipients on achieving national goals. These strategies provide a menu of smart practices that can be used by other federal agencies that administer intergovernmental grants.

Preparing for an AI Future: Cybersecurity Considerations for Public Service

Cybersecurity has evolved from a conversation among technologists in server rooms to a substantial dialog between industry leaders and policy makers on the international stage. There is an almost universal recognition of the importance of managing risks associated with doing business in the digital age of the 21st century, and three decades of not adapting to modern technical and security capabilities to overcome.

Weekly Roundup November 6-10, 2023

GAO Presses OMB to Improve USAspending.gov Data. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is calling on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in coordination with the Treasury Department, to provide guidance to agencies on how to report their spending data on USAspending.gov. The website USAspending.gov, is the official source of Federal spending information to help both the government and the public track Federal funds.

A Focus on Open Data for Racial Equity in the Health Housing, and Workforce Sectors

We were honored to host keynote speaker, April Chen, a Presidential Innovation Fellow with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.  Ms. Chen highlighted the Biden Administration’s focus on applying executive action to equitable policies and programs.  The Administration is also working on building best practices and addressing gaps in data services that affect various communities.  Ms.

Leading FEMA's Mission Support Operations: A Conversation with Eric Leckey, Associate Administrator for Mission Support - FEMA

What role does FEMA’s mission support office play in the agency? How does it help the agency improve its performance? How does FEMA plan for the next disaster? Join host Michael Keegan as he explores these questions and more with Eric Leckey, Associate Administrator for Mission Support at FEMA.
Broadcast Date: 
Monday, November 6, 2023 - 11:00
Author: 

Sustained Performance Improvement in Government – On the Importance of Good Governance

While we see some examples of agencies successfully delivering highly complex programs, there are too many agencies struggling with significant management issues, resulting in, at best, mediocre service to citizens, wasted opportunities, and inefficient operations. During my time in government, I learned much from seeing and being part of management successes as well as failures. Wanting government to improve is what prompted me to research and then write my second book, Government Can Deliver – A Practitioner’s Guide to Improving Agency Effectiveness and Efficiency.

Dr. Samar Fatima

Dr. Samar Fatima is a Research Fellow at RMIT University’s Enterprise AI and Data Analytics Hub in Melbourne, Australia. Her research interests focus on the effective and responsible deployment of artificial intelligence in the public sector. She received her PhD from the Queensland University of Technology. Her PhD thesis was awarded an outstanding doctoral thesis award from QUT. Her thesis was also nominated for the Australian Council of Professors and Heads of Information Systems (ACPHIS) IS PhD. Medal. Dr.

Eric Leckey, Associate Administrator - Mission Support FEMA

Eric M. Leckey is the Associate Administrator for Mission Support at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a career member of the Senior Executive Service.

In this role, Mr. Leckey provides leadership and direction to achieve business excellence to a team of 1,477 Mission Support professionals and an additional 603 disaster reservists in delivering a $504.3 million dollar program of requirements in the areas of administrative and real property services, information technology and cyber security, procurement, security, and human capital.

Enabling Governments to Address “Future Shocks”

Since the turn of the millennium, pandemics, heat waves, wildfires, floods, cyberattacks, supply chain interruptions, and other crises have deeply stressed governments, communities, businesses, and individuals around the world. This cascade of catastrophic events raises fundamental questions about how governments can anticipate, prepare for, and respond to these and other shocks yet to come.

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