How Localities Continually Adapt Enterprise Strategies to Manage Natural Disasters

The authors of this report delve into city-level surveys of hundreds of communities, conducted by the International City/County Managers Association, to learn firsthand what challenges face local leaders and how they prepare in advance to blunt the effects of natural disasters.  They interview dozens of local leaders for their advice and insights and then used these insights to develop a framework that can guide local leaders as they strategize ways to minimize the effects of natural disasters on their communities and economies in the future.

Distance Work Arrangements: The Workplace of the Future Is Now

Distance work arrangements—such as telework, remote work, and distributed teams— have been a growing trend in the workplace for more than a decade. For example, the federal government adopted the Telework Enhancement Act in 2010. And some private sector businesses have moved their operations completely online and maintain a virtual workforce that allows employees to work from anywhere in the world.

Innovation and Emerging Technologies in Government: Keys to Success

The obstacles to implementing technological innovation in government often have less to do with hardware and software than people and processes. How can leaders recognize the need for new technology? How do innovators find funding and put the pieces in place to test a new idea? How does an agency define and measure success?

Mobilizing Capital Investment to Modernize Government

Many governments around the world seek ways to serve their constituents and carry out their missions more effectively and with greater efficiency. This imperative takes on even greater import as emerging technology and business paradigms raise expectations from the public and enable new channels of collaboration between government and industry.

Scaling Evidence-Based Programs in Child Welfare

This report discusses governments addressing this challenge in three different program areas—those highlighted in the 2018 Family First Prevention Services Act as important to reducing child maltreatment by increasing investments in three kinds of prevention services—home visiting, mental health services, and substance abuse services.

Lester points to two key factors that influence success or failure in scaling evidence- based programs:

More Than Meets AI: Part II

AI can increase operational efficiency and effectiveness, free employees of repetitive tasks, uncover new data insights, and enhance service delivery to customers. While they take advantage of these benefits, federal agencies must also manage real and perceived risks associated with AI to build trust in these technologies.

Off to a Running State Capital Start: A Transition Guide for New Governors and Their Teams

This report provides three sets of lessons from Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, a pair of veteran observers of state and local government management, to help gubernatorial teams move quickly and set the stage for a successful term in office:

Data-Driven Government: The Role of Chief Data Officers

The push for data-driven government is currently of intense interest at the federal level as it develops an integrated federal data strategy as part of its goal to “leverage data as a strategic asset.” There is also pending legislation to require agencies to designate chief data officers (CDOs).

Laboratories of Innovation: Building and Using Evidence in Charter Schools

As originally envisioned, charter schools were intended to be laboratories of innovation. Offering broad flexibility in exchange for performance-based accountability, charter schools are well-positioned to test, validate, and adopt new practices in a public school environment.

Encouraging and Sustaining Innovation in Government

According to a 2015 survey by Pew Research Center, the public believes existing democratic institutions are failing. Just 20 percent say the federal government runs its programs well, and 59 percent say the government is in need of “very major reform”—up 22 points since 19971. With rates of trust in government at an all-time low, technology and innovation will be essential to achieve the next administration’s goals and to deliver services more effectively and effciently.

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