Governments at all levels in the United States are rocked by budget shortfalls, lack of direction, unprecedented public frustration and anger. A few state and local governments are developing innovative and effective solutions that confront complex policy issues from radically new angles, often at minimal or no cost to the taxpayers. Presented here are 25 programs dealing with some of the most vexing dilemmas facing government: education, health care, drug abuse, the environment, housing, and economic development. The profiles are written not only from the perspective of the program administrators but also the people who benefit from them. Each of the five sections opens with a brief overview of the issues, identifying problems and key issues. A summary chapter examines such issues as program management, content, organization, and funding. Programs were selected from among those described in applications for Ford Foundation Innovation Awards from 1986 to 1992.

A Brookings Institution Press and Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation publication The Innovations in American Government Awards Program began in 1985 with a grant from the Ford Foundation to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard to conduct a program of awards for innovations in state and local government. The foundation's objective was ambitious and, in an era of "government is the problem" rhetoric, determinedly proactive. It sought to counter declining public confidence in government by highlighting innovative and effective programs. Over twenty years later, research, recognition, and replication are the source of the program's continuing influence and its vitality. What is the future of government innovation? How can innovation enhance the quality of life for citizens and strengthen democratic governance? Innovations in Government: Research, Recognition, and Replication answers these questions by presenting a comprehensive approach to advancing the practice and study of innovation in government. The authors discuss new research on innovation, explore the impact of several programs that recognize innovation, and consider challenges to the replication of innovations. Contributors include Eugene Bardach (University of California–Berkeley), Robert Behn (Harvard University), John D. Donahue (Harvard University), Marta Ferreira Santos Farah (Center for Public Administration and Government, Fundação Getulio Vargas), Archon Fung (Harvard University), Jean Hartley (University of Warwick), Steven Kelman (Harvard University), Gowher Rizvi (Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard University), Peter Spink (Center for Public Administration and Government, Fundação Getulio Vargas), and Jonathan Walters (Governing).

Americans today recognize and celebrate leadership genius in the management of private companies. At the same time, the American public remains deeply skeptical of government's ability to address real economic and social challenges. The contributors to this timely and important volume increase our understanding of the potential incentives for and barriers to creative problem-solving in the public sector. Drawing on case studies of state and local government, as well as theoretical literature on private sector management, these scholars reveal both the problems and the possibilities in governmental decision-making.

This document sums up the lessons to be learned from 3 years of Ford Foundation's Innovations Awards program activity. The eight programs described herein represent new ways of solving complex problems--from segregated neighborhoods to school dropouts. Each case has unique qualities: the novel idea and the particular circumstances that shaped the way the idea is put into action. Missouri's Parents as Teachers program, inspired by a St. Louis training program for parents of children under age 3, succeeded because of an active coalition of public officials, voluntary organization representatives, university-based researchers, and the governor. Shaker Heights (Ohio) has joined with two other cities (Cleveland Heights and University Heights), and two school districts to devise a multijurisdictional, metropolitan-wide strategy to promote and maintain integration in the eastern Cleveland suburbs. The three cities and the suburban coalition affirmatively market houses to people underrepresented in a designated area. The innovation depends on a partnership spanning all sectors of society and on multijurisdictional support for common objectives. The Family Learning Center at Leslie Public Schools (Ingham County, Michigan) packages comprehensive educational and support services for teenage parents from seven rural school districts. The center, which offers the normal high school curriculum and graduates 90 percent of its students, is supported by state education funds and foundation grants. Five noneducational innovations in Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Georgia, and California are also described. Awards for 1986-88 are listed. (MLH)

Although it sometimes seems that governmental policies rarely change, American state governments do adopt innovations. This study considers why the states try new approaches to policy problems. It analyzes innovations from campaign financing and sunset laws to public transportation and regulating sexual behavior, seeking to determine what forces produce policy changes. Policy Innovation in State Government, the result of studies considering individual innovations, is an effort to make sense of a striking finding: State characteristics that largely accounted for some changes were of no value in accounting for others. Nice proposes a general theory based on a state's problem environment, resources, and orientation to government power. This is a book that examines an important question, offers an interesting theory, and makes a reasonable effort to test it. It will be valuable for those interested in state government, public policy-making, intergovernmental relations, and public administration.