2004 Finalist: Digital Trunked Radio System

The first wide-area trunked system to utilize digital (VHF-150 MHz) technology, this system includes 40 towers and 9,000 local, state and federal public safety radio users.

2004 Finalist: Rapid City Skills Development Center

This center is a one-stop-shop that helps welfare recipients prepare for, find and keep jobs. Staff provides basic skills training, intensive pre-employment training, individualized counseling on personal and work matters, life enhancement and marketable work skills, career planning and job search assistance.

2004 Finalist: Livestock Auction Barn Planning Grant Program

This program gives grants to help communities modify livestock auction barns to comply with new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules for concentrated animal feeding operations.

2004 Finalist: Health Occupations for Today and Tomorrow

This program provides K-12 students with information about academic, technical and professional requirements for careers in health care.

2003 Alternate: Substance Abuse Prevention Services for At-Risk Pregnant Women Initiative

A continuum of services for adolescent and adult pregnant women and recent mothers struggling with addiction and dependency to alcohol and other drugs, this initiative is designed to provide pregnant and parenting women with necessary skills to overcome addiction, fostering self-sufficiency in their ability to pursue education, work and parent.

2003 Finalist: Abandoned Tank Removal “Tank Yank” Program

As the nation’s largest and most comprehensive abandoned tank removal program, this project provides private owners with state funds to remove inactive or abandoned underground petroleum and waste-oil storage tanks, thereby reducing the environmental risks from petroleum releases.

2003 Finalist: Electronic Vital Records and Screening System

This comprehensive Internet-accessible data system is designed to collect vital records, such as birth, death, marriage and divorce records, as well as newborn metabolic and hearing screening data. This system handles the business functions of the State Vital Records Office and local registrars, including issuance of certified copies, accounting, document tracking, modifications and preservation of records.

2003 Finalist: MicroLOAN South Dakota

This program provides low-interest financing to small businesses. In this public/private partnership created by Citibank, the South Dakota Development Corporation and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, the state provides “gap financing” to encourage banks to make loans they otherwise might not make.

2003 Finalist: Purple Loosestrife Management Project

A joint initiative between Nebraska, South Dakota and South Dakota’s State Prison, this program helps stop the invasive plant purple loosestrife. Prison inmates raise approximately 250,000 Galerucella beetles each year and release them into the Missouri River to help control the purple loosestrife population, which damages wetland ecosystems and habitat.

Have an innovative program in your state? Apply for an Innovations award!