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Innovations Awards by Subject

 

• Aging

• Agriculture/Animals/Livestock & Rural Development

• Anti-Terrorism
• Banks & Financial Institutions
• Business, Commerce, Labor
• Courts/Criminal Justice
• Domestic Relations

• Education

• Elections/Political Conditions

• Energy & Environment

• Fiscal & Economic Development

• Globalization & Trade

• Government Operations

• Health

• Housing
• Human Services

• Immigration

• Intergovernmental Affairs

• Military
• Parks & Recreation
• Privacy & Personal Information/Role of Government

• Public Safety & Justice & Emergency Management

• Technology/Telecommunications

• Transportation & Infrastructure

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Aging

Winners

New Hampshire - 2011 - Adult Protective Services Structured Decision Making System

• The New Hampshire Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services adopted this system to help caseworkers prioritize their responses to reports of neglect, self-neglect, or abuse against elderly and incapacitated adults. These include people who live alone and people who live with relatives or other caregivers. Bureau staff uses the system for intake, investigation, and case management. The decision making system consists of a series of basic questions caseworkers use to gather information about each report during each of these phase. They use that information to prioritize cases based on the severity of incidents, the vulnerability of the alleged victims, and the potential risk of future harm to the alleged victims. When bureau staff gets reports of abuse, the system helps them decide whether the reports are true and require a response. If the answer is yes, caseworkers visit the homes of the alleged victims to investigate.

New Hampshire - 2010 - Transitions in Caregiving

• Many people know the sacrifice it takes to care for elderly parents or older siblings who live with them. New Hampshire's Transitions in Caregiving Program offers practical ways to ease that burden. Under the program, caregiver specialists from 10 resource centers throughout the state visit caregivers at their homes. These specialists conduct a comprehensive assessment with the caregivers to determine the caregivers' needs. The specialists use a tool developed by the University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability to conduct the assessments. Questions range from gathering financial and demographic information to more probing queries about how providing care impacts a caregiver's employment. The specialists use these assessments to develop personal support plans and budgets the caregivers can use to get services they need to continue delivering care at home. Such services include arranging transportation to appointments, adapting assistive equipment like Kindle readers to help deliver care, setting up emergency alert systems, and helping people modify their homes to better accommodate frail family members.

Connecticut - 2003 - Home Care and Assisted Living Alternatives to Nursing Home Care Initiative

• In an effort to provide elderly persons in need of long-term care the ability to remain in the community and avoid, or delay, entrance to a nursing home, the initiative includes an expansion of the income eligibility criteria for Connecticut's Home Care Program for Elders, implementation of assisted living pilots in state-funded congregate housing and federally-funded HUD housing, implementation of a private pay assisted living pilot and the subsidized assisted living demonstration project.

Finalists

Texas - 2005 - Aging Texas Well

• This program is designed to ensure that Texans prepare for aging in all aspects of life and that state and local social infrastructure facilitate lifelong healthy aging.

 

Minnesota - 2003 -Minnesota Disability Health Options MnDHO

• This program is a managed health care program for people with disabilities. It integrates Medicaid and Medicare financing and primary, acute and long-term care. All enrollees are assigned an RN health coordinator, who helps them navigate the health care system, live more independently and maintain their health.

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Agriculture/Animials/Livestock & Rural Development

Alternates

Idaho - 2005 - Mapping Evapotranspiration from Satellites Project

• To address water supply issues, cooperation between the University of Idaho, the Idaho Department of Water Resources, NASA and the private sector has created an operational tool for water administration using satellite image data.

 

Pennsylvania - 2004 - Adjusted Gross Revenue—Lite (AGR-Lite)

• This insurance program protects producers of agricultural commodities from reduction or loss of revenue due to natural disasters or fluctuations in market prices, paying out when a producer’s gross revenue falls below a level of coverage that the producer selects.

 

Finalists

Michigan - 2005 - Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP)

• In order to develop and promote a recognized, voluntary and proactive environmental assurance program targeted to Michigan's agriculture industry, this program ensures that producers engage in cost-effective pollution prevention practices and are in compliance with applicable state and federal environmental regulations. MAEAP uses a systems approach based on education, site-specific risk assessments and third party verification that is developed for all Michigan farms, regardless of size, commodity or species.

Missouri - 2005 - Rediscover Your Roots: Connecting Urban Dwellers with their Rural Heritage

• This program promotes travel destinations that involve work/stay farms and native grown produce in order to address visitors' increased demand for cultural heritage and historical experiences, the need for additional income in agricultural communities and the need to reconnect vital constituencies in a state polarized by an urban/rural split.

Pennsylvania - 2005 - Blue Ribbon Passport Program

• The keystone in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s agritourism initiative, this program aims to partner various agricultural related assets and promote agricultural awareness through increased tourism. The program also helps drive agricultural economic development by assisting farms and farm-based ventures with additional income, thus preserving small farm operations and increasing tourism revenue in rural communities.

North Dakota - 2004 - Cooperative Weed Management

• This program encourages federal, state and local agencies to share funding and personnel to control and eradicate invasive weeds on public and private lands in the state.

South Dakota - 2004 - Livestock Auction Barn Planning Grant Program

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

Washington - 2004 - Comprehensive Irrigation District Management Plan

• This program provides a framework and guidelines for irrigation districts and farmers to voluntarily develop comprehensive management plans that simultaneously comply with the federal Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act and maintain economic viability.

Semifinalists

Missouri - 2003 - Grow Native!

• This program is designed to increase demand for Missouri-grown native vegetation and promote naturally resilient plants to increase biological diversity on public and private lands. Through a combination of education, demonstration and marketing techniques, the program boosts consumer and commercial demand for these plants and helps consumers find quality native plant materials and capable native landscape professionals.

Texas - 2003 - Office of Rural Community Affairs

• Designed to serve as a focal agency for the state’s health, economic development, community development and leadership development programs, this office targets rural communities. The agency has positioned itself as the door to Texas government for rural citizens, acting as a research and policy resource for rural issues.

Utah - 2003 - Strategy to Address Water Pollution from Animal Feeding Operations

• This program is a partnership between the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and the state’s agricultural community. Its goal is to reduce the amount of polluted surface and groundwater areas that endanger human health by issuing federal water quality permits to concentrated animal feeding operations.

Washington - 2003 - Burn Team: Reducing Smoke in Eastern Washington State from Agricultural Burning

• This Department of Ecology program seeks to reduce the amount of field crop residue that directly impacts the safety and health of citizens breathing in the smoke-filled air. The burn team makes daily burn/no burn decisions for agricultural burning permit holders and provides air quality reports and forecasts to citizens with respiratory illnesses.

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Anti-Terrorism

Alternates

New Jersey - 2005 - Garden State Network Enterprise Intrusion Detection Project

• Created by a partnership between the state and the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC), the project is an effort to thwart cyberterrorists by researching and analyzing the state’s networks and developing an intrusion detection system.

 

Finalists

Pennsylvania - 2004 - Terrorism Awareness and Prevention

• This initiative uses specially trained law enforcement officers to educate citizens about the realities and myths of terrorism. The program strives to help citizens understand the threat of terrorism to our society, explains their part in protecting their community, and offers common sense measures citizens can take to enhance their own security.

 

Semifinalists

New York - 2003 - Office of Public Security Counter Terrorism Network

• This program provides law enforcement personnel throughout the state with timely information on terrorism and potential terrorist threats to enhance knowledge and capabilities in the war against terrorism.

New York - 2003 - Law Enforcement Counter-Terrorism Training and Local Empowerment Program

• A cost-effective initiative, this program enhances the ability of local police agencies to prevent acts of terrorism and to respond safely when acts of terrorism do occur.

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Banks & Financial Institutions

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Business, Commerce, Labor

Winners

Massachusetts - 2010 - Bridging the Opportunity Gap Job Readiness and Employability Initiative

• The Massachusetts Department of Youth Services and the Commonwealth Corporation created the Bridging the Opportunity Gap Job Initiative to help teens released from juvenile justice facilities develop social and vocational skills they need to find and hold jobs. Community organizations, faith based organizations, and vocational schools across the Commonwealth provide services through grants under this initiative. These grants range from $60,000 to $100,000. Services generally involve career planning, vocational training, and internships. Participating teens start with 20 hours of career planning. They learn about good work habits, create resumes, and practice interviewing. This is followed by specific vocational training, like fabricating sheet metal and carpentry, and then an 8 week paid internship. Trained youth can also get certified in some vocations.

Washington - 2010 - Washington Career Bridge

• Years ago, exploring a new career or changing jobs often meant many trips to a library to sift through reams of publications about different professions. Now, Washington residents who are trying to figure out what they want to do in life can get just about everything they need on the Washington Career Bridge. This bridge is a website people can use to investigate 5,000 occupations.

New Jersey - 2007- Knowledge Initiative

• New Jersey is home to many scientists and engineers who become leaders in high tech industry. To create and sustain jobs for this workforce, the state provides many types of assistance to high tech companies of all sizes, including start-up ventures. New Jersey’s Knowledge Initiative is a collaborative effort by public and academic libraries to provide free, electronic access to high-end, proprietary databases, that entrepreneurs, small businesses, and academics could not otherwise afford. The Initiative leveraged $6 million to buy 12 databases that cost nearly $75 million when purchased individually. These databases include scientific and medical journals, and information about high tech companies. Subscribers accessed more than eight million articles through the Initiative during its first 18 months of operation. More than 250 businesses currently use the service, and several of these received grants or venture capital in part because of the information they obtained through the Initiative.

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Courts/Criminal Justice

Winners

Georgia - 2012 - Probation Reporting Contact Center

• More than 80,000 probationers are on standard or low-level community supervision in Georgia. Historically, they had to report to their probation office in person. Georgia set up this contact center to enable such people to use the telephone to report to their probation office and get other help over the phone instead of going in person to a probation office. The center features sophisticated Interactive Voice Response software to route and record calls and 11 trained customer service representatives to deal with more complex questions. It has processed more than 400,000 calls since it began operating in 2010. About 300,000 were fully automated. Customer service representatives handled the remaining 100,000. Intangible benefits provided by the call center include promoting positive behavior by offenders, reduced offender traffic within and outside probation offices, and enhanced staff safety. Tangible benefits include reassigning 90 officers to supervise higher risk offenders and reducing the daily cost of supervising the standard level offender population from $1.68 per offender to 46 cents.

Oklahoma - 2012 - Collaborative Mental Health Reentry Program

• A 2010 study by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections found approximately half of the offenders in the state have a history of, or exhibit some form of a mental health problem. About 26 percent exhibit symptoms of a serious mental illness. And, roughly 40 percent of offenders with a serious mental illness who are discharged return to prison within three years after their release. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections set up this program with the state department of mental health and substance abuse services to design and administer discharge plans for inmates with mental health problems. The goal is to ensure such people get services they need after prison to treat their mental illness, and by doing so, keep them from returning to prison. Integrated Services Discharge Managers coordinate the mental health services discharge planning. Four Reentry Intensive Care Coordination Teams work with offenders before they are discharged and then in the community until they are fully participating in the appropriate community based mental health and substance abuse services. The discharge managers begin working with offenders to apply for Social Security and Medicaid benefits 120 days before the offenders’ scheduled release. This is a key to enabling offenders to get appropriate services. The program has reduced the recidivism rate of participants from 43 percent to 25 percent.
  
  

North Carolina - 2011 - CJLEADS (Criminal Justice Law Enforcement Automated Data Services)

• When police officers respond to a call, they need to know as much information as possible about who they are pursuing or who they will encounter when they arrive on the scene, and particularly if the people they encounter have criminal records. The state designed CJLEADS to collect, integrate, and format data from eight state criminal justice agencies into comprehensive profiles of offenders. It makes those profiles available to criminal justice professionals through a single, Web-based application. The data includes offenders’ criminal histories, photos, and probation and parole records. The system uses software and a complex formula to sort through this information and create the profiles. The state uses these profiles to create watch-lists of dangerous offenders and to alert officers in the field about such offenders.
  

North Carolina - 2011 - PPO Dashboard (Probation/Parole Officer's Dashboard)

• Parole and Probation officers in North Carolina typically manage between 80 and 100 cases. This number is increasing. Keeping track of one parolee or probationer is hard. Keeping track of many is very hard, especially if officers don’t have complete and current information about them, or they need to get that information from several sources in paper formats. The PPO dashboard is an internet-based application that uses information from the department of corrections, the administrative office of the courts, and other related agencies to create daily snapshots of the activities of parolees and probationers throughout the state. These include whether such people have been recently arrested, are scheduled for court dates or home visits, missed court dates, or missed appointments with their probation and parole officers. High priority items are flagged red. Lower priority items are flagged yellow. The dashboard also contains important anecdotal information such as whether a parolee or probationer has a job or is still showing up at work.
  

Indiana - 2010 - Indiana Court Information Transmission Extranet (INcite)

• New regulations and new laws often mean more work for state agencies. But, in many cases, those agencies must pick up the additional work with the same or even fewer resources. That means state agencies must develop new tools to work more efficiently. The Indiana Court Information Transmission Extranet is an outstanding example of such a tool. INcite consists of a dedicated electronic network, a website, and software that enables local governments in Indiana to exchange data with several state agencies for a variety of purposes. The Judicial Technology and Automation Committee of the Indiana Supreme Court set up INcite in 2005 to enable county courts to send traffic case conviction information electronically to the state bureau of motor vehicles. The state did this to comply with federal Commercial Drivers License regulations. At that time, most courts across the state sent the information by mail or fax. That amounted to about 10,000 paper records per week, and it took 20 staff to process those records. With INcite, the bureau now processes more than 13,000 records each week from 300 courts around the state, with less staff, and in significantly less time than in 2005.

New Jersey - 2009 - Regional Assessment Centers / State News / Presentation

• Historically, 85 percent of the parolees who return to prison in New Jersey were Technical Parole Violators. Technical Parole Violators are parolees who violate some conditions of their supervision but have not been charged with a new crime or significantly threaten public safety. Many of these people struggle with addictions and mental health problems that increase their chances of violating parole. In 2008, New Jersey’s State Parole Board partnered with Community Education Centers to operate 2 Regional Assessment Treatment Centers to temporarily hold technical parole violators and to clinically evaluate and treat their physical and mental illnesses. These centers are in Newark and Trenton. Once arrested, violators typically stay 15 to 30 days at the centers. The State Parole Board then uses the information collected at the centers about the parolees in hearings to determine whether the parolees should get intensified community supervision, get specialized treatment in the community, or have their parole revoked.
  

Kentucky - 2009 - Re-entry Hotline

• In 2007, the Kentucky Department of Corrections started a 24-hour toll-free hotline to provide information about job training, complying with parole, and social services to callers who are just out of prison. Department staff believed such support would help ex-offenders adjust to life after prison, particularly since those people often need or want help at times when many agencies and businesses are not open. The hotline is staffed by inmates who are receiving treatment for substance abuse and are at the end of their prison terms. These inmates volunteer to staff the hotline. They are given the title Reentry Specialists. Corrections Department staff provide the resources and train these volunteers to handle the calls. Corrections staff believe the inmates who operate the hotline relate well to callers because of their common backgrounds. Thirteen volunteers usually staff the hotline throughout any month. The hotline is averaging 3000 calls each year since it began.

Pennsylvania - 2008 - Program Evaluation Research System (PERS)

• This Program Evaluation Research System uses funding from external sources such as foundations and universities to hire academics and corrections experts to evaluate department programs and operations. These partnerships enable the department to conduct independent, credible evaluations at minimal cost to its operating budget. Recent participants include Temple University, the National Institute of Justice, and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. To date, the department has leveraged more than $2.7 million in external funding through 17 major grants to support evaluation.

Michigan - 2008 - Video Testimony Project

• Historically, scientists in the Forensic Science Division of the Michigan State Police testify in court about 1,000 times each year. This figure does not account for the 25-30 percent of the time scientists travel to court but don't testify because trials are rescheduled. Both situations inhibit the ability of the scientists to complete casework because they are out of the lab. Michigan's Video Testimony Project will eliminate wasted time and travel by enabling forensic scientists working in seven laboratories in the state to provide video testimony at proceedings in more than 50 courts around the state. Initial trials of the system have saved the division more than 2,300 miles in actual travel, many hours of travel time, and hundreds of dollars for gasoline and meals.

South Dakota - 2008 - 24/7 Sobriety Program

• Historically in South Dakota, many of the men and women in the state’s correctional system had chronic drug or alcohol abuse problems, and many of these people were behind bars because of several DUI charges. Keeping such people locked up seemed to be the only way to keep repeat DUI offenders sober and to protect the public from their bad driving habits. However, that strategy is expensive and takes up valuable space that could be used to house violent criminals. South Dakota developed its 24/7 Sobriety Program as an alternative. Participants in this program are repeat DUI offenders who must appear twice a day at testing locations and pass a breathalyzer test. They are also subject to random urinalysis tests. If they miss an appointment or fail a test, they go directly to jail. If they pass the tests, they can remain in the community, stay with their families, and keep their jobs – a win-win for the offenders and the state. More than 6,000 people have participated in the program since it began. Collectively, they have taken more than 1 million tests and passed more than 99 percent of the time.

Connecticut - 2006 - New Haven Regional Children’s Probate Court

• This initiative combined the child custody and neglect docket of ten probate court districts in the New Haven area into one location as a regional court. The resulting increase in interagency cooperation between the court and the state department of children and families enables judges to make more informed decisions about terminating parental rights, assigning guardianship, and making emergency placements of children into foster care. As part of the consolidation, the state also created Probate Court Officers. These officers have graduate degrees in family therapy or social work. They advise judges about family dynamics in court cases, facilitate case management conferences, and work with parents to maintain or regain custody of their children. Results indicate that since the regional court began operating in 2004, more than half of the children who have been placed in foster care by the regional court have improved their school grades, behaved better in school, and are involved in community activities.

Kentucky - 2006 - Jail Mental Health Crisis Network / State News / Presentation

• This Network is a statewide service to help corrections officers in 80 county jails screen incoming prisoners for mental illness and to determine whether those prisoners are at risk of committing suicide. The network consists of two standardized risk screening instruments; a telephonic triage staffed by licensed mental health professionals who help assess the level of mental health risk for a prisoner; protocols to follow for each risk level; and follow up services provided by regional mental health boards. The network has resulted in uniform mental health screening and booking procedures in most jails throughout the state and helped reduce prisoner suicides by 88 percent during the 30 months since the network was implemented.

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Domestic Relations

Winners

North Dakota - 2007 - Parental Responsibility Initiative for the Development of Employment (PRIDE)

• PRIDE provides case management and support services to help ensure noncustodial parents find and keep jobs so they can pay child support. PRIDE is an alternative to incarceration when a parent is held in contempt of court for not paying child support. A court order referring someone to PRIDE begins a process by which a caseworker from Job Service North Dakota and the parent develop a comprehensive employment plan for the parent. The plan can also include services from the State’s TANF Program, vocational rehabilitation, and mental health, and substance abuse programs, which are within the same umbrella agency. Linking these services has been very successful. So far, more than seventy percent of PRIDE participants have found jobs. Their average monthly child support payment increased by 88 percent, and their rate of nonpayment decreased by about 18 percent.
  

Virginia - 2007 - Division of Child Support Enforcement Cell Phone Records Initiative

• People who refuse to pay child support are often hard to find. But many of these same people own cell phones, and their cell phone account information usually lists their current address. Virginia’s Cell Phone Records Initiative is a joint effort between the Division of Child Support and Office of the Attorney General to use administrative subpoenas to get subscriber records from the largest cell phone providers in Virginia, and to use those subscriber records to help find parents who are delinquent in paying child support. More than 375 people were located through the Initiative after it began operating and they began paying child support. The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement recognized Virginia’s program in 2006 as a best practice.

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Education

Winners

 

West Virginia - 2010 - Games for Health

• It's no secret that kids today spend a lot of time in front of computers and other electronic media. For better or worse, the days of playing outside like many of us did as kids seem to be over. However, staff with the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency developed Games for Health as a fun way to combat obesity by getting kids to use their screen time to exercise at school. Games for Health is a partnership between several state agencies and Konami Entertainment Corporation to set up Konami's Dance Dance Revolution video game in schools throughout the state. The state chose Dance Dance Revolution because kids must be physically active to play, they can play it indoors, and because the game provides an alternative to traditional PE activities that some kids can't or won't play. The equipment costs about $850 per school. This buys two dance mats, a PlayStation 2, and the Dance Dance Revolution video game. West Virginia University staff administers the project and trains school PE teachers to use the game and promote it to students. Their goal is to get kids to play at least 30 minutes a day. As of 2010, program staff had set up the game in 142 elementary schools, 166 middle schools, and 93 high schools.

 

New Mexico - 2009 - Innovative Digital Education and Learning New Mexico (IDEAL-NM)

• This Initiative provides eLearning services to New Mexico P-12 schools, higher education institutions and government agencies. More than 1,300 students from 53 districts, 13 charter schools and three nonpublic schools have registered to use the system since the Web site launched in 2008. The site’s Higher Education Clearinghouse lists more than 2,000 courses offered online by colleges and universities. The initiative reduces geographic and capacity barriers to educational opportunity while increasing the digital literacy skills students need to compete in a global economy. Eventually, teachers and state employees will be able to get professional training through this Web site.

Hawaii - 2003 - Hawaii 3Rs: Repair, Remodel and Restore Program

• This program matches public funds with volunteers from private industry, reducing the $450 million of needed maintenance and repairs in the state’s schools and promoting community involvement in the school system.
  

Iowa - 2003 - Pollution Prevention (P2) Intern Program

• This program places college graduate and upper level undergraduate students in Iowa's businesses, industries and governmental agencies for a 12-week period to help identify, evaluate and implement ecological and economical solutions for specific environmental issues or problems.

Pennsylvania - 2003 - Basic Education/Higher Education Science and Technology Partnership

• Through this program, mobile educators are able to work directly with classroom teachers and deliver fully prepared experimental materials and equipment to ensure that state-of-the-art, hands-on laboratory experiences in biology and chemistry are a regular part of the science curriculum for secondary students throughout Pennsylvania regardless of school district wealth.

Washington - 2003 - Tri-Phase Initiative

• State architects, engineers, project managers and facility planners provide condition assessment, project cost estimates, capital planning, project management and public works training to the state’s 297 school districts, bringing professional state facilities expertise and resources to K-12 school facility projects.

Alternates

Minnesota - 2005 - eFolio Minnesota

• This program provides Minnesota students and residents the ability to construct and deploy a free, multimedia, Web-based showcase of their educational and work force accomplishments.

Washington - 2004 - Spokane Youth Social Responsibility Project

• In a cooperative effort between the state Department of Correction and high schools in the Spokane area, this program offers social responsibility training classes to at-risk high school students. The idea behind the program is to correct the negative behavior of at-risk students before they become involved in the criminal justice system.

Wisconsin - 2004 - School Aids Financial Reporting (SAFR)

• Enabling school districts to submit data via the Internet to the state Department of Education, this program helps the state to calculate and distribute $4.2 billion in general aid to 426 school districts.

Finalists

Tennessee - 2005 - Exemplary Educator (EE)

• This targeted technical assistance program which assists high priority state identified schools in reading, language, math and writing utilizes the expertise of recently retired exemplary educators. Over the past four years, approximately one-third of Tennessee's initially identified schools have moved off the list with the help of this program.

Nevada - 2004 - Academic Preparation for Limited English Speakers

• This program helps increase the English language skills and computer literacy of academically under-prepared, limited English proficient adults who reside in Clark County, Nev. The program also offers academic and career guidance to participants.

South Dakota - 2004 - 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.

Semifinalists

Connecticut - 2003 - Higher Education Asset Protection Program

• This program evaluates the condition of Connecticut’s public higher education facilities through a comprehensive facility condition assessment. The program includes physical inspections of buildings and uses a Web-based database application to assist each institution with capital planning and management.

Delaware - 2003 - Models of Excellence in Education

• This initiative identifies schools that improve student achievement and seeks to learn from their success, and to recognize and share their “best practices” with other schools, fostering the development of a statewide education network designed to improve the performance of all schools.

Illinois - 2003 - After-school Initiative Task Force

• Co-chaired by the Department of Human Services and the State Board of Education, this task force brought together leaders in youth development, human services and education to evaluate and coordinate the state’s after-school services.

Louisiana - 2003 - Computers for Louisiana’s Kids

• This multipurpose initiative takes donated computers – thereby reducing the amount of electronic waste in public landfills – refurbishes them, and distributes them to needy schools. Prison inmates and high school students learn how to refurbish the machines, which gives them marketable skills.

Michigan - 2003 - Wireless Learning (Learning Without Limits)

• This program is designed to improve student achievement by providing K-12 students with access to 21st century learning tools, and eventually to achieve one-to-one access to wireless computing in all Michigan schools. The program provides funds for computers, software and related expenses.

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Elections/Political Conditions

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Energy & Environment

Winners

South Dakota - 2012 - Black Hills Forest Initiative

• South Dakota is dealing with a mountain pine beetle infestation in the Black Hills. The epidemic has impacted 420,000 acres of forest land. Hillsides are covered with dead and dying pine trees. The forest ecosystem is threatened, tourism is declining, timber supplies are threatened, and the potential for wildfires in the area is increasing. This South Dakota initiative is a comprehensive strategy by the state department of agriculture that uses public and private resources to control the spread of and mitigate the damage from these beetles. It involves increasing public awareness of the problem; coordinating federal, state, and local suppression efforts; and developing new methods to eradicate the beetles. The state uses GPS technology to map beetle infestations and to predict where they will spread. It publishes this information on the Internet. Officials use a variety of techniques to attack the bugs. These include baiting, cutting, chunking, peeling, wrapping, and chipping infested trees. More than 215,000 have been treated so far. This includes more than 115,000 trees on private lands and almost 100,000 trees in Custer State Park. Private landowners can apply to the state for funds to help pay part of the cost of treating infected trees on their land. Wyoming and Nebraska are now using techniques from this South Dakota program to treat similar infestations.

Colorado - 2011 - "eForm" (Oil and Gas Permitting Electronic Regulatory Form Filing)

• The Colorado Oil and Gas Commission developed this Web-based software to automate applying for, reviewing, and approving permits to site oil and gas wells in the state. People can access eForm at the Commission’s website. Here they are guided through a series of steps in a dashboard format which are determined by whether they are a well operator, agency staff, or member of the public. eForm reduced the average time it takes to process an oil or gas permit application from 45 days to 30 days. It added transparency to that process, and it streamlined the flow of information between state agencies and more than 600 well operators. The Colorado Oil and Gas Commission developed eForm with the Groundwater Protection Council, a national association of state ground water and underground injection control agencies. Colorado’s successful implementation of eForm has prompted that association to encourage all its member states to adopt eForm.

New York - 2009 - GreenLITES (Green Leadership in Transportation and Environmental Sustainability)

• GreenLITES is a system the New York State Department of Transportation created in 2008 to ensure and measure the degree to which environmentally sustainable features and practices are incorporated into the roads, bridges and related infrastructure it builds and maintains. The Department rates its projects against 150 criteria under five categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Quality, Materials & Resources, Energy & Atmosphere, and Innovation/Unlisted. For example, the degree that a new project preserves existing green space is one of several criteria which are scored under the Sustainable Sites Category. Adding buffer strips between highways and streams is another. Department projects are assigned scores and ultimately certified as GreenLITES Certified, GreenLITES Silver, GreenLITES Gold or GreenLITES Evergreen. Projects with the highest number of sustainable features are deemed GreenLITES Evergreen. New York is the first state to implement an environmental sustainability rating program for state transportation projects.

Michigan - 2009 - Water Withdrawal Assessment Process

• Michigan’s Water Withdrawal Assessment Process is used by the state Department of Environmental Quality to help regulate projects that withdraw large quantities of surface water or groundwater throughout the state. The assessment uses a variety of criteria to determine whether such projects must register with the department or get a permit. Applicants can estimate how their water withdrawal proposal might impact surrounding cosystems via a unique Web-based screening tool. Only those applications that indicate an adverse effect are referred to the department for a special site review.

Indiana - 2007 - BioTown, USA

• BioTown USA is a three-step project to turn Reynolds, Indiana into a model community that is energy self-sufficient. Plans call for having the infrastructure in place in 2008 to generate enough electricity from local sources to power the town and sell some to the regional utility. At that point, Reynolds will become the first community to go “off the grid” by replacing traditional electricity and natural gas supplies with energy generated from waste products. BioTown will showcase efficient methods to convert biomass into energy, encourage the use of biodiesel and ethanol, and promote using bioenergy to fuel homes and businesses throughout town. Replacing the town’s fleet with flex-fuel vehicles is an early example of this ongoing effort. Others include building a digester and gasifier to convert animal and municipal waste into energy sources.

North Carolina - 2007 - Utility Savings Initiative for State Facilities

• North Carolina’s Utility Savings Initiative for State Facilities is a comprehensive effort to change the operations of state agencies and universities to lower the energy costs of state buildings and to reduce energy consumption by state buildings by 20% within five years. The Initiative includes auditing utility bills to correct errors, optimizing utility rates, analyzing supplier quality and reliability, performing facility and equipment energy audits, and providing awareness and training about energy conservation to agency staff. For example, the State Energy Office, in consultation with electric utilities, reviewed more than 5,000 accounts to determine appropriate electricity rates based upon specific load factors. Another activity involved fine-tuning the HVAC controls in public buildings to ensure the HVAC systems run at optimal levels. More than 60 state agencies and universities have participated in the Initiative, which has saved the state more than $62 million.
  

Iowa - 2003 - Pollution Prevention (P2) Intern Program

• This program places college graduate and upper level undergraduate students in Iowa's businesses, industries and governmental agencies for a 12-week period to help identify, evaluate and implement ecological and economical solutions for specific environmental issues or problems.

Alternates

North Carolina - 2005 - Ecosystem Enhancement Program (EEP)

• The initiative restores and protects that state’s natural resources and assists responsible economic growth, proactively compensating for unavoidable environmental damage to North Carolina’s wetlands and waterways.

Vermont - 2005 - Comprehensive Environmental Resource Management Plan (CERMP)

• This program establishes a single source within state government for identifying and advancing the environmental sustainability of state government operations.

North Carolina - 2003 - State Facilities Utility Savings Initiative

• To reduce utility expenditures and conserve energy and water through no- and low-cost measures, this initiative provides tools to 25 state agencies and 17 universities. Rate reviews of utility bills, operations and maintenance surveys and sample building monitoring, and comprehensive training in energy management are tools used to achieve savings.

Finalists

Maryland - 2005 - Chesapeake Bay Watershed Restoration Fund

• This program establishes a new funding mechanism to support capital improvements to wastewater treatment plants and other measures essential to the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. The program helps generate revenue by implementing new fees on the use of septic systems and in water and sewer bills.

Michigan - 2005 - Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP)

• In order to develop and promote a recognized, voluntary and proactive environmental assurance program targeted to Michigan's agriculture industry, this program ensures that producers engage in cost-effective pollution prevention practices and are in compliance with applicable state and federal environmental regulations. MAEAP uses a systems approach based on education, site-specific risk assessments and third party verification that is developed for all Michigan farms, regardless of size, commodity or species.

Minnesota - 2005 - Strategic Conservation Agenda

• This program uses new approaches for defining and measuring progress toward statewide natural resources results. The program also uses 85 specific indicators and targets to measure results in six performance areas: natural lands, fish and wildlife, waters and watersheds, forests, outdoor recreation and natural resources stewardship education.

Tennessee - 2005 - Southeast Alternative Fuels Task Force

• This team comprised of state environmental officers, energy officers, transportation officers, Clean Cities coalitions and private sector stakeholders works together to advance the use of cleaner burning fuels in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. The task force is currently focused on developing refueling corridors and accompanying support tactics so that by 2010, facilities that provide biodiesel and ethanol will be strategically located along key interstate highways.

Hawaii - 2004 - From Pollutant to Power: Transforming Marine Debris to Energy

• This program created a process by which discarded commercial fishnets are burned at the state’s garbage-to-energy plant to generate electricity instead of being sent to a landfill.

New Hampshire - 2004 - Full Quantity Generator Certification Program

• This program requires hazardous waste generators in the state that produce more than 220 pounds of hazardous waste in a month to have a hazardous waste coordinator on staff at the facility where the waste is generated. The coordinator must be certified annually by the state Department of Environmental Services.

New York - 2004 - Distributed Generation–Combined Heat and Power Program

• The program supports development of distributed generation and thermally activated technologies and sub-systems in a variety of applications through showcasing new technologies in various innovative, replicable combined heat and power applications. Its goal is to make clean and efficient onsite generation a viable option for New Yorkers.

Ohio - 2004 - Oil and Gas Emergency Management Web site

• This Web site provides the oil and gas industry, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and local emergency responders with immediate access to up-to-date information about oil and gas well ownership, emergency contacts, location, oil storage capacity, production history and other data necessary to respond to an oil spill, gas leak or well fire.

• Wisconsin - 2004 - Community Mercury Reduction Program
  This program is a partnership between the state Department of Natural Resources and 20 municipalities to reduce the use of mercury-containing products in the state and to increase mercury recycling, this program targets entities that have historically used mercury products, including hospitals, dental offices, schools and HVAC contractors.

Semifinalists

Illinois - 2003 - Emission Reduction Market System

• Operated by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, this system allows participating companies to buy, sell or trade units of ozone-producing emissions. This market-based program was designed to reduce atmospheric ozone and improve air quality.

Minnesota - 2003 - Fisheries Easement Formulation Process

• Minnesota’s Division of Fisheries designed this program to acquire stream easements to provide recreational and management access and to protect critical riparian habitat. These easements are acquired using a cost-efficient and creative formula that was adopted into state law.

New York - 2003 - Clean Fueled Vehicles Program

• This program is a coordinated effort to assist state agencies, authorities and universities in acquiring and utilizing clean fueled vehicles and to develop a statewide network of fueling stations to support the vehicles.

South Dakota and Nebraska - 2003 - Purple Loosestrife Management Project

• A joint initiative between the two states 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.

South Dakota - 2003 - 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.

Utah - 2003 - Strategy to Address Water Pollution from Animal Feeding Operations

• This program is a partnership between the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and the state’s agricultural community. Its goal is to reduce the amount of polluted surface and groundwater areas that endanger human health by issuing federal water quality permits to concentrated animal feeding operations.

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Fiscal & Economic Development

Finalists

California - 2004 - Abusive Tax Shelter Program

• This state Franchise Tax Board initiative aggressively attacks abusive tax shelters through a multidisciplinary approach. This includes spearheading legislation that increased penalties for investors in and promoters of abusive tax shelters, redirecting staff auditors to focus on abusive tax shelters, and a Voluntary Compliance Initiative similar to one the IRS uses.

Semifinalists

California - 2003 - Integrated Nonfiler Compliance System

• This system is designed to obtain tax returns from individuals and businesses that have not filed returns. The program’s goals are to improve compliance with tax laws, increase revenue, improve customer service, and organize the income and income activity data for all of the California Franchise Tax Board’s programs.

Iowa - 2003 - Tax Gap Compliance Program

• This program uses technology to help the Department of Revenue and Finance accurately collect all taxes owed to the state. Through a combination of data warehousing and a customized software application, the program has generated $26 million more in tax revenues than the baseline collections during the three-year development and implementation period.

South Dakota - 2003 - 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.

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Winners

Washington - 2012 - Innovation Partnership Zones

• Innovation Partnership Zones (IPZs) are formally designated areas wherein businesses, government, and academic institutions work together to promote economic development. The zones are designed around specific industry clusters within geographic regions in the state. IPZs are administered by an economic development council, port, workforce development council, city, or county. The administering agency must develop a business plan and apply to the state department of commerce to be designated an IPZ. These must reapply every four years to keep that designation. Currently, there are 15 IPZs. These target a variety of fields, including green IT, medical devices, clean transportation, alternative energies, semi-conductors, viticulture, water management, and aerospace. The Bellingham IPZ is one example. Western Washington University’s Vehicle Research Institute is partnering with regional transit agencies and businesses in this zone to design and build a light weight hybrid para-transit bus prototype that can be mass produced. The Federal Transit Administration awarded a $730,000 grant to fund the project.

Michigan - 2005 - Michigan SmartZones

• Collaborations among universities, industry, research organizations, government and other local institutions have resulted in regionally based high-tech zones which target growth in a specific economic sector that fits the geographic region’s strengths and needs, creating clusters of high-skilled, high-paying jobs.

New Mexico - 2004 - New Mexico 9000

• To help state companies comply with the International Organization for Standardization criteria for quality management (ISO 9000), this certification training consists of 16 three-hour or eight six-hour classroom sessions over the course of a year or less.

Nevada - 2005 - International Representatives Program

• This program developed a number of international offices around the world to represent the state’s economic, trade and investment interests. Because the offices are kept with independent representatives paid by clients on both sides of a deal, they increase state exports, establish a network of strategic foreign representatives and do not cost the state any money.

Ohio - 2003 - Ohio Business Gateway

• This program is a Web-based filing and payment system that allows business taxpayers to file and pay various state level taxes to different state agencies at one Web site electronically for free. The program is designed to provide a "one stop shop" for businesses to comply with a variety of state agency tax and reporting requirements, including sales tax, employer withholding, worker's compensation, unemployment compensation and unclaimed funds.

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Government Operations

Illinois - 2005 - Shared Services Model

• State legal services, internal audits, facilities management, fleet management, information technology and media relations functions have been consolidated into the Department of Central Management Services (CMS), centralizing and standardizing the states’ procurement process and saving Illinois hundreds of millions of dollars.

Iowa - 2004 - Charter Agencies

• Under this program, six agency directors volunteer to sign agreements with the governor promising to meet specific performance goals. In exchange, the directors are granted greater flexibility and more authority to run their agencies in a manner that will achieve the performance goals, including making their own decisions about personnel, purchasing and technology.

New York - 2004 - Health Emergency Response Data System (HERDS)

• Serving as a central repository of information related to health emergencies, the system identifies human resources and hospital assets that can be directed to enhance responses. HERDS is linked to the state health department’s communications directory and notification system to provide backup and integration within the department’s overall emergence communications structure.

Washington - 2004 - Priorities of Government (POG)

• This program establishes results-oriented priorities for state services to help develop the state budget based on what citizens expect from state government. Lawmakers propose results they believe citizens want from government, establish priorities and allocate funds accordingly in a strategic approach to state government budgeting.

Alternates

Virginia - 2005 - Council on Virginia’s Future

• Developed to create a new policy-making framework for the 21st century, the program balances continuous improvement of the daily delivery of services to citizens with breakthrough thinking to effect long-term, positive quality-of-life changes.

Florida - 2004 - State Emergency Operations Center Mapper

• Within 15 to 30 minutes after impending and current disaster information is received in the emergency operations center, the data is available online statewide to emergency responders and the public.

Washington - 2003 - Strategic Forecast Support System

• This program integrates proven emergency management tools, such as Geographic Information Systems, the Federal Emergency Management Information System and satellite data, to identify and assess all hazards in the state.

Finalists

Massachusetts - 2005 - Shared Services Model Hiring Reform Program

• This program sought to fix a redundant, expensive, prolonged and frustrating hiring process. By forming a partnership with state agencies, utilizing technology and assuming more of an oversight role, the Human Resources Division developed a set of new hiring guidelines that reduced the hiring time by 85 percent.

Michigan - 2005 - Statewide Earned Income Tax Credit Coalition Initiative

• This partnership among the governor's office, the Department of Human Services and communities throughout Michigan provides affordable, ethical access to tax preparation services to the working poor that yields a cost-effective method enabling eligible workers to increase household income by gaining federal and state tax refunds.

California - 2004 - Rent Reduction Program

• This proactive strategy to reduce the cost of leased state facilities includes such actions as terminating leases, reducing the amount of space under lease, consolidating leased space, backfilling excess space before adding new space, and negotiating rapid rent reductions with current lessors.

Delaware - 2004 - Partner$ in Procurement

• Using Internet auctions, leveraged procurement practices and sophisticated electronic tracking to save money on state purchases of goods and services, this program helps ensure the state is buying the products it needs while saving money.

Iowa - 2004 - Construction Permitting Business Improvement Program

• This program streamlines the process of issuing construction permits by eliminating unnecessary steps, adopting more user-friendly application forms, and implementing a hotline. These actions have reduced the average time for issuing a permit from 62 to 11 days.

Iowa - 2004 - Iowa Excellence

• Using techniques from the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program to improve state agency performance, this program includes rigorous agency self-assessments and planning.

Minnesota - 2004 - Negotiations Module

• A central system that provides a range of work force information, contract costing tools, and final contract settlement reports directly to management teams before, during and after contract negotiations with labor unions, this program allows for one-click work force information for use in reporting to customers.

Missouri - 2004 - Department of Insurance Licensing Section Self-Directed Work Team Program

• This program reorganized the Missouri Department of Insurance Licensing section from a traditional supervisor decision-making model into three teams of six or seven licensing technicians who work under a team leader.

New York - 2004 - Transitional Opportunities Program (TOP)

• This program provides special services to help low-income families transition from public assistance to the work force, serving working families with active cash assistance cases and those families that have transitioned off of cash assistance due to earnings.

South Dakota - 2004 - 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.

Semifinalists

Illinois - 2003 - Operation Protect and Provide

• This program gives low interest loans to military Reserves and National Guard members from Illinois who are called up for active duty. The State Treasurer’s Office has pledged millions of dollars in low-interest loans through local financial institutions throughout the state.

Ohio - 2003 - Project Employee

• This program creates a new category of appointed state employees which allows state agencies to hire union workers to fill short-term positions created through state and federal grants. The new designation avoids some of the more cumbersome aspects of the traditional hiring process, benefiting both state agencies and unions.

Ohio - 2003 - Parks Subcontracting Process

• This process is designed to determine when it is more economical and efficient to contract work out, and when it’s best to use existing staff. The process was developed through a collaborative agreement between labor and management in the Department of Natural Resources.

 

Pennsylvania - 2003 - Center for Workforce Information and Analysis New Hire Data Mart

• This program provides functional access to the center’s employment data to increase the effectiveness of new hire reporting in Pennsylvania. To accomplish this goal, several data sources are extracted, transformed and loaded into the center’s centralized data mart.

South Dakota - 2003 - 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.

Washington - 2003 - Barrier-Free Checklist for Leased Facilities

• This program is used by state government to make leased facilities more accessible to people with disabilities. General Administration and tenant agencies use the checklist to assess accessibility when initially leasing space, renewing leases, evaluating accessibility in existing facilities and in planning barrier removal.

Washington - 2003 - Utilization and Cost Containment Initiative

• This program was designed to find inefficiencies and lower expenditures in the state’s Medicaid program, without reducing benefits or eligibility. This initiative saved the state $50 million between July 2001 and June 2003.

Wisconsin - 2003 - I Owe You Campaign

• This marketing campaign targets veterans, providing information about state and federal benefits available to them. The campaign’s slogan is “You served me when I called, now it is time for me to help you.” 

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Health

Winners

Arizona - 2012 - Central Arizona Programmatic Suicide Deterrent System

• This program strives to reduce the suicide rate of people with serious mental illnesses. They are six to 12 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. This program trains mental health professionals in the public health system to better recognize and treat these patients. It adapts national standards such as the Harvard Medical School Guide to Suicide Assessment and Intervention to help diagnose the risk of suicide among the targeted population. It uses Assertive Community Treatment Teams to ensure people with serious mental illnesses get appropriate care from community mental health care systems instead of psychiatric hospitals. More than 2000 professionals have been trained so far. The suicide rate of the targeted population has declined by 42 percent and the average number of that population who are admitted to psychiatric hospitals has been cut in half. This program won the National Council of Community Behavioral Healthcare’s 2012 Service Innovation Award.

Nebraska - 2011 - WellnessOptions

• In 2009, Nebraska launched a comprehensive wellness program for state employees to encourage them to live healthy lifestyles and use more preventive health care. That program is generally available to all employees.
  However, the state subsequently took the idea one step further by creating and offering a Wellness PPO to state employees. This is a health insurance plan for state employees that bases premiums in part on their efforts to maintain healthy lifestyles. It combines wellness activities and traditional PPO benefits into a single plan. It is a new, lower-priced option to the other traditional health insurance plans the state offers to its employees. Nebraska is the first state to offer state workers a Wellness PPO health insurance plan, and about 5,000 employees are currently in that plan. To qualify for the Wellness PPO plan, employees must undergo biometric screening, fill out an online questionnaire about their health, and enroll in one of four wellness activities. They must do this annually. The biometric screening records employees’ height, weight, blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, and glucose levels. This information is supplemented by answers employees provide in the online questionnaire. That addresses lifestyle behavior, health histories, and the employees’ current health status.

Wisconsin - 2010 - BadgerCare Plus

• BadgerCare Plus is an innovative strategy Wisconsin used to expand health care to state residents and to simplify the administration of its public health programs. The state created BadgerCare Plus in 2008 by consolidating the Medicaid, Healthy Start and SCHIP programs into one program. Doing this enabled the state department of health to standardize 8 different income tests and deductions used by those programs and to streamline the process to apply for benefits under the new consolidated program. BadgerCare Plus covers all kids regardless of income. It covers parents and relative caregivers up to 200% of the federal poverty level. And it covers childless, low-income adults who meet certain criteria. That population had little or no access to public health benefits before BadgerCare Plus. The program includes a pay-for-performance requirement to hold health plans accountable for results, and it uses a Clinical Advisory Committee on Health and Emerging Technology to advise the secretary of the department of health about appropriate benefits.

Washington - 2010 - Health Technology Assessment Program

• The Washington Health Care Authority set up this program in 2007 to ensure the treatments it pays for under its state sponsored health insurance plans and Medicaid are effective. The program works like this. The Health Care Authority Administrator selects eight things to be assessed each year. These can be medical and surgical devices and procedures, medical equipment, and diagnostic tests. Assessments can be ordered for new technologies or when existing technologies are used in new ways. Calcium storing and hip resurfacing are two examples. The Authority then contracts with researchers to review evidence and evaluate the applicable devices, procedures, or tests. The researchers use information from clinical trials and case studies in their reviews. The National Institute of Clinical Effectiveness is one of many information sources at their disposal.The researchers then compile reports and assign ratings about whether the scientific evidence demonstrates that the selected health technologies are safe, effective, and affordable. The state posts these reports online for public comment. After that, an independent committee of health care practitioners uses the reports and comments to determine if the state should cover the selected medical devices, procedures, and tests.

Delaware - 2008 - DelaWELL

• DelaWELL is a comprehensive program to improve state employees’ health and slow the rising cost of their health insurance. The program offers health screening, health risk assessments, lifestyle coaching, health seminars, a financial incentive, and exercise events such as run/walks, to enable participants to get and stay fit. For example, people who take the health risk assessment and biometric screening get a $100 pre-tax bonus. The program started as a small pilot project with only 100 participants, but quickly grew to nearly 68,000 participants. Its success helped keep state employee-paid health care contributions flat for an unprecedented three years in a row. The program is now open to more than 60,000 state employees, their spouses, and retirees under 65 years old.

• This special, high-tech call center was created by the Georgia Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Addictive Diseases in partnership with Behavioral Health Link, a private company. The call center provides citizens with 24-hour crisis intervention and access to the public health system. Licensed clinicians and trained counselors triage calls, identify treatment options, and schedule or otherwise connect callers with a wide array of service providers. These include state hospitals, social service agencies, private counselors, emergency rooms, and law enforcement. Three out of four callers are seeking help for themselves or a loved one. One in four callers is a professional. Callers are never put on hold. A typical call lasts seven minutes, but can last up to three hours. State officials estimate The Georgia Crisis and Access Line has saved the state more than $12 million by referring callers to appropriate community mental health resources instead of unnecessary hospital emergency room trips. In general, helping desperate people in crisis is priceless.

Arizona - 2007 - Health-e Connection

• Arizona officials set up this initiative to establish a statewide network to enable public and private health agencies to share health data electronically. Stakeholders include payers, healthcare providers, healthcare consumers, researchers, and government agencies. The purpose of the Health-e Connection was fivefold:
  • ensure health information is available at the point of care for all patients;
  • reduce medical errors and duplicative medical procedures;
  • better coordinate care between hospitals, physicians, and other health professionals;
  • further health care research; and
  • increase consumer knowledge about their own health care.
  The state expected the Health-e Connection to save approximately $2 billion a year in health care costs to Arizona citizens.
  

Kansas - 2006 - Pharmaceutical Collaborative

• This program used the state department of corrections contract with a healthcare provider and a pharmaceutical supplier to offer bulk pharmaceutical pricing to state and local government agencies that might not otherwise be able to obtain bulk pricing. The program has provided an estimated cost savings of over 7 million dollars statewide. The average savings for small rural counties was up to six thousand dollars per month, while the average savings for larger metropolitan areas was more than two hundred thousand dollars per month. The pharmacy collaborative also generated other ideas of cooperative government throughout the state such as health care recruitment cost sharing between counties, cooperative program implementation with local health departments in areas of staffing, pharmacy supplies, housing, and sharing mental health treatment resources.

Texas - 2006 - Money Follows the Person

• This program allows patients in a Medicaid-certified nursing facility to move back into the community and continue to use Medicaid to pay for community-based health services. Additional community slots do not have to be created for this population nor are these transfers counted against the legislatively appropriated number of community client “slots.” Money Follows the Person has enabled the state to successfully rebalance a previous institutional bias in long term care funding as it impacts an aging and/or disabled population and meet the mandate of the Supreme Court’s 1999 ruling regarding Olmstead vs. L.C. Indeed, from September 2001, through December 2005, 10,156 people transferred from nursing facilities into the community. Approximately two-thirds of these people were older than 65 years. A significant number were in their 80s and 90s. Twelve were older than 100 years. Of the number who transferred, 5,597 remain in the community.

Alabama - 2005 - BioTrac

• This program examines the three basic components of patient care—cost, delivery and patient compliance—as one package that can be used to determine the best treatment plan for patients. Medicaid participants given a medical device that records weight, blood pressure, blood glucose and other physiologic signs transmit the medical information into a statewide database, which is then used by the state to formulate cost calculations, and by the state health department to identify gaps in patient care.

New York - 2005 - Pharmacy Service and Clinical Knowledge Enhancement System (PSYCKES)

• A health information technology product implemented in the state mental health system provides access to medication guidelines and medical information that physicians, other clinicians and quality managers can access. The system is a new and creative method for using administrative and pharmacy data to support clinical decision-making at the individual patient level.

Arkansas - 2004 - Antenatal and Neonatal Guidelines, Education and Learning System (ANGELS)

• This program provides expertise and treatment guidelines for best practices in maternal-fetal care in collaboration with family practitioners and obstetricians throughout the state. In a cooperative effort between Arkansas Department of Human Services and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, ANGELS serves anyone with a high-risk pregnancy.

Delaware - 2004 - Health Rewards

• To empower state employees to make positive health choices and to save money for the state’s self-insured health plan, Delaware created a free, voluntary program under which state employees receive health assessments, lifestyle coaching and other perquisites. Because of improved health, officials estimate the program has saved the health insurance plan $1 million annually.

Minnesota - 2004 - Minnesota Advantage Health Plan

• A cost-tiered system, this health plan has saved the state and employees millions of dollars while creating new levels of competition and incentives for efficiency in the health care market. The state continues to contract with the same three major health carriers for administration and network services, but there is now a single rate and employee contribution for all three plans.

New York - 2004 - Health Emergency Response Data System (HERDS)

• Serving as a central repository of information related to health emergencies, the system identifies human resources and hospital assets that can be directed to enhance responses. HERDS is linked to the state health department’s communications directory and notification system to provide backup and integration within the department’s overall emergence communications structure.

West Virginia - 2004 - Accessible Intelligent Medication Strategies (AIMS)

• Developed by West Virginia University’s School of Pharmacy for the state Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA), the program employs registered pharmacists to educate physicians in their offices to help them prescribe more cost-effective drugs for public employees insured by the agency. The program is an effort to control rising costs while maintaining quality health care.

Arkansas - 2003 - IndependentChoices Program

• This program allows participants of the state Medicaid program to receive a cash allowance to help pay for needed medical services rather than receiving care from a state agency. The allowance may be used in a variety of non-traditional ways to meet personal care needs, allowing consumers to assume more responsibility for their service arrangements.

West Virginia - 2003 - Multi-State Pharmacy Benefit Management Services Program

• This state partnership aggregates drug purchasing powers for a single pharmacy benefit manager to lower the unit costs for services provided, allowing states in the partnership group to enter into a relationship to increase their negotiating power when seeking prescription drug services.

Alternates

Illinois - 2003 - Partners for Inclusive Employment Job Match and Fair

• This program educates employers about the Americans with Disabilities Act and helps match disabled job-seekers with employers.

 

South Dakota - 2003 - 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.

Finalists

Alaska - 2005 - Active Managerial Control

• This program, used by retail food establishment operators, manages risks that contribute to food borne illness. This system includes four components: trained food service work force, standard operating procedures in food establishments, self-assessment and regulation through inspection and enforcement.

Delaware - 2005 - Home and Community Based Services Waiver Individualized Rate Setting Program

• This program is a resource allocation and reimbursement structure based on the needs of individuals with developmental disabilities. It empowers each individual to determine when, where and how his or her services are provided.

Hawaii - 2005 - Hawaii Rx Plus

• A prescription drug assistance program for those who qualify, Hawaii Rx Plus is designed to reduce the price of prescription drugs, keep administrative costs to a minimum, streamline the application process, prevent crowding out the prescription drug benefits already available through the Hawaii Pre-Paid Health Care Act and protect the rights and benefits of Medicaid recipients.

Wisconsin - 2005 - MEDDIC-MS and MEDDIC-MS SSI Rapid Cycle

• This cost-effective automated system measures health care performance and improves the quality of the state’s publicly funded managed health care programs, which is especially important to the financially-pressured state Medicaid program.

Arizona - 2004 - Behavioral Health Assessment and Service Plan Project

• This project led to the design and implementation of a statewide, standardized behavioral health intake, enrollment, assessment, and service planning process for people enrolled in Arizona’s behavioral health system.

Florida - 2004 - Florida Initiative in Telehealth and Education

• In a partnership between the University of Florida’s Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and the Children’s Medical Services Network in Daytona Beach, this program provides telemedicine clinics for children with diabetes and endocrinopathies.

Florida - 2004 - Self-Directed Work Teams

• The Florida Board of Nursing uses these teams to streamline the process for licensing nurses, assign work, solve problems, improve communications and improve performance at the board’s offices. These teams reduced the time it takes to process a license from 33 days to an average of 14.2 days, which has lowered personnel costs for the board, reduced customer complaints and increased the supply of nurses in Florida during a critical shortage.

Illinois - 2004 - All Our Kids Early Childhood Networks

• This program provides comprehensive health care to children under age 5. This includes prenatal care, well-baby checkups, developmental screenings, parenting education, and home visits.

Iowa - 2004 - Lighten Up Iowa

• This program is a statewide team competition that encourages healthy weight loss, physical activity and good nutrition among state employees.

Kansas - 2004 - Child Welfare Mental Health Partnership

• This program increases access to mental health services for youth in state custody, and particularly for those who are involved in serious disturbances.

Minnesota - 2004 - Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Initiative

• This initiative works to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities in the state as experienced by American Indians, people of color and other ethnic groups. The program addresses poverty, racism, language differences, cultural differences, environmental conditions and other factors that can be detrimental to the health of minorities.

Minnesota- 2004 - Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Network

• This program provides support and expertise to families with babies who have hearing problems. It also educates people and doctors about the need to quickly identify and address hearing loss in babies.

Washington - 2004 - 24-Hour Shellfish Safety Screen

• Using a new genetic test to quickly detect bacterial pathogen in shellfish, the Washington State Public Health Laboratories developed this test, which is more sensitive and yields results more quickly than prior methods. This new test enables state shellfish regulators to stop shipments of contaminated products before the shipments reach consumers.

Semifinalists

Florida - 2003 - Florida: A Healthy State

• This public-private collaboration is designed to address the critical health care needs of the state’s Medicaid population suffering from diabetes, hypertension, heart failure and asthma. The initiative is investing in the care of Florida’s chronically ill population through three distinct programs on disease management, health literacy and medical product donations.

Illinois - 2003 - Urban Systems of Care Program

• The Department of Human Services provides mental health and social services for at-risk children and their families who live in 11 Chicago Housing Authority developments. This program bridges the barriers caused by socioeconomic factors, lack of transportation and gang boundaries that may prevent residents from obtaining needed services.

Minnesota - 2003 - Minnesota Disability Health Options (MnDHO)

• This program is a managed health care program for people with disabilities. It integrates Medicaid and Medicare financing and primary, acute and long-term care. All enrollees are assigned an RN health coordinator, who helps them navigate the health care system, live more independently and maintain their health.

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Housing

Winners

Connecticut - 2007 - Supportive Housing Pilot Program

• There is strong evidence that people released from prison become homeless. In addition, many of these former prisoners struggle with drug and alcohol addictions. Many cannot find jobs. These factors greatly increase the chances that such people will commit more crimes and be sent back to jail. Connecticut’s Supportive Housing Pilot Program is a successful effort to break the “revolving door” between homelessness, recidivism, and reincarceration. This program is a collaboration between Community Renewal Team, Inc. and the State Department of Correction to offer two years of rent-subsidized housing and support services to released, high risk offenders who have a history of homelessness. The rent-subsidized housing is in the form of apartments throughout Hartford. The support services focus on substance abuse treatment and developing employment skills. Community Renewal Team, Inc. is the state's largest community action agency. It provides a comprehensive range of human services to individuals and families. After 3 years, the recidivism rate for people who used the supportive housing program was about half the rate of similar people who were not in the program. Because of this success, the program staff actively recruited homeless ex-offenders from area shelters.

New Jersey - 2006 - Housing Resource Center

• This is an online registry and website of affordable and accessible housing units throughout the state. It is free to users searching for housing, and to landlords and property owners who list property on the registry. The registry is continuously updated and the state home mortgage finance association mandates that all affordable units financed by that agency be listed on the Housing Resource Center. The website links to information that renters and home buyers can use during the process of renting or buying a home. This information includes state tenant law and how to deal with credit problems. The website is designed to facilitate searches by disabled people. Currently, there are approximately 1,200 rental units listed and approximately 100 properties advertised for sale. Users have performed more than 2 million searches on the site and rented more than 8,000 units listed on the site so far.
  

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Human Services

Winners

Pennsylvania - 2012 - Enterprise Program Integrity

• According to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, one in four Pennsylvanians gets some form of welfare assistance. Welfare fraud costs the state millions of dollars every year. Pennsylvania’s effort is a comprehensive strategy to audit all programs under the department’s jurisdiction to detect waste, fraud, and abuse by clients; streamline department operations, and instill cooperation and integrity among program staff. It is built around these goals: increasing overpayment recoveries; improving quality control; strengthening application intake controls; streamlining fraud referral processes; enhancing provider accountability, and using better technology to detect fraud at the beginning of the benefit filing process. The program has resulted in removing 160,000 ineligible recipients from the welfare rolls so far, and saved the state almost $300 million.

Wyoming - 2009 - Healthy Families Succeed

• Healthy Families Succeed is a coordinated strategy to help families who receive services from more than one state agency. Those were the people who were taking more than 10 unique prescriptions per year, for example. The program is coordinated by state human service agencies, Human Capital Management Services and the
  University of Wyoming. It has two main components: HealthAssist and JobAssist. Nurses, pharmacists and
  experienced job counselors call or visit families in their homes to encourage informed consumerism,
  self-su ciency and improved decision-making. Healthy Families Succeed has enrolled more than 304 families with 921 household members. As a result of the program, the total costs to serve these clients decreased by approximately $2,000 per person over two years.

Utah Clicks - Universal Application System

• This is a web-based process to help people apply electronically for several social service programs at one time, including Medicaid, WIC, CHIP, Head Start, and others. Applicants begin the process by filling out a survey about their income, health, family demographics and related questions. The system compiles that information and suggests programs for which the applicants might be eligible. The applicants can then apply electronically to programs they believe best meet their needs. The entire application process is usually completed in less than one hour. The system enables intake workers to view the applications, assign applications to case workers, make notes, and archive applications as needed. The system generates reports about the daily progress of applications and the distribution of applications by office. Applicants can also view the status of their applications and notes by intake workers.

Finalists

Massachusetts - 2012 - Social Innovation Financing

• This Massachusetts effort targets private investors to help fund grants to social service organizations for programs which reduce recidivism rates for youth 18-24 who leave state department of youth services custody and programs which stabilize housing and reduce Medicaid costs for chronically homeless adults. The initiative will use special bonds for funding and write contracts so that grant recipients only get paid when they prove their programs are successful. It shifts some of the risk of providing social services to the private sector.

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Immigration

Winners

Washington - 2006 - Spoken Language Brokered Interpreter Services

• These services consist of a network of eight call centers that coordinate scheduling interpreter services to the state’s Limited English Proficient Medicaid clientele. The program streamlines this service while controlling its costs to the state by injecting a gatekeeper between interpreters and agencies that use interpreting services. The brokers have no financial interest in the interpreter industry since none of them are allowed to directly provide interpreter services. Brokers are only reimbursed administrative costs. All interpreter service dollars pass through directly to interpreter agency subcontractors. Brokering has removed conflicts of interest in the interpreter appointment scheduling process, and saved the state approximately one million dollars per month.

 

Finalists

Nevada - 2004 - Academic Preparation for Limited English Speakers

• This program helps increase the English language skills and computer literacy of academically under-prepared, limited English proficient adults who reside in Clark County, Nev. The program also offers academic and career guidance to participants.

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Intergovernmental Affairs

Winners

Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (Great Lakes Compact) - 2012

• Interstate compacts are important tools states use to address issues which can’t be solved unilaterally. This year, leaders in the CSG Midwest region departed from tradition and gave an Innovations Award to an interstate and international partnership to manage water resources in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin. The compact sets regional baseline standards for withdrawing or diverting water that the eight member-states must follow. Ontario and Quebec committed to following these standards through an associated agreement. The compact requires members establish water conservation and efficiency goals and objectives; create a water conservation and efficiency program for all water users that is consistent with basin-wide goals; develop and maintain a water resources inventory; create a program to manage and regulate new or increased withdrawals and consumptive uses, and set threshold levels for application of water use standards. This compact has been cited by Wayne State University Law School Professor Noah Hall as an example of “cooperative horizontal federalism,” a new style of governing that “utilizes a constitutional mechanism for states to bind themselves to common substantive and procedural environmental protection standards, implemented individually with regional resources and enforcement.

Wisconsin/Pennsylvania - 2009 - Egrants - Comprehensive Grants Management System

• This system represents Web-based applications the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and the Wisconsin Office of Justice of Assistance created to publicize and administer grants. Both agencies list on
  their Web sites available grants and process all grant applications and related material online through Egrants. Each state operates its own Egrants Web site; Wisconsin worked with the Pennsylvania Crime Commission
  to use Pennsylvania’s source code and IT vendor to help set up its Web site. The system improves state services to the public and is an outstanding example of interstate cooperation.

 

West Virginia - 2003 - Multi-State Pharmacy Benefit Management Services Program

• This state partnership aggregates drug purchasing powers for a single pharmacy benefit manager to lower the unit costs for services provided, allowing states in the partnership group to enter into a relationship to increase their negotiating power when seeking prescription drug services.

 

Finalists

Tennessee - 2005 - Southeast Alternative Fuels Task Force

• This team comprised of state environmental officers, energy officers, transportation officers, Clean Cities coalitions and private sector stakeholders works together to advance the use of cleaner burning fuels in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. The task force is currently focused on developing refueling corridors and accompanying support tactics so that by 2010, facilities that provide biodiesel and ethanol will be strategically located along key interstate highways.

Semifinalists

Nebraska - 2003 - County eGovernment Initiative

• This program provides support for development of Web sites and online services for county governments, and as the state’s official Web portal and network, provides the service at no cost to participating counties.

 

New Jersey - 2003 - Intergovernmental Transfer Program

• This program allows state and local government employees with permanent civil service status to transfer between state and local employment jurisdictions while maintaining their permanent status.

 

South Dakota and Nebraska - 2003 - Purple Loosestrife Management Project

• A joint initiative between the two states 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.

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Military

Winners

Connecticut - 2012 - Oasis Center

• Staff with the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs report more than 700,000 Iraq and Afghan veterans attend college across the USA on the GI Bill. Many suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which makes it difficult to adjust to college life without help. According to the department, just 18 percent graduate. OASIS is a State of Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs initiative that partners with the Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment and Training Program and state community colleges and universities to provide a safe location on campus where veterans who are students can socialize with each other, get counseling, and access an array of other government programs which provide services to veterans. The need for such centers was listed as a top priority by veterans in a survey conducted by the department. And, while the centers provide peer support and practical services, the fact they enable veterans to access such services on campus instead of making trips to a facility off campus is an added bonus.

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• Timely information and good communication are two things government officials must have to adequately deal with natural disasters and emergencies. This initiative by the state department of emergency management delivers both components in a very effective manner. VIPER uses special software to integrate information from 150 sources to create and display a common set of data on a Website that federal, state, and local officials can use to predict and manage emergencies throughout the state. Information sources include real-time reports from police and firefighters, utility outage reports, detailed maps, building blueprints, satellite images, and applicable weather and road conditions. VIPER can monitor conditions that can become emergencies and issue alerts. It can be used to determine the best way to deploy people and equipment before or during emergencies. It can track the progress in containing an incident. And it can plot the potential impact of an incident on surrounding areas.

Alabama - 2008 - Virtual Alabama

• Created by the Alabama Department of Homeland Security, Virtual Alabama uses traditional GIS systems and Google Earth technology to store and manipulate state infrastructure images and data into a 3D tool that can be used by a variety of government agencies, especially when responding to emergencies. For example, the system can create a statewide “Common Operating Picture” during disasters to enable federal, state and local authorities to fully understand what is happening and coordinate their responses. This includes things like emergency evacuation routing, vehicle tracking, critical infrastructure mapping, risk analysis, plume modeling, and damage assessment. County and municipal governments supply over 90 percent of the geospatial data in the system. Virtual Alabama has more than 3000 users, and officials from fifteen states have contacted program staff about setting up a similar system in their states.

New Jersey - 2005 - DNA Convicted Offender Sampling and Testing Program

• A statewide unified approach to classification and upfront verification of information, this program ensures that offenders and their DNA samples are properly identified and entered into the state’s criminal records database through the utilization of handheld biometric computers.

Finalists

Illinois - 2005 - InfoNet

• A state-of-the-art data collection system for victim service providers developed by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, this system facilitates uniform data collection and promotes program planning and accountability.

New Jersey - 2005 - Focus on the Victim (FOV) Program

• A voluntary offender program, FOV employs restorative and reparative justice principles as its main focus and provides offenders the opportunity to examine the impact of their crimes on victims and communities. Through unique role-playing techniques and face-to-face interaction with survivors of victimization, this program has empowered victims by allowing them to help offenders modify negative behaviors, ultimately preventing destructive future behavior.

New Jersey - 2005 - FastID

• This system, implemented by the New Jersey Department of Corrections, provides a one-to-one comparison/verification between an individual’s live fingerprint and offender information stored within New Jersey’s database. This accurate and secure identification method allows the NJDOC to increase efficiency and accuracy in intake and release processes at correctional facilities.

District of Columbia - 2004 - Wireless Networks Program

• This program provides wireless tools for combating domestic accidents, emergencies, crime and international terrorism to first responders in the nation’s capital.

Kansas - 2004 - Operation PADLOC (Parole, Absconder, Detection, Location and Capture)

• This initiative enables law enforcement officers to quickly locate and apprehend parole absconders who pose a significant threat to public safety based on past criminal history of sex offenses, crimes of violence or crimes against children.

Louisiana - 2004 - CORe—Corrections Organized for Re-entry

• This program helps prisoners transition from prison into society by encouraging offenders to use their time in custody to learn marketable skills, develop new behaviors, address character deficiencies, and begin planning for a positive future.

Nevada - 2004 - OSHA/SCATS Emergency Response Teams

• Comprised of 12 members on two teams who have special, high-level hazardous materials training and equipment, these teams respond to a Level A biological, structural, chemical or radiological emergencies. The teams provide safety and health analysis at the site of an incident, environmental monitoring, wet and dry decontamination, plus an array of other expertise in the safety and health field.

New York - 2004 - eJusticeNY

• This program is a browser-based portal that acts as a single point of access to criminal justice information for law enforcement officials in the state.

North Carolina - 2004 - TAG IT

• Under this program, police officers who investigate accidents attach waterproof tags to the parts of any median barrier or guide-rail that are damaged because of the accidents. The tags help the state Department of Transportation locate and bill the parties involved in the accidents for repairing those structures.

Virginia - 2004 - Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine

• This institute is a premier trainer of forensic scientists and pathologists. VIFSM is cooperative effort between the Department of Criminal Justice Services, Division of Forensic Science and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Washington - 2004 - Professional-Based Discipline: A Settlement Agreement Process

• This method for disciplining professional and sworn employees of the Washington State Patrol without resorting to a lengthy, formal investigation is designed to enable an employee to admit a mistake, discern and accept an appropriate sanction, provide rapid resolution of their case and handle minor acts of misconduct at the lowest possible administrative level.

Semifinalists

California - 2003 - Mental Health Services Continuum Program

• This program provides the state’s Department of Corrections with a customized, real-time, automated database to help identify and treat mentally ill parolees. The purpose of the program is to enhance the quality and timeliness of mental health services provided to mentally ill parolees after release, with the overarching goal of reducing recidivism and improving public safety.

Florida - 2003 - Civil Workflow Control System

• Devised to provide advanced technology to non-criminal justice agencies, this system allows users to electronically “scan” fingerprints and enter information to request criminal history record checks.

New Jersey - 2003 - Law Enforcement Intervention Hotline

• This statewide initiative aimed at helping law enforcement officers and their families achieve a better quality of life allows law enforcement families to vent anxiety, relieve stress and discuss personal and marital problems via a 24-hour hotline.

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Technology/Telecommunications

Winners

Michigan - 2011 - Cloud Computing Program

• Like many states, Michigan’s Department of Technology, Management and Budget was struggling in recent years to meet the growing need for computing capacity by state agencies, and to do so quickly and cost-effectively. Historically, this meant adding new computers to the state inventory, replacing old computers with new and more powerful computers, buying time and storage space on commercial computers, and buying more software and software licenses. It also meant maintaining all that software and hardware. Ultimately, it meant that agency IT requests had to be handled almost exclusively by DTMB staff.This was an unending battle that was expensive and unsustainable in the face of declining state revenues. The department answered this challenge by adopting cloud computing as the core IT service for state agencies. Michigan focused its efforts on its servers. Virtualization is a key component.

 

South Carolina - 2005 - Information Sharing and Analysis Center

• A statewide system to coordinate the detection, analysis, notification and response to cybercrime against public agencies combines resources of state and federal law enforcement agencies. The system includes an early warning mechanism to alert public agencies about threats, a clearinghouse of information about cybercrime and a mechanism to help agencies deal with attacks on computer networks.

Alternates

 

New York - 2003 - Management Information, Research, References and Operational Reports (MIRROR)

• An application software system that automatically extracts performance data from functional systems and delivers performance measure reports for every level of the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board, MIRROR reports show how effectively and efficiently the board is providing services to its customers.

Finalists

Minnesota - 2005 - MinnesotaHelp.info

• This comprehensive online human services database contains more than 30,000 services and resources for providers and consumers of all ages, income levels and abilities.

North Carolina - 2004 - Agency Security Assessment Project

• This program assesses the security of the computers and related data at 27 of the state’s executive branch agencies against ISO 17799 security standards.

South Dakota - 2004 - 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.

Arkansas - 2003 - GeoStor

• This program is a statewide, publicly accessible geospatial information system (GIS) with the ability to deliver customized geographic data. This program allows users across the state to respond quickly and efficiently to location-based questions dealing with a host of issues, including economic development, city zoning and disaster response.

Semifinalists

Louisiana - 2003 - Computers for Louisiana’s Kids

• This multipurpose initiative takes donated computers – thereby reducing the amount of electronic waste in public landfills – refurbishes them, and distributes them to needy schools. Prison inmates and high school students learn how to refurbish the machines, which gives them marketable skills.

Nebraska - 2003 - County eGovernment Initiative

• This program provides support for development of Web sites and online services for county governments, and as the state’s official Web portal and network, provides the service at no cost to participating counties.

South Dakota - 2003 - 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.

Washington - 2003 - DCS Secure Card

• This card allows transmittal of child support payments to custodial parents through Electronic Funds Transfer, thereby decreasing the Division of Child Support’s costs of distributing payments. Custodial parents may use their card at a bank teller, ATM or any other merchant that accepts debit or credit cards to access child support funds.

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Transportation & Infrastructure

Winners

West Virginia - 2009 - Electronic Commercial Drivers Licensing (eCDL)

• The West Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles developed eCDL to automate a cumbersome paper process that was also susceptible to fraud by the people who administer Commercial Driver License tests in West Virginia and drivers who apply for CDLs. With eCDL, examiners use laptops equipped with wireless GPS to direct and record all aspects of CDL tests. This includes inspecting vehicles to ensure those are road-worthy, assessing driving and maneuvering skills, and ensuring CDL applicants understand the rules of the road pertaining to large vehicles. Examiners record and transmit the results of tests from their laptops to a secure Web site at the Rahall Transportation Institute at Marshall University. Computers at the Institute compile the information, score the results, and then download the information to regional DMV offices, which, depending upon the test scores, issue the CDL licenses to applicants. The DMV also uses eCDL to monitor the CDL examiners. Seventeen other states and Canada had contacted West Virginia about eCDL as of 2009.
  

Finalists

Michigan - 2005 - FieldManager

• A suite of software tools used to manage and track field-level progress of road and bridge construction projects, this program can be used by State Department of Transportation field offices, local government agencies, engineering firms and construction contractors.

Pennsylvania - 2005 - Maintenance Efficiency and Cost Effectiveness (MECE)

• Experienced maintenance professionals recommended 92 ways to improve asset management, staffing, winter operations efficiency, department work force versus contracting, and equipment optimization. Through the implementation of MECE, PennDOT has refocused the highway maintenance community on core business functions, redirected savings, increased productivity and facilitated the use of better highway maintenance business practices.

Wisconsin - 2004 - Critical Incident Response Team

• This team consists of seven employees who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through a single point-of-contact to coordinate the state’s response to critical highway incidents. Critical highway incidents are defined as unexpected events which cause the closure of a roadway and/or bridge on the state trunk highway system.

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