Five government programs won Innovations in American Government Awards from the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University and the Council for Excellence in Government last week.

The award, which the Ash Institute describes as the government equivalent of an Academy Award, grants $100,000 to each initiative for the dissemination and replication of its efforts in other states and localities.

Established 17 years ago, the awards “recognize quality and responsiveness in all levels of government” and strive to “restimulate innovations in government,” Kennedy School of Government Director of Communications Jesus Mena said.

This year’s recipients are CitiStat, ClinicalTrials.gov, Natural Drainage Systems Program, Performance-based Standards (PbS) for Juvenile Correction and Detention Facilities and Resolve to Stop the Violence Program (RSVP).

CitiStat, a Baltimore-based program, tracks “operational services and financial indicators across Baltimore’s municipal government,” said Director of CitiStat Matthew Gallagher.

The program measures the performances of municipal agencies and undergoes updates every 14 days, he added.

CitiStat allows Mayor Martin O’Malley to track the performance of the city with hard numbers at his fingertips, said Assistant Director of the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation Cathleen M. Sarkis.

Jane B. Griffith, acting deputy director at the National Library of Medicine, which was responsible for the development and implementation of ClinicalTrials.gov, said the program’s innovation lay in its comprehensive overview of available clinical trials.

“It is a registry of clinical trials that provides up-to-date information for people who are trying to locate both federally and privately supported trials for a wide range of diseases and conditions,” Griffith said. “It contains over 11,000 clinical studies that are sponsored by the National Institute of Health and other government agencies, as well as private industries.”

Griffith said the website averages around 16,000 visitors a day.

Natural Drainage Systems Program scored high marks for its environmentally sound approach to the run-off from storm water.

Susan M. Stolzfus, spokesperson for Seattle Public Utilities—which helped implement the program—described it as an environmentally friendly solution to the negative effects of storm water in an urban area.

“The Natural Drainage Systems is a way to convey storm water in an urban environment...by mimicking what nature would have provided before we paved the streets,” she said.

The initiative, she said, allows storm water to gradually flow back into the ground thanks to natural features such as “vegetated swales”—which uses vegetation to funnel runoff—instead of employing a traditional pipe system. The process is ultimately much easier on the creaks and streams, especially after a heavy storm, she added.

Meanwhile RSVP co-founder Sunny Schwartz emphasized her program’s efforts at “restoring, not rehabilitating,” everyone harmed by violence.