CORRECTIONS APPENDED

The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Kennedy School of Government announced its annual list of the top 50 government innovations last Tuesday. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

The annual Innovations in American Government competition, now in its 25th year, elicited over 600 applications representing a wide array of policy innovations in fields ranging from education to infrastructure to criminal justice. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

The top 50 contenders—from city, county, state, federal, and tribal government agencies—were chosen after several rounds of evaluation by policy experts on the basis of four criteria: novelty, significance, effectiveness and transferability, said Emily C. Kaplan, the competition’s program assistant.

While many of this year’s innovations dealt with mainstay issues like child welfare, education, and poverty, eight of the top 50 dealt with environmental issues, which have seen a renewed interest in recent years, Kaplan said.

“I think that there are trends in the types of applications we do see,” said Kaplan, citing the number of Internet technology-focused innovations submitted in the 90s.

Kaplan said that innovation is especially “crucial” now during the economic crisis. But because programs must be in operation for at least one year in order to qualify for the competition, policy innovations directly addressing the current situation will likely be seen “in competitions going forward.”

One of the top 50 innovations is the Palo Alto-based Downtown Streets Team, created to address local business owners’ concerns over both homelessness and cleanliness in their city.

The program helps get men and women get back into the workforce by employing them to clean the city in exchange for food and shelter.

“We help the panhandlers get off the crate and turn them into taxpayers,” said Eileen Richardson, executive director of Downtown Streets. “We had one man who used to sit in a wheelchair panhandling outside a store and is now working in the jewelry department of a high-end department store. It’s not just a handout, it’s a hand up.”

The finalists’ projects will also be used as case studies for educational purposes at the Kennedy School.

On May 18, the Ash Institute will announce the sixteen finalists, who will present to a National Selection Committee chaired by Kennedy School professor David Gergen.

The six winners, selected in September, will receive $50,000 or $100,000 grants to publicize their work, Kaplan said. The ten remaining finalists will receive $10,000 grants.

“To even make it into the top 50 is significant,” Kaplan said. “It’s a huge accomplishment.”

CORRECTIONS

The headline and text of the April 6 news article "KSG Picks 50 Best New Ideas" incorrectly referred to the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) by its old name, the Kennedy School of Government (KSG).

The article also incorrectly stated that the Innovations in American Government competition is in its 25th year. In fact, the competition is in its 22nd year.