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Innovating America




Profiles of eight award-winning projects (1986-1988) in the Innovations in State and Local Government awards Program, which is sponsored by the Ford Foundation and administered by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The awards honor exemplary programs and policies addressing important social and economic problems at the state and local levels.

Jordan, Fred.
1990
133 pages


Contents
Foreword
Preface
Chapter 1 Innovation: Making New
Innovation
InnovationS IN STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
THE SEARCH FOR SUCCESSFUL InnovationS
EIGHT InnovationS
STUDYING Innovation
Chapter 2 Born to Learn in Missouri
Persistence and Strong Allies
Building a Coalition
A Group of Committed Activists
Study Results and a Pilot Program
Gearing Up
The Governor Maps a New Strategy
The Bill Passes Handily
How The Formula Works
Pat Programs Operating in 62 Sites
Chapter 3 Sandra Hale's ExposÉ of Good Government
Stepparents
How The Program Works
Making Step Work
A Step Project–Using Marketing to Improve the Parks
Another Step Project–Sentencing to Serve
Market Dynamics
Chapter 4 Innovation by the Numbers
"What Are You Doing?" "Why?"
FROM ONE Innovation TO THE NEXT
Do It Yourself
Ninety–Five Percent Perspiration
Care Sells Itself
SOURCES OF Innovation
Chapter 5 Suffer the Little Children
New Director Seeks a Long–Deferred Solution
The State Finds a Powerful Ally
A Bipartisan Effort Overhauls Adoption Laws
Father Clements Sets an Example
Changing a Complacent Bureaucracy
Chicago Program Shows Results
How One Church Plays in Peoria
Recalling the Long Arm of the Extended Family
The Program Is Firmly Institutionalized
Chapter 6 Crime and Punishment and Jiujitsu in Georgia
From Chain Gang to Model Penology
Vince Fallin
"Gradually Increasing Bands of Control"
Telling the Story
Chapter 7 Cures for Colorblindness
"Integration Does Not Just Happen"
An Absence of Panic
Setting First Priorities
A New Municipal Agency
"What Kind of Place Is This?"
Cleveland Heights
Changes Afoot
The East Suburban Council for Open Communities
The Fund for the Future of Shaker Heights and the Heights Fund
Looking to State Government
A Minority Set–Aside
Cooperation with Real Estate Firms
Open Door West
Market Response
The Role of the Schools
One Size Does Not Fit All
Chapter 8 Waste-Water Wars*
A Clash of Cultures
A New Style of Politics
Proposal, Counterproposal
Mixing Marshes with Fisheries
The Debate Intensifies
Escalation
The Regional Advocate
A Breakthrough, Then Resolution
Chapter 9 Charity Ends at Home
Questioning Newcomer
No Cost to the School Board
Challenges and Complications
The Problem of Visibility
Building a Comprehensive Program
Fundamentalism in Leslie
A Watchdog for the Schools
Dignity Under Fire
An Instructional Plus
If Not for the Center
For All Its Achievements
Chapter 10 on Innovation
On The Innovators
Institutionalization and Accountability
Into The Next Century
The Gift of Discretion
Appendix I Award Recipients
1986
1987
1988
Appendix II National Committee
1986–88
1989-92