Every Wednesday, the TFG Blog posts a series of articles published over the previous week that discusses topics of interest to local governments. Learn about emerging trends and keep up on key policy issues by browsing the TFG Wednesday News Roundup!
‘Pay for Success’: A Better Way to Deliver Social Services?
The idea of Pay for Success programs has been growing in popularity over the past few years from cities coast to coast. Under these programs, governments seek private investors and philanthropic organizations to finance cost-effective, evidence-based social service programs in a wide variety of municipal interests, such as homelessness and healthcare. These investors, however, only receive payments back if the desired results are achieved, shifting the focus from program inputs to the benefits a program produces. Read More…
Philadelphia Opens Innovation Lab for City Employees
Philadelphia may be an old American city, but it is on the cutting edge of municipal innovation. On Friday, Mayor Michael Nutter officially opened an Innovation Lab inside the Philly Municipal Services Building. The Lab is a place where city employees can spend time focusing on innovation, ideation and problem-solving to improve the city. Read More…
Maine Looks to Solar Tech to Grow Food in Winter
The Maine Technology Institute is making agriculture dreams come true, as they recently announced nearly $500,000 in funding to help finance four solar agriculture projects intended to demonstrate that farming can continue through the harsh New England winter. Stakeholders have been interested in this kind of project for years but could not secure funding to make the idea a reality. Being able to grow crops in the winter could have a huge impact on local producers, who are often overlooked by large supermarkets because they are not a reliable supplier all-year-round. Read More…
Software Predicts When, Where Serious Accidents are Most Likely to Occur on Tennessee Highways
As the Tennessee Highway Patrol is demonstrating, predictive analytic software could revolutionize traffic safety by predicting when and where serious traffic accidents are likely to occur based on a multitude of factors, including weather patterns, major event schedules, and historic crash data. The software allows troopers to spot problems ahead of time, helping to either stop predicted crashes from happening, or to be closer to a possible accident scene to help. Read More…
How Ohio Enhanced its Public Safety Services with a Reduced Budget
In the midst of an $11 million budget cut in 2011, the Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS) had to devise a way to adequately provide their services under increasing strains to avoid risking the safety of Ohio citizens. ODPS didn’t end up providing the same level quality of service they did before, they far exceeded it. With the creation of the Critical Information and Communication Center, “the Hub,” the Department has integrated all components of public safety intelligence into one center where intelligence analysts can use the resources from all Ohio law enforcement agencies to quickly and effectively solve public safety issues throughout the state. Read More…
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.