Two Delaware Programs Included in Harvard Top 50 Innovation List

Two Programs from Delaware — the City of Wilmington’s Instant Ticketing Program and the State of Delaware’s K-5 Early Intervention Program — have made it to Harvard’s Top 50 Government Innovation List for 2009. The list is developed by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The Top 50 was selected from more than 600 applicants from city, county, state, federal, and tribal government agencies. These 50 are in competition for the Innovations in Government Awards that will be announced in September. The two Delaware programs in competition:

• Instant Ticket Program; City of Wilmington, DE — The Instant Ticket Program allows Code Enforcement Inspectors in Wilmington to issue instant $50 fines, similar to parking tickets, upon property owners who violate sanitation laws.

• K-5 Early Intervention Program; State of Delaware — Delaware’s K-5 Early Intervention Program provides intensive school and home-based services to at-risk children and families, preventing the future need for more expensive interventions by removing barriers to academic and social success. (This program is also shortlisted for a Annie E. Casey Innovations Award in Children and Family System Reform.)

This is good news for these two programs, but if you look at the entire list (pdf file), it is chock full of good ideas that you could imagine being really good for us too:

• Greenergy; Sacramento Municipal Utility District — Greenergy, an initiative of Sacramento’s Municipal Utility District, brings affordable, renewable energy in the form of wind, biomass, and captured methane, to customers in $3 and $6 per-month pricing packages.

• Data Feeds: Democratization of Government Data; Washington, D.C. — Data Feeds: Democratization of Government Data improves the utility and transparency of District of Columbia government data by providing a centralized access point with a focus on delivering real-time operational information from multiple agencies.

• Citywide Performance Reporting Online System; City of New York, N.Y. The Citywide Performance Reporting Online System is an interactive dashboard for user-friendly access to New York City’s government performance data. This program gives agencies and citizens online access to critical measures with automatic trend evaluation.

• Auto Insurance Fraud Task Force; City of Lawrence, MA — The Lawrence Police Department’s Auto Insurance Fraud Task Force is a collaborative effort that has dramatically reduced vehicular insurance fraud and has saved city residents over $15.5 million in annual insurance premiums.

There’s more programs at the link, but Congratulations to the City and to the State for getting included to this prestigious list of innovative programs!