Top Public-Sector Innovation Award Seeks Programs Creating Economic Opportunity for All

April 30, 2019
Innovations in American Government Awards

Cambridge, MA — The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School today announced its call for nominations for the 2019 Innovations in American Government Award. This year the Innovations in American Government Awards Program is specifically seeking nominees focused on creating economic opportunity for all.

In order to be eligible to apply, programs must be designed to achieve at least one of the following goals:

  • Create opportunities that generate income and contribute to upward mobility, particularly in underserved populations
  • Provide tools to allow individuals to break down barriers to wealth creation, entrepreneurship, and social mobility, e.g. by expanding access to public or social safety net services
  • Develop a workforce to meet the needs of the 21st-century economy
  • Address systematic inequalities that create or preserve stratification, particularly in education, housing/homeownership, and access to finance
  • Demonstrate proven outcomes on employment rates, median wages, intra-generational wealth growth, educational completion, standard of living, productivity, poverty rates, etc.

For over thirty years, the Innovations in American Government Award, heralded as the premier public-sector honor in the nation, has been given to programs that serve as examples of creative and effective government at its best. The application is open to programs at all levels of government—federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial—from within the United States.

Applicants will be judged on the Innovations in American Government Awards’ criteria of novelty, effectiveness, significance, and transferability, as well as their impact on issues of economic and social mobility, inequity, and stratification. The Ash Center will utilize resources and expertise from across the Harvard University community, as well as preeminent authorities in the field, to select the top finalists and ultimate winner of the Innovations in American Government Award.

The nomination form and additional information are available on the Innovations in American Government Award website.

Nominations for the 2019 Innovations in American Government Award are due by Friday, June 14, 2019.

About the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
The Roy and Lila Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation advances excellence and innovation in governance and public policy through research, education and public discussion. Three major programs support our mission: the Program on Democratic Governance; the Innovations in Government Program; and the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia. For more information, visit ash.harvard.edu.

For more information
Daniel Harsha
Associate Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Ash Center
617-495-4347
daniel_harsha@hks.harvard.edu

Kaitlin Burroughs
Program Associate, Innovations in American Government Awards
800-722-0074
innovations@harvard.edu