The Ash Center announced the Top 25 programs in this year’s Innovations in American Government Award competition. These government initiatives represent the dedicated efforts of city, state, federal, and tribal governments and address a host of policy issues including crime prevention, economic development, environmental and community revitalization, employment, education, and health care. “These Top 25 innovations in government offer real, tangible ways to protect our most disadvantaged citizens, educate the next-generation workforce, and utilize data analytics to enhance government performance,” said Stephen Goldsmith, director of the Innovations in Government program. More»
The Ash Center's Challenges to Democracy Grant program will award $150,000 in funding support for HKS faculty workshops and doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships. Kennedy School doctoral students and faculty as well as post-doctoral students from the wider academic community are encouraged to apply by April 1, 2013. More»
Egyptian Democratic Academy Activist Esraa Abdel Fattah, Slate Magazine Journalist Will Dobson, and Film Director Ben Moses will speak at a panel discussion moderated by HKS Professor Tarek Masoud about democratic movements in authoritarian regimes on January 28 at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University directly following a film screening of A Whisper to a Roar. More»
Today the Ash Center unveiled MyFairElection.com, a new crowd sourced election monitoring platform that allows voters across the United States to rate the quality of their voting experience during Election Day on November 6, 2012. MyFairElection empowers voters to take a more active role in monitoring their polling places and in improving the quality of elections and ballot access in the United States. More»
Today the Ash Center recognized 111 innovative government initiatives as Bright Ideas. This year’s cohort hails from all levels of government—including school districts, county, city, state, and federal agencies as well as public-private partnerships—and demonstrates a creative range of solutions to issues such as urban and rural degradation, environmental problems, and the academic achievement of students. Programs were evaluated and selected by a team of policy experts from academic and public sectors. More»
Today the Ash Center and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced they will cooperate to support innovative policy research on the development challenges confronting the countries of the Lower Mekong Region and promote institutional innovation in higher education. More»
Designed to encourage candid conversation and meaningful collaboration on key topics related to United States-China relations, the fourth Globalization Forum convened leading academics, advisors, and policymakers for a closed conference held June 18-20, 2012, at Harvard Kennedy School. Through both public addresses and panel discussions, participants explored a range of pertinent issues including international security and soft power, economic globalization, management of environmental resources, and the future of global governance. More»
Today the Ash Center announced it will fund 23 students through experiential learning projects this summer. Students were selected as Summer Fellows in Innovation, HKS Indonesia Student Research Grantees, and Vietnam Program Interns and will collectively receive $106 thousand in support to defray research, travel, living costs. “The Ash Center is committed to supporting students throughout their time at HKS and best equipping them with the tools to succeed in the world of practice upon graduation,” said Tony Saich, Ash Center director. More»
Today the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University announced the recipients of its annual “Challenges to Democracy Grant” program. In its inaugural year, this grant program devotes $350,000 in support of HKS faculty as well as doctoral and post-doctoral student research that explores both the ideals of democracy and its often imperfect practice in the real world. More»
With that goal in mind, Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) is hosting a group of 50 high-level National Guard and other senior leaders from various military and homeland security agencies from around the country for an Executive Education program designed to effect more coordinated and effective responses following natural disasters and other domestic emergencies. The General and Flag Officer Homeland Security Executive Seminar will take place in Cambridge on April 24-27. More»
Today the Ash Center unveiled an array of innovative approaches to help veterans. The Better Welcome Home video library is aimed to educate the public about how to get involved. It represents the work of a diverse group of public and nonprofit organizations that took part in the Center’s November conference, A Better Welcome Home: Transformative Models to Support Veterans and Their Families. Visit the video library here on the Ash Center’s YouTube channel. More»
Today New York City’s Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) was announced as the winner of the Innovations in American Government Award by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School. CEO was established by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to design, implement, and evaluate unique initiatives that combat urban poverty among New York City’s low-income workers, at-risk youth, and families with children. More»
Boston Public Schools’ Teacher Residency; Littleton, Colorado’s Economic Gardening; New York City’s Center for Economic Opportunity and NYC Service; Oregon’s Statewide Land Use Program; and San Francisco’s Healthy San Francisco were selected as finalists of the Innovations in American Government Award by public policy experts and practitioners from Harvard and other institutions around the country. These six government initiatives demonstrate creative problem solving to some of our nation’s most pressing issues—education, economic development, poverty, civic services, and healthcare—and will compete for the Innovations in American Government Award to be announced in early 2012. More»
As the country prepares to welcome large numbers of service men and women home from Iraq this winter, the A Better Welcome Home: Transformative Models to Support Veterans and Their Families conference at Harvard Kennedy School showcased a variety of innovative approaches to help veterans connect to their communities and leverage their strengths in a tough job market. “The good news is this country did learn the lesson of Vietnam: whether you are happy about the mission, you should always admire the service,” said Dean David Ellwood in his opening remarks. More»
The Ash Center for Democratic announced over 60 student and research fellows for the 2011-2012 academic year. Such fellows hail from around the world to study at the Ash Center—from as far away as Malawi, Japan, and China to Palestine, Germany, Italy, and India. Their research topics mirror the diversity of the countries they represent: from clean water scarcity in rural Africa and environmental activism in Japan to challenges to China’s governance policies and the automotive industry in Mexico. More»
The Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia will host the fifth annual China Goes Global conference Sunday, October 2 through Tuesday, October 4, 2011. Held at Harvard Kennedy School, this international research conference will convene over 100 participants from government, academic, nonprofit, and business sectors to present original, multi-disciplinary research on China’s globalization. More»
Natixis Global Asset Management and Harvard Kennedy School will host a high level discussion on the factors driving the rapid expansion of China’s economy and its current and future impact on the nation and region’s economic climate. The IMF predicts China’s economy will surpass that of America by 2016, and America’s share of the world output will fall to 17.7 percent, the lowest in modern times. More»
The Top 25 Innovations in Government represent the best in creative problem solving of local, state, and federal municipalities around the country and were selected from a pool of over 500 qualified government applicants. The programs offer unique solutions in health and wellness, social services delivery, the environment, economic development, and education policy areas. More»
This year's cohort of Bright Ideas addresses a host of pertinent issues including health care, education, performance management, civic engagement, and service delivery, and represents the creative and innovative programming of school districts, county, city, state, and federal agencies, as well as public-private partnerships. More»
The fourth annual China Goes Global conference will be held at HKS on October 6-8, 2010. Hosted by the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia at the Ash Center, this event will convene scholars, business executives, and students from around the world to present original research on the political, economic, cultural, and social dimensions of the China’s globalization. More»
Today the Ash Center announced 173 government programs selected for its newly-created Bright Ideas program. In its inaugural year, Bright Ideas is designed to recognize and share creative government initiatives around the country with interested public sector, nonprofit, and academic communities. More»
Formerly an authoritarian state, Indonesia has made impressive gains over the last 10 years as the world’s first majority Muslim, multi-party democracy. The country’s successes and challenges as a new democracy are the subject of the new report titled “From Reformasi to Institutional Transformation: A Strategic Assessment of Indonesia’s Prospects for Growth, Equity, and Democratic Governance.” More»
The Center welcomes its inaugural Democracy Fellow, five Ford Foundation Mason Fellows, two Roy and Lila Ash Fellows in Democracy, and 19 Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia Fellows for the 2010-2011 academic year. More»
The policy impact forum “Improving Child Well-Being: What Cities Can Do” will be held on Thursday, August 5 at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. This half-day forum will examine innovations in child well-being policies and emphasize increasing and improving municipal responses to the needs of young children and their families. More»
Through Ash Center support, 21 students from Harvard Kennedy School and throughout the Harvard community will take part in on site research projects and public policy analyses in the U.S. and southeast Asia. More»
How to leverage America’s current leadership in global aviation to assure primacy in the 21st century is the focus of a new report prepared by the Ash Center in collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton. The report, “Assuring the Transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation System,” synthesizes discussions and findings from a 2009 Executive Session held at HKS. More»
The enhanced site now reflects the integration and program development that the Center has accomplished over the past two years. Detailed content and graphics illustrate the Center’s research and programs advancing excellence in governance and strengthening democratic institutions worldwide. More»
As foreclosure crisis worsens, national and local leaders convene to define game-changing solutions for stabilizing hard-hit communities and leveraging Federal funding. More»
At a time of tremendous economic growth and political transformation throughout East Asia, the Ash Center has announced a $20.5 million gift to launch an important new initiative designed to expand and strengthen the School’s support for policy research and educational programming in Asia. More»
Convening academics, business leaders, and public officials from around the world, the conference will explore the increasingly global presence of Chinese firms and the resulting social, political, and economic influences of such globalization. More»
This year’s award winners demonstrate unique solutions to some of our nation’s most pressing issues including economic development, education, mental health, health insurance, government transparency, and water scarcity. More»
Designed to increase civic participation, government accountability, and transparency in D.C. government practices, D.C.'s Data Feeds: Democratization of Government Data is the first initiative in the country that makes virtually all current district government operational data available to the public in its raw form rather than in static, edited reports. More»
In order to reverse Kingsport's impending economic crisis, Kingsport launched a successful ‘Educate and Grow’ campaign to attract new business investment to the region by upgrading the quality of its workforce. More»
In collaboration with the University of Idaho, Idaho’s Department of Water Resources is the first government agency in the nation to develop and use satellite-based evapotranspiration imagery to enhance the understanding of agricultural water usage in the state. More»
As the country explores ways to expand access and reduce costs to health care, Massachusetts’ innovation is a key focus of the national debate. This independent state authority increases the pool of citizens with health insurance in Massachusetts, a central mandate of the state’s health reform law of 2006. More»
New Leaders for New Schools is built on the premise that any student can succeed under the supervision of supportive school leadership. The program attracts high caliber individuals from both academic and corporate sectors to lead historically underserved and underperforming urban schools. More»
As part of Milwaukee County’s Department of Health and Human Services, Wraparound Milwaukee is the first government-operated managed care service designed to treat emotionally disturbed youth in the home setting. More»
Selected by social services policy experts and practitioners from Harvard and institutions around the country, these three government initiatives demonstrate a commitment to public sector reforms that benefit disadvantaged children and families. More»
These 16 programs represent innovations at the city, county, state, and federal levels of government and were selected from a pool of over 600 initial applicants after rigorous rounds of evaluation. More»
The Ash Center today announced its student fellows for the 2009 summer term. Nine Harvard Kennedy School degree students will participate in Innovations, Urban Policy, or Latin American Government on-site summer fellowships. More»
Representing the work of city, county, state, federal, and tribal government agencies, the Top 50 were selected from over 600 applicants. More»
The Ash Center today announced the semifinalists for the 2009 Annie E. Casey Innovations Award in Children and Family System Reform. These six programs offer meaningful public sector reforms that benefit disadvantaged children and families. More»
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation today announced 11 new fellows for the spring 2009 term. More»
“This is one of the defining moments of the school,” Dean David Ellwood announced at Wednesday’s (Feb. 5, 2009) Ash Center inaugural panel “Democracy in the 21st Century: Global Challenges and Opportunities.” More»
Under the new plan, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) will focus on the study, teaching, and dissemination of solutions to real world problems facing democratic governance. More»
Today the Rajawali Institute for Asia of the Ash Center announced the launch of its two-year Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) program at the Fulbright School in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. More»
Over 87 Percent Report Significant Impact Due to Award; 78 Percent Have Replicated Innovation in Multiple Jurisdictions. More»