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State
& Local Gateway Marks First Birthday!
What
State & Local Gateway Users Are Saying
Alabama
"...excellent
way to organize federal information so that is useful for the local
government manager."
-- John
Seymour, City Manager, Anniston, Alabama
Connecticut
"Very
interested in the education and welfare reform areas."
Representative
Bob Godfrey, Deputy Majority Leader, Connecticut General Assembly,
Connecticut
Iowa
"..a
tremendous resource. I learned of the web site through the Public
Administration Times. Thanks for the excellent work. It is a web
site I am certain I will use frequently."
-- Daryl
Frey, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Des Moines,
Iowa
Massachusetts
"This
web page is excellent. How do you do it?"
-- State
elected official, Massachusetts
Michigan
"This
is a great site."
-- Joe
Turner, Economic Development Specialist, Saginaw, Michigan
Minnesota
"..will
be helpful to the consultants in my division who work with many
other state agencies."
-- Minnesota
Department of Administration
Nevada
"Impressed
by the overall site."
-- Assemblyman
Bob Price, State General Assembly, Nevada
Oregon
"There
is such a need for this service. We can use department home pages,
but we end up searching for hours and sometimes fail to find what
weíre looking for."
-- Connie
Revell, Director, Oregon Option
"...making
life easier for those of us at the state and local level when working
with the feds."
-- Jono
Hildner, Director, Department of Human Services, Clackamas County,
Oregon
"WOW!
What a great entry-point for finding resources and tools, especially
best practices."
-- Marc
Overbeck, Workforce Development, Salem, Oregon
Pennsylvania
"...fabulous..makes
me feel that our highest government officials are truly interested
in us little people."
-- Thelma
Fundenberg, blind citizen of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico
"..interesting
site, will the Gateway information around to the rest of my staff
and the Governors office."
-- Jorge
Aponte, Director, Office of Management and Budget, Puerto Rico
Wisconsin
"...congratulate
you on the creation of an interesting and needed clearinghouse for
this kind of information."
-- Marci
McCoy, Legislative Audit Bureau, Madison, Wisconsin
Wyoming
"Very
impressed. Had been looking for some education information for several
weeks but never found the right file. I did it through the Gateway
in half an hour so will talk this up to others."
-- Senator
Curt Meier, State Senate, Wyoming
Australia
"..good
site to visit. I am using your site to identify performance measures
and best practices with regard to compliance and enforcement."
-- John
Sanderson, Manager of the Investigations Branch, State Revenue Office
of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
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By Don Elder
January 6, 1999
The U.S.
State & Local Gateway the one-stop Internet link to federal information
for state and local government managers and employees, marks its one-year
anniversary this month. The website is a cooperative effort of the National
Partnership for Reinventing Government, more than 20 federal agencies,
and the seven major organizations representing state and local governments.
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Fairfax County
(VA) Executive Robert O'Neill and Linda Thompson, Special Secretary
for Children and Families from Maryland's Governor's Office, joined
Morley Winograd, National Partnership for Reinventing Government
Director, in launching a new one-stop web site for state and local
government employees in January 1998. |
"This
one-stop electronic shop for federal information," said Vice President
Gore, "is exactly the kind of reinvention that will lead not only to
improved service to our customers, but also to cost savings as federal
agencies deliver more and more information electronically." Delivering
services electronically is the theme of the Vice President's 1997 report,
Access America: Reengineering Through Information Technology.
The State & Local Gateway is getting rave reviews from state and
local employees. (See sidebar.)
The Big Seven organizations
-- the Council of State Governments, International City Management Association,
National Association of Counties, National Council of State Legislatures,
National Governors Association, National League of Cities, and the U.S.
Conference of Mayors -- are the primary customer group for the Gateway.
The S&LG homepage lists current issues, news, and subjects. Topics
cover funding, best practices, and laws and regulations.
Subjects include communities and disasters, education, environment
and energy, health, housing, and transportation, among others.
In addition, links are provided to individual federal agency websites,
other one-stop gateway sites, and the homepages of the Big Seven organizations.
The website is designed
to meet the needs of both the information-seeking customer and information-providing
federal agencies. To help ensure this important balance, the website is
managed by committees that meet regularly to review new issues and subject
areas and increase outreach to new customer groups. The Innovation Fund,
managed by the Government Information Technology Services Board, provided
funding to hire a full-time web administrator for one year. The administrator
works with the webmaster and heads up a technical committee to oversee
site development.
Between
January and October 1998, monthly web activity nearly doubled to 67,000
hits. As the U.S. State & Local Gateway enters its second year, technical
upgrades are being carried out; a design review is underway; and new customer
outreach efforts are being planned. This is only a modest beginning. The
S&LG plans include adding online transactions, such as grant applications,
and to create a new model for electronic customer service.
About the Author
Don Elder is on the
staff of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government representing
the Federal Trade Commission. You may reach him at (202) 694-0105 or don.elder@nprgov.
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