2000 Innovations Awards Winners

2000 Award Winners

Brownfields Economic
Redevelopment Initiative

Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Solid Waste & Emergency Response

The Brownfields Initiative empowers citizens and encourages innovative methods of cleaning and safely reusing blighted properties. It reflects a new model of environmental protection which creates economically viable, environmentally sound, self-sustaining communities.

Press Release

Partnerships for Parks

City of New York, NY

Department of Parks & Recreation

The core innovation is having a government agency play an aggressive, creative, and central role in starting and supporting neighborhood-based groups that will simultaneously serve as partners, advocates, and gadflies, especially in struggling neighborhoods.

Press Release

Charter School Law

State of Minnesota

State Legislature

In 1991, the Minnesota Legislature authorized sponsors other than school districts to organize independent public charter schools. This expansion of public school choice stimulated innovation in American public education from the smallest charter school to the largest school district.

Press Release

Performance Based Contracting

State of Illinois

Department of Children and Family Services

The Performance Contracting Initiative in Illinois has dramatically boosted the number of children moved from temporary care placements through a renewed focus on specific outcomes and financial incentives for providers.

Press Release

HOPE VI Mixed-Finance Public Housing

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Public and Indian Housing

HOPE VI is transforming the fundamentals of public housing in the United States by using public and private development resources to replace the bleak, isolated public housing of the past with attractive new mixed-income communities. HOPE VI partnerships help residents achieve self-sufficiency and spur housing authorities to higher standards of housing design, finance, and management.

Press Release

Perritech

Perry Local Schools, OH

Perry High School

Perry High School's Perritech program, by providing students with industry recognized technology certification programs, has provided firsthand evidence that American students can compete at world-class standards in the classroom and on the job.

Press Release

Mental Hospital Seclusion and Restraint Reduction

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Department of Public Welfare

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare has introduced innovations that have safely and significantly reduced the use of seclusion and restraint in its nine state mental hospitals. Seclusion and restraint techniques, historically used to control potentially harmful patient behavior, have been associated with a high risk of patient injury and death.

Press Release

Public Health Model for Corrections

Hampden County, MA

Sheriff's Department

The Hampden County Correctional Center, through unique relationships with community partners, provides inmate medical care at community standards and assures continuing health care after release from jail. The system benefits the community by decreasing disease, providing financial savings, and enhancing public safety.

Press Release

Metro Commute Partnerships

King County, WA

Department of Transportation, Transit Division

King County Metro Transit succeeds in getting commuters out of their cars by working collaboratively with employers. Metro's Commute Partnerships help employers jump-start subsidy program for their employees' alternative commutes.

Press Release

Smart Growth and Neighborhood Conservation

State of Maryland

Office of Planning

The Smart Growth initiative is the nation's first statewide, incentive-based, comprehensive effort to discourage sprawl. It uses the state's $19 billion budget as an incentive to encourage less costly, more environmentally sensitive, and better-planned growth.

Press Release