REINVENTION EXPRESS

October 6, 1997, Vol. 3, No. 9

An Information Sheet for Federal Communicators, Managers, Workers, and Their Partners
Pass It On www.statelocal.gov
One-Stop Federal Website for States and Localities to Open Soon

State and local government employees--and federal employees who work with states and localities--this message is for you. Log on to your computer. Click your web browser. Type: www.statelocal.gov.

What comes up is the US State and Local Gateway, a new one-stop website with federal information that employees of state and local governments need to do their jobs. Vice President Al Gore will officially open the site soon, but it's okay to start using it now--and to send comments on how to make it better. Fifteen federal agencies will listen. They make up the interagency team that created the Gateway following months of collaboration with state and local partners.

Federal Agencies and Customers Can Still Help

"The Gateway will continue to be a work in progress," said team leader Beverly Godwin Yates of the National Performance Review. "We invite all federal agencies to contribute to the Gateway and we ask our customers to tell us what they need. We display the information by subject rather than agency," she said. Federal agency representatives with online information that the Gateway could link to should contact the subject leaders named below or click on "Add-a-Link" from the Gateway site.

Customers Said What They Wanted

Based on customer focus groups and consultation with associations representing state and local officials and employees, the interagency team organized the Gateway according to subjects most in demand. For example, under Environment/Energy, a site visitor might find information on laws and regulations, funding, training, and best practices from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, US. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Interior and other federal organizations.

The Gateway offers user-friendly features including links to other customer one-stop websites, a reference room, most frequently requested information, direct e-mail to those who maintain the subject pages, a site map for easy navigation, and links to state and local government home pages.

"The payoff is amazing," Yates said. "The Gateway is already getting fan mail." A senior manager from Clackamas County, Oregon, wrote that the site is "making life easier for those of us at the state and local level...You are absolutely on the right track." A legislative analyst from Montgomery County, Maryland, wrote, "It's about time. Hurry up!!"

Gateway Has Lots of Partners

NPR and the Government Information Technology Services Board's Intergovernmental Enterprise Panel are co-sponsors. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is the host agency. The national intergovernmental public interest groups known as the "Big Seven" are partners. These include the US Conference of Mayors, National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, the National Governors' Association, the Council of State Governments, and the International City/County Management Association.

Subject leaders are: Administrative Management, Sally Matthews (GSA), sally.matthews@gsa.gov; Communities/Commerce, Candi Harrison (HUD), Candis_B._Harrison@hud.gov; Disasters/Emergencies, Marc Wolfson (FEMA), marc.wolfson@fema.gov; Education, Kirk Winters (Ed), kirk_winters@ed.gov; Environment/Energy, Maggie Thielen (EPA), thielen.maggie@epamail.epa.gov; Families/Children, Dana Colarulli (HHS), dcolarulli@acf.dhhs.gov; Health, Vesta Jones (HHS), vjones@napawash.org; Housing, Candi Harrison (HUD), Candis_B._Harrison@hud.gov; Money Matters, Aurora Kassalow (Treasury), aurora.kassalow@fms.sprint.com; Public Safety, Karen Evans (DOJ), karen.evans@usdoj.gov;Transportation/Infrastructure, Bob Hayes (DOT) robert.hayes@fhwa.dot.gov; Workforce Development, George Koch (DOL), kochg@doleta.gov. If you have information or questions outside these subject areas, contact Nancy Singer at NPR at (202) 632-0174 or nancy.singer@npr.gsa.gov. You may reach Beverly Godwin Yates at (202) 632-0374 or beverly.yates@npr.gsa.gov.

Other Web Resources: Worldwide and Wonderful

PubMed--Vice President Gore launched the National Library of Medicine PubMed, the world's largest medical database. Previously known as MEDLINE, it had been available only to those who registered and paid a fee. The database provides access to more than 9 million articles from 70 countries, and is growing at a rate of 1,000 articles a day. The address is www.nlm.nih.gov.

Asbestos Advisor--The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Asbestos Advisor features interactive software that makes safety experts out of construction workers without wading through hundreds of pages of complex regulations. The Hammer Award-winning site has been hailed by industry and praised in newspapers over the country. This and other expert systems are on the OSHA web site at www.osha.gov/oshasoft/.

FedStats--Want statistics on population trends, health care costs, energy use, or foreign trade? FedStats, a web site with statistics from more than 70 federal agencies, is at www.fedstats.gov. This interagency project, sponsored by the Dept. of Commerce, received a Hammer Award.

National Performance Review, 750-17th St., NW, Washington, DC 20006, (202) 632-0223. To subscribe by e-mail, send a message to: Listproc@etc.fed.gov. Put this message: SUBSCRIBE EXPRESS-L FIRSTNAME LASTNAME. For fax, send fax number to Pat Wood at pat.wood@npr.gsa.gov or fax to (202) 632-0390. The Express is on the Internet at www.npr.gov. Click on News Room.