Innovations in American Government Award Winners Nominated for Cabinet Positions

Three Innovations in American Government Awards winners have been tapped by President-elect Obama for prestigious cabinet positions. Shaun Donovan MPA 1995 New York City Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development, has been selected for secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Janet Napolitano, Arizona governor, has been nominated as secretary of Homeland Security; and Thomas Vilsack, former governor of Iowa, has been chosen for secretary of Agriculture.

“The Innovations in American Government Awards Program celebrates the recent cabinet nominations of Commissioner Donovan, Governor Napolitano, and Governor Vilsack,” said Stephen Goldsmith, director of the Innovations in American Government Awards. “As 2008 and 2005 Innovations winners, they have been at the forefront of real improvements to major social challenges and promise to expand upon such innovative practices at the federal level.”

The Innovations Awards is an annual awards competition administered by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation recognizing and promoting excellence in the public sector.

Napolitano oversaw the successful implementation of Getting Ready: Keeping Communities Safe, an award-winning prison pre-reentry initiative of Arizona’s Department of Corrections launched in 2004. The program reports plummeting rates of institutional violence and recidivism despite an overall increase in prison population. It encourages inmates to earn high school equivalency diplomas, achieve and maintain sobriety and participate in victim-focused volunteer activities. The program reports a $1.6 million reduction in spending that directly benefits Arizona taxpayers.

Donovan spearheaded the New York City Acquisition Fund. As a key element of Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace plan, the fund is a $230 million partnership which finances the purchase of land and buildings for affordable housing. It plans to build and preserve 30,000 housing units in the City over the next 10 years with 75 percent of units reserved for low income tenants.

With the State of Iowa’s Department of Management, Vilsack led the successful Charter Agency Program, a unique model aimed at encouraging entrepreneurial innovation and efficiency in state government. In exchange for exemptions from many bureaucratic state requirements, agencies agree to new standards of accountability in the areas of customer benefits and revenue and savings contributions. The flexibility has allowed the Department of Revenue to cut costs and create additional revenue of over $1.3 million.

Donovan and Napolitano, along with representatives from all six 2008 Innovations in American Government Award-winning programs, were honored at a gala in Washington, D.C., in September. At the event, Governor Napolitano delivered the keynote address on how, as a leader, she created an environment conducive to innovation. In 2005 Vilsack’s program was honored at a similar gala.