Harvard's Ash Center announces 111 bright ideas in government.

The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, recognized 111 innovative government initiatives as Bright Ideas for 2012. The initiatives were chosen from all levels of government--including school districts, county;, city, state, and federal agencies as well as public-private partnerships--and demonstrate 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 academia and the public sector. Some of the Bright Ideas chosen this year are summarized below.

Economic Development. Several Bright Ideas have created innovative programming to revitalize areas that have been debilitated by blight, foreclosures, and abandoned properties. New Orleans' BlightStat is a tool that measures and tracks city performance toward the mayor's goal of reducing the number of decaying, abandoned properties by 10,000 in 2014. Project Green House in Flint, Michigan, recycles 95 percent or more of abandoned home building materials, while the U.S. Department of Treasury's New Markets Tax Credit Program offers tax credits to encourage new economic and community development in distressed areas.

Other programs focus on job development and small business growth. Each year, Johnson County, Kansas' GovFest for Entrepreneurs convenes nearly 60 government agencies at all levels to showcase opportunities for collaboration, networking, and help in starting businesses, while San Clemente, California's Business Liaison/Facilitator Program offers entrepreneurs individualized support related to licenses, permits, and grants. In addition to small business support, several Bright Ideas address employment such as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' MyCareer@VA, an online career development program for Veterans Affairs employees and job seekers to develop a career path and find employment within the agency. Washington, D.C.'s One City, One Hire links unemployed residents with local employers, while both Milwaukee County's Summer Youth Employment Program and Wisconsin's Youth Workforce Development...