In November, 47 representatives from 16 jurisdictions across the country gathered at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) for the inaugural HKS Government Performance Lab (GPL) and HKS Executive Education program “Driving Government Performance: Alternative Emergency Response.” Leaders from police and fire departments, 911 call centers, social service providers, and other agencies participated in five days of management and leadership training to advance their work on alternative emergency response.
Government Performance Lab (GPL) staff gathered at the Harvard Kennedy School for our annual Summer Convening – a week spent welcoming new staff, training all staff on public management...
From October 2020 to June 2022, the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab (GPL) led a pilot program in Harris County, Texas, to transform how judges received data from the pretrial services agency. Under the pilot, judges reduced the intensity of supervision requirements for over 2,200 defendants released into the community while awaiting trial...
The Community Response Team in Washington, D.C., has responded to thousands of crisis calls, including some diverted from 911. Two-person teams of responders with specialized training in behavioral health aim to de-escalate behavioral health- and mental health-related crises and often seek to connect individuals with the care they need to stabilize. At a recent panel hosted by Blue...
In early April, the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab (GPL) co-hosted a webinar with the NYU School of Law’s Policing Project on scaling alternative 9-1-1 emergency response programs. Panelists shared first-hand, field-level insights about why, when, and how to scale alternative response programs, as well as common challenges to expansion. 225 practitioners from mayor’s offices and police departments, researchers, and others attended. Panelists included:...
This Spring, GPL Fellow Hena Rafiq presented at the Texas Association of Pretrial Services Conference with pretrial expert and Harris County Pretrial Services (HCPS) Division Manager Janey Smith. Hena and Janey presented to pretrial practitioners from across Texas about their work with judges at HCPS to reduce the use of pretrial conditions such as drug testing and alcohol or electronic monitoring devices through step-downs. Step-down programs allow judges to regularly review the conditions under which defendants are placed upon being charged and make adjustments based on defendants’...
Similar to many pretrial agencies during the...
In early June, Project Leader for the GPL’s