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Denver Permanent Supportive Housing Pay for Success

Denver sought to provide individuals experiencing homelessness with permanent alternatives to costly emergency services such as hospitals and shelters. As part of the Permanent Supportive Housing Pay for Success initiative, the GPL helped Denver identify the most costly chronically homeless individuals who were also involved with the criminal justice system as candidates for supportive housing. With its project partners, the City is building 160 new units and using 90 existing units to house these individuals and testing the results with a five-year randomized control trial....

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Arizona Child Welfare Performance Improvement

Developing a performance-based contracting strategy for delivery of critical services to ensure children are placed in the most appropriate setting and are provided the most effective services

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Connecticut Department of Children and Families Enhanced Service Coordination

Creating performance metrics, developing short- and long-term strategies for service allocation, and aligning the service array around the core needs of children and families served by the state

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Connecticut Family Stability Pay for Success

In 2013, over 50 percent of the 36,000 cases investigated by Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) had an indication of parental substance use. DCF hoped to support these recovering parents by matching them to recovery and support services while limiting removals of their children, so the agency worked with the GPL to launch the Family Stability Pay for Success project. This project identified a crucial gap in services for families with children aged 3-6 and expanded these services to support 500 additional families in need. The GPL also worked with DCF to...

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Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab Expands Pretrial Initiative to Five Jurisdictions

October 3, 2023

Jurisdictions to Receive Applied Research Support and Technical Assistance to Improve Outcomes and Make Supervision Less Restrictive for People Awaiting Trial 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab (GPL) today announced five jurisdictions which will receive applied research support and technical assistance from its Pretrial Initiative. The Initiative is designed to support state and local jurisdictions seeking to improve outcomes for those awaiting trial while making pretrial supervision less restrictive....

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Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab Announces 2023–2024 Alternative 911 Emergency Response Implementation Cohort

August 22, 2023

Largest-Ever Cohort Set to Receive Applied Research Support and Technical Assistance to Advance Unarmed Alternative Emergency Responses
 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab (GPL) today announced 14 members will participate in its 202324 Alternative 911 Emergency Response Implementation Cohort, an initiative...

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Boston, MA Asphalt Resurfacing

The Boston Public Works Department’s  contracts for road resurfacing were overly focused on achieving mileage targets to the detriment of other key goals, such as maintaining steady work flows and minimizing inconvenience to constituents. With pro-bono technical assistance from the GPL, the city incorporated results-driven contracting strategies to reorient the roadway resurfacing contracts around a holistic set of goals, provide vendors with incentives to meet these goals, and increase the flow of performance data enabling the Department to course correct issues in real-time. The...

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Boston, MA Capital Project IT System

The City of Boston spends over $120 million on construction projects every year but lacked the infrastructure to systematically share project information and effectively coordinate project management across departments. As a result, multi-departmental projects were falling behind schedule and running over budget. With pro-bono technical assistance from the GPL, the city launched a problem-based procurement for a cross-department capital project management IT system. The procurement aimed to standardize project management processes, increase the flow of data,...

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Boston, MA Procurement for Bike Share Operator

Boston faced a number of challenges with its bike share system – some stations frequently had no available bikes while others were completely full, total ridership was lower than expected, and access was limited in low-income and minority communities. To address these challenges, the GPL provided pro bono technical assistance to help the city reshape the bike share system through the procurement of a new system operator. The procurement implemented performance metrics that better...

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Louisville, KY Strategic Procurement System

As part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities initiative, the GPL provided pro bono technical assistance to help Louisville design and pilot a strategic procurement system to improve the outcomes of the City’s contracted dollars.

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Arizona Child Welfare Performance Improvement

Developing a performance-based contracting strategy for delivery of critical services to ensure children are placed in the most appropriate setting and are provided the most effective services

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Connecticut Department of Children and Families Enhanced Service Coordination

Creating performance metrics, developing short- and long-term strategies for service allocation, and aligning the service array around the core needs of children and families served by the state

Read more about Connecticut Department of Children and Families Enhanced Service Coordination

Culturally Responsive Family Support Services in Washington State

As in many states, Black and Native children in Washington are overrepresented in the child protective system. To reduce these disparities, the Government Performance Lab (GPL) is working with the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) to provide more culturally specific and responsive services for Black and Native families. With the GPL’s support, DCYF is developing and testing promising practices to procure culturally responsive programs and contract with providers serving local Black and Native communities. These new contracting practices have the...

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Denver Permanent Supportive Housing Pay for Success

Denver sought to provide individuals experiencing homelessness with permanent alternatives to costly emergency services such as hospitals and shelters. As part of the Permanent Supportive Housing Pay for Success initiative, the GPL helped Denver identify the most costly chronically homeless individuals who were also involved with the criminal justice system as candidates for supportive housing. With its project partners, the City is building 160 new units and using 90 existing units to house these individuals and testing the results with a five-year randomized control trial....

Read more about Denver Permanent Supportive Housing Pay for Success
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Connecticut Family Stability Pay for Success

In 2013, over 50 percent of the 36,000 cases investigated by Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) had an indication of parental substance use. DCF hoped to support these recovering parents by matching them to recovery and support services while limiting removals of their children, so the agency worked with the GPL to launch the Family Stability Pay for Success project. This project identified a crucial gap in services for families with children aged 3-6 and expanded these services to support 500 additional families in need. The GPL also worked with DCF to...

Read more about Connecticut Family Stability Pay for Success

Denver Permanent Supportive Housing Pay for Success

Denver sought to provide individuals experiencing homelessness with permanent alternatives to costly emergency services such as hospitals and shelters. As part of the Permanent Supportive Housing Pay for Success initiative, the GPL helped Denver identify the most costly chronically homeless individuals who were also involved with the criminal justice system as candidates for supportive housing. With its project partners, the City is building 160 new units and using 90 existing units to house these individuals and testing the results with a five-year randomized control trial....

Read more about Denver Permanent Supportive Housing Pay for Success

Massachusetts Pathways to Economic Advancement Pay for Success

While Massachusetts has some of the highest educational performance in the country, the state continues to face challenges in supporting the employment and career success of English language learners and those who have not achieved high school credentials. With pro bono technical assistance from the GPL, Massachusetts launched a project to provide vocationally-oriented adult basic education and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) services to approximately 2,000 adults over the course of three years. The program is expected to improve earnings and education outcomes...

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California Department of Social Services SNAP Job Training and Employment Services

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) operates a workforce development program for CalFresh recipients called SNAP Employment and Training (E&T). In California, counties run their own E&T programs, with funding provided by the state and federal governments. GPL helped expand and improve E&T programming in three ways. First, GPL helped the state explore new ways to use federal matching funds that can create a perpetual, sustainable funding stream with a one-time investment of state dollars. Second, GPL facilitated a data match of county E&T...

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Illinois Vocational Progams for Corrections Performance Improvement

Improving employment outcomes for individuals exiting incarceration by reforming in-facility vocational programming

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Arizona Child Welfare Performance Improvement

Developing a performance-based contracting strategy for delivery of critical services to ensure children are placed in the most appropriate setting and are provided the most effective services

Read more about Arizona Child Welfare Performance Improvement

Boston, MA Asphalt Resurfacing

The Boston Public Works Department’s  contracts for road resurfacing were overly focused on achieving mileage targets to the detriment of other key goals, such as maintaining steady work flows and minimizing inconvenience to constituents. With pro-bono technical assistance from the GPL, the city incorporated results-driven contracting strategies to reorient the roadway resurfacing contracts around a holistic set of goals, provide vendors with incentives to meet these goals, and increase the flow of performance data enabling the Department to course correct issues in real-time. The...

Read more about Boston, MA Asphalt Resurfacing

Boston, MA Capital Project IT System

The City of Boston spends over $120 million on construction projects every year but lacked the infrastructure to systematically share project information and effectively coordinate project management across departments. As a result, multi-departmental projects were falling behind schedule and running over budget. With pro-bono technical assistance from the GPL, the city launched a problem-based procurement for a cross-department capital project management IT system. The procurement aimed to standardize project management processes, increase the flow of data,...

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Highlights

2021 Texas Partners in Prevention Conference: Partnering with Criminal Justice to Connect Families to Prevention

January 11, 2022

Hosted by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, the Partners in Prevention conference is the largest annual gathering of prevention and early intervention professionals in Texas. The conference attracts parent educators, youth service providers, civic leaders, policy advocates, researchers, Prevention and Early Intervention grantees, and others with a professional interest in child and family well-being, youth development, and juvenile justice.

As part of the 2021 Partners in Prevention Conference, GPL fellow...

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Long Beach Asks Vendors to Share Feedback in Survey

October 15, 2021
The City of Long Beach is asking past, current and prospective vendors to participate in a Vendor Engagement Survey to help guide procurement improvements. The survey is one result of a comprehensive evaluation and remaking of the City's procurement systems and processes, conducted in collaboration with the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab (GPL). The goal is to make procurement more efficient, consistent and forward-looking, so that all vendors are better positioned to... Read more about Long Beach Asks Vendors to Share Feedback in Survey

HKS Is Providing a Blueprint For How to Improve Policing at Home and Nationwide

September 30, 2021
On September 30, 2021, the Harvard Crimson Editorial Board published an article highlighting the Government Performance Lab's work to support jrusidictions in implementing alternative approaches to 911 emergency response. According to the Editorial Board: "We are thrilled to see Harvard affiliates leveraging their resources and influence to pursue meaningful change at the local level. As prone to aspiring towards leadership as us Harvard students are, the Government Performance Lab’s ethos of creating change through assisting local actors is a great reminder that sometimes, the best thing we... Read more about HKS Is Providing a Blueprint For How to Improve Policing at Home and Nationwide