Published in Education Week Jan. 24, 2007, this Op Ed described a citywide initiative in Philadelphia to support at-risk high schoolers getting back on track for graduation. Read PDF.
Read morePhiladelphia's Campaign for Working Families
How Philadelphia came together to build a cross-city coalition to promote the Earned Income Tax Credit. It was so successful in its first year Brookings Institution asked that a case study be done. The Campaign for Working Families continues in 2020. Read PDF essay.
Read moreLight at the End of the Tunnel: Light of Day or Oncoming Locomotive?
Meeting the Management Challenges of Reunifying Families
Timely housing assistance is crucial, but it can be tricky to overcome institutional barriers.
Read moreLessons for Program Design From a Food-as-Medicine Experiment
The spread of an innovative program piloted in Philadelphia is the result of persistence, rigorous study and evaluation, along with efforts to avoid common pitfalls.
Read moreAn Intriguing New Approach to Funding Social Programs
Pay-for-success programs seem to hold promise as a way to find the up-front investments for programs that save money in the long run.
Read moreThe Public-Administration Quandary: ‘Who’ vs. ‘What’
In the end, it's usually better to define what a service should be before deciding who should deliver it.
Read moreThe Challenge of the Last Mile of Service Delivery
Sometimes even the best program design and execution fail to get a government service to a recipient who needs it. There are ways to overcome those final hurdles.
Read moreHow Two Princetons Became One
Taking advantage of a state law encouraging local-government consolidations, the two New Jersey municipalities found a path that other places might follow.
Read moreShared Services and the Velveteen Rabbit Factor
One of the biggest barriers to consolidating service delivery is a jurisdiction's fear that it will lose its individual identity. There are ways to deal with that.
Read moreCollaboration Done Right
A public-private coalition of adoption services in Texas is getting many more kids into homes and saving money in the process.
Read moreWhy Magic Bullets May Miss the Mark
Promising social programs can fail. A simple framework can vet the ones doomed to failure and primed for success.
Read moreMending Safety Nets with Technology
How a nonprofit start-up turned a process full of vertical hurdles into a client-centric safety net.
Read moreCan 'Talent Injection' Remake Social Services?
A foundation's experiment with providing experts to public agencies is showing promise as a way to make a big difference at a relatively modest cost.
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