A consolidated land bank, merged safety dispatch and a novel effort to stimulate greater use of solar electricity earned the top spots from nearly 17,500 Northeast Ohioans who voted in the EfficientGovNow competition sponsored by the Fund for Our Economic Future.
The Fund sponsored the competition to encourage greater citizen advocacy for more collaborative, efficient local government. Residents were asked to vote for their three favorite government collaborations from 10 finalists chosen by the Fund, a collaboration of philanthropic institutions and individuals in Northeast Ohio that works to strengthen the region’s economic competitiveness.
During public voting in May, 17,482 ballots were cast and the Fund announced the winners today in a live webcast.
The final results are:
|
Project Name |
1st Place Vote Points |
2nd Place Vote Points |
3rd Place Vote Points |
Total Points |
Dollar Amount Requested |
| 1. Grounds for Change: Creating the First Collaborative Land Bank for the Mahoning County Region |
9,126 |
3,822 |
386 |
13,334 |
$61,420 |
| 2. Countywide 9-1-1 Dispatch Center (Stark County) |
9,543 |
1,296 |
572 |
11,411 |
$100,000 |
| 3. Let the Sun Shine: The Cleveland – First Suburbs Solar Special Improvement District Pilot Program |
7,683 |
1,526 |
670 |
9,879 |
$100,000 |
| 4. Trumbull County Coordinated Geographical Information System (GIS) Sharing and Data Collection |
5,034 |
4,200 |
328 |
9,562 |
$99,500 |
| 5. Implement Countywide Collaborative Storm Water Management Agency (Lorain County) |
5,358 |
1,218 |
492 |
7,068 |
$90,000 |
| 6. GIS Cooperative for Small Communities and Utilities (Partners within Ashtabula, Columbiana, Summit, Carroll and Lorain counties) |
4,704 |
1,504 |
657 |
6,865 |
$100,000 |
| 7. Affordable Solutions for Pharmaceutical Access in Summit County to Promote Self-Sufficiency and Employability |
4,866 |
906 |
423 |
6,195 |
$100,000 |
| 8. Better than Margarita Salt! (Partners in Cuyahoga County) |
2,937 |
1,038 |
502 |
4,477 |
$88,000 |
| 9. A Better Approach for Our Fire Departments to Help the Public (Lake County) |
2,637 |
1,062 |
573 |
4,272 |
$88,000 |
| 10. Ashtabula County Planning Collaborative |
558 |
638 |
311 |
1,507 |
$50,408 |
The top three projects will receive grants up to the amount requested. Plus, the Fund chose to award $70,000 to a fourth collaboration among smaller communities in Ashtabula, Columbiana, Summit, Carroll and Lorain counties, which came in sixth place in the competition. The Fund had said it would consider awarding a fourth grant if a collaboration from a smaller community demonstrated strong support for its project.
“The backers of the GIS Cooperative for Small Communities and Utilities did a great job of getting out the vote and earned the grant,” said Brad Whitehead, president of the Fund.
The grants will be distributed in stages as each of the four projects reaches specific benchmarks.
“We are encouraged to see a growing number of residents calling for more local government collaboration,” Whitehead said. “It is clear that the public expects local governments to collaborate and, increasingly, local officials are making collaboration the norm, not the exception. That was our goal when we started EfficientGovNow last year.”
Whitehead congratulated the leadership in Mahoning County for generating the largest total for the second year in a row. Last year, a collaboration to revitalize brownfields along the Mahoning River earned the top spot. This year, a collaborative land bank involving four communities and Mahoning County won the competition.
Second place went to a consolidated 9-1-1 dispatch project in Stark County that will transform 10 dispatch centers and one call center into a single operation, saving more than $2 million a year.
“Some collaborations have been on the drawing boards for some time, but now with strong community support generated by EfficientGovNow these types of projects will have the momentum needed to be implemented,” Whitehead said.
The Fund’s partner in the project, the Kent State Center for Public Administration and Public Policy, will track the progress of all of the government collaborations that participated in EfficientGovNow.
“The Fund and Kent State will continue to collaborate on ways to encourage and promote more government collaborations beyond those funded by the EfficientGovNow competition,” Whitehead said.
The numbers related to the current round of EfficientGovNow include:
- 50 project abstracts attracted
- 380 total collaborating governments and partners across 15 of Northeast Ohio’s 16 counties
- 31 partnerships invited to submit full proposal
- 27 proposals met full EfficientGovNow criteria
- 10 finalists selected
- 17,482 qualified votes
Launched in 2009, EfficientGovNow is a competitive award and civic engagement program that encourages and accelerates government cooperation and efficiency by providing philanthropic funds to local government collaboration projects as selected by the residents of Northeast Ohio. The program was supported by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
ABOUT THE FUND FOR OUR ECONOMIC FUTURE
The Fund for Our Economic Future (www.futurefundneo.org) is a collaboration of more than 100 foundations, organizations and philanthropists from across Northeast Ohio that strengthens the region’s economic competitiveness through grantmaking, civic engagement and research.
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote community engagement and lead to transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.
