In July 2009, more than 13,000 Northeast Ohio residents heeded the call for more government collaboration and efficiency by voting in the EfficientGovNow competition hosted by the Fund for Our Economic Future.
The Fund offered a total of $300,000 for as many as three government collaboration and efficiency projects. More than 255 local governmental entities from Northeast Ohio collaboratively submitted applications, requesting a total $5.5 million.
The Fund learned that opportunity abounds. The response reinforces the need for more collaboration and efficiency and it also indicates that there are government officials out there willing to take the steps necessary to revitalize the economy.
In September 2009, the Fund began exploring running a second round of EfficientGovNow. While it does not have unlimited resources and cannot financially support all of the good projects, the Fund wants to keep the momentum going.
To gather public input, the Fund sent a brief survey to all Northeast Ohioans who cast EfficientGovNow ballots online, asking how they would design a second round of the program.
After two weeks, 1005 people had responded to the survey. This is what they had to say:
