Collaborating on co-locating: Chicago's innovative approach to mixed-use facilities

Alaska has created a way for residents to financially benefit from the state's dependence on oil revenues. By giving residents a yearly portion of the revenue, the state has been able to see positive effects from an often conflict-ridden industry.

Boston had a hard time solving civic problems efficiently and holding its leadership accountable. In response, a team in the Mayor's office was charged with "making Boston better through clever, low-cost hacks" such as a mobile app that allows residents to send government service requests to City Hall.

Huge numbers of students lack the chance to go to college because of financial problems. Recently, Kalamazoo schools received more funding allowing them to have the chance to help and pay for students to then go to college and receive a higher education.

The pressure is on for the federal government to spend tax money more wisely. Evidence-based policy making is gaining in popularity as a way for the government to spend tax money wisely. While not quite as flashy or exciting as past ways, this has a proven track record of positive impact.

In Memphis, a creative blight-reduction initiative called 25 Square Blocks broke down the city into blocks. Inspectors were able to quickly identify all the violations and fix them, using the same amount of funding, but less time, as the old call-and-respond model.

By the 1980s, Roxbury and north Dorchester had been devastated by the disinvestment and white flight of the 1960s and 1970s. Racist banking and housing policies (“redlining”) had segregated people of color from opportunity, barring them from getting home loans except in certain neighborhoods. So the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) brought together residents to develop their own comprehensive plan to revitalize their community, building a community food system along the way.

New York City suffered from fires that erupted in overcrowded, run-down apartments. Then the city sleuthed through residential records and found that landlords who foreclosed let their properties fall apart and ignored safety-code violations. Greater Toronto wants to expand upon New York City’s method by using transportation surveys, census data and computer data to build transit lines.

A panoply of responses to poverty has emerged to address poverty in the United States and abroad. The responses share in three key tactics: Measuring impact, paying for success, and collaboration.

As Vermont struggles to create legislation regulating school district management and financial efficiency, the state looks to models in Maine and New Hampshire for guidance. In Maine, school districts have tried to save money and resources through consolidation; in New Hampshire, officials have reworked the way schooling is financed altogether.

Civic leaders in the U.S. struggle to effectively help their distressed neighborhoods. East Lake, Atlanta, created a replicable model that mixes residents of differing socio-economic status, and focuses on education and health in the area.