Host a Fellow

City of Sacramento

To pull the region out of the recession and simultaneously improve its environment, Sacramento’s Mayor Kevin Johnson created an initiative that leverages the region’s resources to address both the economic downturn and the declining environment by stimulating a sustainable green industry. The ‘green economy’ will create new, stable job opportunities and help address environmental issues. Launched in 2010, the Greenwise Initiative set ambitious goals for the next 8 years, which include doubling the number of Green Jobs, reducing the region’s water usage by 20%, and certifying 10,000 “Greenwise Businesses”. The Fuse Corps Fellow will jump into the project during its early implementation phase, helping to develop plans to make the initiative successful.

Children Now

In California’s fractious political climate, winners and loses on issues are all too often determined by the power and influence of interest groups’ lobbying dollars, campaign contributions, and organized memberships. But the state’s children don’t have an advocate working for them, and this is undermining efforts to improve their health and educational outcomes.  Out of this environment Children Now has formed The Children’s Movement to find common ground among influential opinion leaders, interest groups and policymakers, who together can develop and drive socially innovative, non partisan approaches to helping all children achieve their full potential. Broadly ranging in type and focus, the more than 100 organizations that currently comprise The Children’s Movement have coalesced around a “what works for kids” platform. In order for them to achieve their goals, they will need to sustain momentum by adding new partners and building coalitions with elected officials.

City of San Jose

In a rapidly changing world, government’s success depends, in part, upon its ability to quickly and intelligently mobilize resources in response to a range of complex problems and opportunities. The City of San Jose is developing the TalentBridge program, a public-private partnership which leverages Silicon Valley’s wealth of talent and innovation to help the City of San Jose advance key strategic goals. TalentBridge identifies and recruits pro-bono, private sector resources to assist City of San Jose employees in tackling interesting, timely and significant projects in order to create a dynamic growing economy. “Business as usual” does not and cannot exist here.

DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative

The DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative (DCPNI) is developing a new model to break down barriers between organizations, building a dynamic network that brings together stakeholders with a common vision and mutual accountability to fight poverty together, putting children’s well-being at the heart of the initiative. DCPNI encourages organizations to collaborate, brainstorm, and share resources and information. Modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone, together these organizations will improve child welfare on all fronts: physical and emotional safety, quality education, affordable childcare, and community support.

Governor Jack Markell of Delaware

Delaware was a Phase I winner of the Race to Top initiative that is now a key part of the state’s educational policies which will provide a firm foundation for its children. Under the leadership of Governor Jack Markell, Delaware is at the forefront of education reform. Governor Markell’s goal is to ensure that Delaware’s students are prepared for the increasingly competitive global marketplace. Accomplishing this goal requires more than just a data driven analysis of strengths and current academic performance, but also involves working with the various stakeholders - teachers, parents, students, administrators - and establishing plans to meet or exceed the state’s Race to the Top targets.

City of Richmond

The City of Richmond wants to leverage the power of the internet to make government more open and efficient. Implementing a range of civic technology solutions is central to the City’s strategic focus on “Well-Managed Government”. Successfully introducing these applications will improve customer service and provide equal access to the City’s services and information. Richmond must improve customer service through digital applications to achieve becoming a Tier One City. The City has identified a range of Code for America digital applications that they want to implement, including Aunt Bertha, Captricity, and snapfresh. These civic focused applications are available for the City to use and there is now an immediate need to put them into effect quickly.

Governor Mike Beebe of Arkansas

Lack of insurance is a statewide problem with major consequences for the state budget in Arkansas and nationwide. Over 25% of working age Arkansans are uninsured and many citizens report that they cannot see doctors due to cost. In 2010, uncompensated care costs to Arkansas hospitals were estimated at more than $338 million. These stark figures come at a time when healthcare reform is under the national spotlight. In arguably his largest legislative achievement, President Obama has specifically focused on expanding Medicaid coverage. For states like Arkansas whose current thresholds are significantly lower, this represents a significant increase in Medicaid coverage. While the federal government will initially cover expansion costs, they will gradually pass this expense to the state government. This creates both a significant short term benefit and large long term financial obligation. In order to deal with expanding costs, Governor Mike Beebe of Arkansas has decided to undertake a large scale initiative to change the way in which the State and Private Payers in the state pay for healthcare: the Arkansas Payment Improvement Initiative (APII). The state has decided to move away from a passive, fee-for-service reimbursement model, to new payment models and provider (hospital, physician, etc.) incentives that focus on outcomes and quality. These new models are a significant departure for both the state (and its private insurance partners), as well as providers. No such reform had been implemented on as large a scale as Arkansas currently plans to, and the state’s work has led to interested observers across the country following eagerly what happens in Arkansas.

City of San Francisco

The City and County of San Francisco is a national leader in its use of technology to improve service delivery, promote civic engagement, and fundamentally change the relationship of citizens and their government. San Francisco’s Gov 2.0 and OpenSF initiatives provide citizens with a wide array of usable open source data that promotes transparency and enhances accountability; opportunities to engage more effectively in dialogue and decision-making with their government; and mechanisms for promoting the timeliness and efficiency of public services. For these benefits to accrue equitably throughout San Francisco, the City seeks to leverage the vast resources from among its technology companies to find an innovative way to extend the benefits of its extensive fiber optic network to the community at large.

America's Promise Alliance

Research suggests that by 2018 two-thirds of all jobs will require a post-secondary education. Yet out of every 100 9th graders, only 18 will complete an associate’s degree in 3 years or a bachelor’s degree in six years. The current economic crisis highlights the challenge - even with high unemployment, jobs are going unfilled because of a lack of skilled workers. The business community is increasingly vocal about American children’s inability to compete in the global marketplace. Founded in 1997, America’s Promise agrees that no child should be without the critical supports they need to be successful. Now the largest cross-sector alliance for young people, they have successfully built momentum to stem the longstanding dropout rate that has limited students’ potential. Businesses are increasingly committed to ensuring that our children can compete with the best students in the world. There is an increasing trend towards the creation of business-led coalitions at the regional, state, and national levels, that harness the power and commitment of individual leaders to have greater collective impact. However, bridging the cultural divide between business and education is a critical challenge for these coalitions to succeed. America’s Promise is ready to create a national network to provide a natural gathering place for these coalitions to convene, for coalitions to promote and highlight their work, as well as to share best practices and ideas.