B&G REPORT.

Over the course of the last few years, we’ve found ourselves writing increasingly about the challenges and accomplishments of towns, small cities and counties. In the past, it’s been a real temptation to focus on the work of large cities, as they tend to wind up in the news – and are more inclined than smaller places to publicize their accomplishments. But about one out of three incorporated communities in the United States has a population of under 50,000. We were inspired t

We’re happy in our work life (and our home life as well). In fact, two of our favorite things we do professionally are writing the column you’re reading now and building this website. Yet barely a day goes by when something doesn’t frustrate or annoy us – often during our research – and we thought we’d share a few of these impediments to workplace bliss with you. We wonder how many of you are confronting the same challenges – and we invite you to send us any frustrations of

In a “VOICES FROM ASPA" video that ran on this website a couple of weeks ago, Valerie Lemmie, senior advisor of state and local government at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, told us that “I am at times surprised how little our graduate students know about civics and then I am reminded that we don’t teach it in school anymore, you don’t learn it in high school. You don’t learn it in college. And so, it’s incumbent upon you, who are preparing for the profession (in public

There are many important routes to heighten the likelihood of developing successful programs and policies in the public sector. But over the years, in dozens of conversations, we’ve had one factor that comes up repeatedly: It’s critical to be willing to take risks. Naturally we’re not talking about gambling with the public dollars without ample consideration, study and the search for evidence. Instead, we’re thinking about a truly calculated approach to entering new territory

Back on March 6, 2020, the IBM Center for the Business of Government hosted a glorious party in honor of our then-new book “The Promises and Pitfalls of Performance-Informed Management.” (Rowman & Littlefield) There was a lot of talk in the room about some mysterious new disease that seemed to be spreading. People were bumping elbows. On March 11 th , the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. That night the NBA suspended its season, and a national

Late last year, Bill Eggers, executive director of Deloitte's Center for Government Insights, wrote on LinkedIn that "Over my decades working on government reform, my one major complaint has always been that think tanks have focused so much time and resources on policy and too little on policy execution and the nitty-gritty of government operations He was playing our song, and we’d like to add that we find the same unfortunate phenomenon doesn’t just exist in think tanks but

“This is the last B&G Report we’ll be publishing in 2025 (the next new column will appear in this space on January 12, 2026 ) And so, we thought it only appropriate for us to look back at the columns we’ve done over the last year to pick out ten of our favorites – and provide them to our readers who may have missed them the first time around. Take a look, and as NBC used to say in a campaign to get people to watch its reruns, “If you haven’t seen it, it's new to you.” Unc

A couple of months ago at a large social gathering we had the opportunity to spend some time with a person who has dedicated his life to...

More than ten years ago, leaders in West Haven, Connecticut (where the Greene of Barrett and Greene grew up), began planning a fabulous...

As regular readers of this website know, we generally avoid covering politics or the federal government. That said, we’re beginning this...

When we were attending the most recent Southeastern Conference for Public Administration in Memphis (SECOPA), we sat in on a number of...

Several years ago – right before the start of the pandemic -- our book, The Promises and Pitfalls of Performance-Informed Management was...

Public sector human services professionals tend to go into their field to spend time with lower-income families who are in need of...

As the federal government hands out money to states and localities for broadband services (and other infrastructure as well), one...