Innovation & Transferability Award

2008 Council of State Governments (CSG) Winner

Georgia DHR’s Crisis & Access Line is a winner of the 2008 Council of State Governments Innovation & Transferability Award (Letter to Governor). 16 southeastern states convened in Oklahoma in July to review the 11 regional finalists. Attendees were senators, legislators, lobbyists and state staff. The video below was prepared as a brief tour and history of this pioneering program (high quality version).

Each year, state governments evaluate hundreds of programs as diverse as homeland security, agriculture, corrections, transportation and education. 43 submitted applications used criteria of newness, creativeness, effectiveness, transferability to other states, and significance. Judith Brown prepared the application, David Shapiro Enterprises created the video tour with planning by Wendy Tiegreen and Judy Feimster, Gwen Skinner and David Covington presented to the review committee, and GCAL finished first! (DHR Press Release)

The other winner, "Virtual Alabama," utilizes Google Earth to provide disaster response support. The competition included a new approach to land conservation in Maryland, a unique program for offsetting housing insurance in Louisiana, Medicaid counseling/outreach in Florida, new approaches to diversion for corrections in Kentucky and Oklahoma, a novel concept for PI metrics across state government in Florida, an initiative to increase heat pump utilization in manufactured homes in North Carolina and a number of online innovations, including a comprehensive vendor procurement system (MyFloridaMarketPlace.com) and an online lease search in Alabama.

State News magazine is produced by the Council of State Governments and circulated to over 15,000 state legislators nationwide. The November/December 2008 issue highlights the eight national innovation award winners with GCAL on the cover. More information and quotes from Georgia DHR's MHDDAD Director Gwen Skinner is available in BHL's FY2008 Annual Review including a time-line describing the development of Georgia DHR's unique approach.