During our first half dozen episodes of the Go Public podcast, we have focused in large part on technology-driven startups and entrepreneurs working on solving civic problems. This time, we take a decidedly low tech turn with a look at a novel campaign to reduce panhandling in Albuquerque, N.M. One panhandler’s cardboard sign that read "Want a job" caught the eye of Richard Berry. The then mayor decided to take the man at his word by finding what the city calls  There’s A Better Way by offering panhandlers day jobs and related city services. There is no app for that. An unused decade-old van in the motor pool was pressed into service to visit popular popular panhandling locations twice a week with offers to work on beautification projects in the city. In finding a practical way to help the homeless find work and safety, it also provides other cities with an alternative to panhandling bans, which were struck down by a seemingly unrelated Supreme Court decision  Reed v. Gilbert. We look at the story, popularized in a TEDx video, and its track record on this episode of Go Public.

006 A Better Way Around The Cardboard Sign Problem

Go Public tells the Stories of Government Getting It Done. 

Cities and states across the country face new challenges, growing complexity and old, tired bureaucracies. Go Public is about those places that are changing the status quo. It’s about the people and ideas in government that are helping solve problems and make communities better places to live. In this new podcast from the editors and reporters of Governing and Government Technology, we’ll take a look at some of the successes – and the failures – that are remaking the way government works, and re-imagining the way the public sector delivers services to citizens.

News & Politics

Technology

Tech News

Podcasting

Gadgets

Software How-To

Government & Organizations

Non-Profit

National

Regional

Local

With $10-thousand prize for a first-place finish, a handful of startup founders pitched a panel of mayors convened by the US Conference of Mayors and the non-profil Civic I/O, a group of self-styled civic innovators bound together by a commitment to solving intractable city problems through applied technology. This year's pitches covered everything from redressing racism in setting car insurance rates while making city streets safer, using so-called job-killingAI to benefit job seekers, holding landlords to account for keeping the heat on, and providing networked access to psychiatrists to first responders responding to mental health emergencies. Show Notes:  Augmented Training Systems Cloud9 Heat Seek ODN Bloc 

SXSW 2019: Hear Startup Founders Pitch the Mayors

This week's release of the 2019 GovTech 100 list, compiled and published by Government Technology, marks the maturation of what began four years ago as a way to recognize companies founded to solve problems unique to the public sector. Together, GovTech 100 companies represent a growing portfolio of scalable, digital solutions addressing the tough, complicated problems that governments face -- from health care and public finance to urban planning and public safety. On this episode of "Go Public," we hear from the analysts who developed this year’s list, a pair of founders of GovTech 100 companies, and a venture capitalist about the market's dynamics and what they mean for governments. Listen below. You can also listen and subscribe on your iPhone (Apple Podcasts) or Android device (Google Podcasts). 

The GovTech 100: Solving Problems for Government

By 2030, as many as 73 million U.S. jobs could be lost to automation, according to global management consultants McKinsey and Company. The prediction has governments, activists and even venture capitalists dusting off an old idea to give cash directly to displaced workers without conditions to meet their basic needs. This new take on Universal Basic Income (UBI) has garnered support across the political spectrum, from social democrats on the left to libertarian entrepreneurs on the right. The model also has its skeptics. In this episode of "Go Public," we revisit the argument for and against UBI with a focus on its economic viability and potential community impact. 

The Debate over Universal Basic Income (UBI)

Femme

The government's struggle to communicate with its constituents has consequences. Public trust in government is at a near historic low. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are trying something new to see if they can at least explain the civic dysfunction -- if not repair it. The leaders of the effort, Ceasar McDowell and Ayushi Roy, are our guests on this episode of "Go Public." They suggest that citizen engagement has been crippled by trauma on both sides of the conversation -- the public whose trust has been violated by broken promises and government agencies on the receiving end of blowback.

006 A Better Way Around The Cardboard Sign Problem

Download our free app to listen on your phone