On October 28, 2020, Results for America and the National Governors Association co-hosted a virtual What Works Bootcamp for senior gubernatorial staff from 11 states. At the fifth Bootcamp, state leaders discussed their state’s efforts to leverage data and evidence in their COVID-19 efforts. In particular, the session focused on how states are using data to manage their pandemic responses as well as the role of performance information in their budget decisions in light of the pandemic related fiscal deficits. The conversations built on past discussions at the July 2020 and March 2020 Bootcamps, which focused on applying an equity lens to the use of data for state budgeting and COVID-19 metrics.
Timothy Blute, Director of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, provided opening remarks about the importance of data in state governments’ COVID-19 responses, noting “it is clear that data and evidence are critical components of this public health and economic crises responses.” Jed Herrmann, Vice President of State and Federal Policy Implementation at Results for America, highlighted the Managing for Results theme in the Blueprint for Delivering Results for State Government and its relevance to evidence-based budgeting and COVID-19 performance metrics.
Josh Inaba, Senior Manager for State and Federal Policy at Results for America, moderated a discussion with Lauren Larson, Director of the Colorado Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting, to discuss the Managing for Results theme in practice. Lauren provided insight into how Colorado has successfully built on Governor Polis’ commitment to results; leveraged performance and evidence in the state budget’s process to make progress on meeting statewide goals; and the intentional inclusion of equity, inclusion, and diversity frameworks in the state budget.
Sara Dube, Project Director for The Pew Results First Initiative at The Pew Charitable Trusts, provided a keynote on Performance Management for Results-Based Budgeting and discussed the importance of outcome monitoring when implementing evidence-based programs. She discussed the necessity of sharing performance data in the budgetary process to preserve effective programs that meet critical needs, especially with shrinking state budgets.
Bootcamp participants also attended breakout sessions. One session focused on performance management and results-based budgeting and was moderated by Sara Dube. A second breakout session focused on setting COVID-19 management metrics and was moderated by the leaders of COVID-19 Management Metrics for Cities, which is supported by Johns Hopkins University, Results for America’s What Works Cities initiative, and Delivery Associates. These sessions encouraged peer-sharing of best practices and innovative solutions to common challenges.
The October 2020 What Works Bootcamp participants included:
- California: Joy Bonaguro, Chief Data Officer, Governor’s Office, State of California
- Colorado: Aaron Ray, Deputy Director for Education, Workforce, and Environment, Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting; Heather Velasquez, Deputy Director of Operations and Cabinet Affairs, Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting
- Connecticut: Jason Cohen, Director of Operations, Department of Consumer Protection; Lily Hoffman, Kresge Fellow, Office of Policy and Management; Mikal Lewis, Manager of Strategic Initiatives Governor’s Office
- Maryland: Allison Cordell, Director, Governor’s Office of Performance Improvement
- Massachusetts: Jihae Lee, Government Innovation Fellow at the HKS Government Performance Lab, Executive Office for Administration and Finance
- Minnesota: Pete Bernardy, Chief Data and Evaluation Officer; Emmet Hedin, Policy Advisor, Governor’s Office
- North Carolina: Lanier McRee, Assistant State Budget Officer, Office of State Budget and Management; Kristin Walker, Deputy Director of State Budget, Office of State Budget and Management
- Ohio: Frank Kohstall Chief Data Advocate, InnovateOhio; Kimberly Murnieks, Director, Office of Budget and Management
- Rhode Island: Danielle Cerny, Chief Performance Officer, Governor’s Office
- Tennessee: Christin Lotz, Director of Evidence & Impact; Amanda Armstrong, Evidence Coordinator, Office of Evidence & Impact; Kaitlin Reynolds, Evidence Coordinator, Office of Evidence & Impact
- Washington: Michael Hirsch, Senior Research Associate, Washington State Institute for Public Policy
Guest speakers included:
- Timothy Blute, Director, NGA Center for Best Practices, National Governors Association
- Michael Bonino-Britsch, Policy Analyst, NGA Center for Best Practices, National Governors Association
- Daniel Bristow, Associate Director, Delivery Associates
- Sara Dube, Project Director, The Results First Initiative, The Pew Charitable Trusts
- Lauren Larson, Director of the Colorado Office of State Planning and Budgeting
- Amy Zhou, Project Leader, Delivery Associates
- Zach Markovitz, Results for America Vice President of Local Government and Managing Director, What Works Cities