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The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades

Today’s Buzz is by Meredith Reynolds, Deputy City Manager for Recovery for the City of Long Beach. Follow Meredith on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. What I’m Listening To: Part 1 & Part 2 of the Questlove DJ set in tribute to the 30th Anniversary of A Tribe Called Quest’s first album & Qtip’s 50th Birthday...

Let’s Just Agree to Agree (Enough)

Today’s Morning Buzz is by Shane Stone, sr. management to Scottsdale’s City Manager Connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn What I’m Listening to: I saw FISHER three times in nine days last month, so his music has been bouncing around in my head What I’m Reading: I just finished "The Book of Hope" by Jane Goodall and...

Crowdsourced Responses to Management Analyst Recruitment Challenge

In May, ELGL shared an anonymous question from a member organization that was having difficulty hiring for a management analyst position. Below please find the crowd sourced inquiry, and the variety of responses from ELGL members. Names have been removed for anonymity. Question: Requesting feedback to assist an ELGL member organization that is having a...

Podcast: Building Organizational Culture with Scot Simpson, River Falls, WI

Scot Simpson City Administrator City of River Falls, Wisconsin LinkedIn | Twitter One City, one team. Scot Simpson, City Administrator for the City of River Falls, Wisconsin, joined the podcast to talk about strategies for shaping organizational culture. He shared how they prioritized employee engagement and created opportunities to build relationships between employees across departments....

Exchanging Ideas and Engaging Employees

One of the most prominent buzzwords that continues to trend in a “post-covid” world is organizational culture. Benefits, salary, policies, flexible scheduling – they are all under the microscope and if you are not taking a deeper look, someone in your organization is. Employees who feel that their employer cares about their wellbeing are more productive and more likely to be satisfied in their overall lives. People want to be happy and the work that they do should not put a restraint on that.

You've Got a Friend In Me

Today’s Buzz is by Samantha Roberts– connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter! I’m not sure if it was my recent family trip to Disneyland, or the ensuing reruns of Toy Story playing in the background, but when I think of local government and local business, I kid you not, I hear “You’ve got a friend...

8 Steps That Move Ideas to Solutions

Today's Buzz is by Meredith Trimble, Public Affairs Manager, with Tyler Technologies, Inc., and former Acting Chair, Farmington, CT Town Council (Twitter, LinkedIn) What I'm reading: Lessons from the Edge, by Marie Yovanovitch What I'm watching: It's spring sports season in Connect so at (or driving to) kids' practices and games every waking moment I'm...

National Civic Review - Spring Edition 2022

This quarterly journal is brought to you by our friends at the National Civic League. Spring Edition — Access Code: ELGL22 Communities succeed when they leverage the power of civic engagement and take collaborative approaches to local challenges such as the lack of affordable housing. This issue of the National Civic Review borrows some old ideas—organizing local civic...

How Local Governments Can Support Home-Based Entrepreneurs

This guest article was written by Michael Huling, Graduate Assistant at the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership. Entrepreneurship has long been a feature of the American economy that reflects the dynamic and creative spirit of Americans. One of the fascinating developments that has emerged in light of the pandemic is the resurgence...

All Politics is National Now, Even in Local Government

Today's Morning Buzz is by Warren Kagarise, digital engagement manager for King County, WA. Connect on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. What I'm Reading: The Washington Post's dive into how algospeak, language we increasingly use to bypass social media content moderation filters — think "panda express" as code for "pandemic" — is changing the way we...

As News Deserts Encroach, Local Governments Adapt

Today's Morning Buzz is by Warren Kagarise, digital engagement manager for King County, WA. Connect on Linkedin, Twitter and Instagram. What I'm Reading: "The Man Who Ate Too Much" about the life of gourmand James Beard, a larger-than-life tastemaker whose impact is still felt in our kitchens and at our tables. What I'm Watching: "The Dropout" —...

The History of the Local Government Diversity Dashboard

Today's Morning Buzz is by Kirsten Wyatt, the ELGL co-founder and executive director. Connect with Kirsten on Twitter and LinkedIn! What I'm Reading: Maus by Art Spiegelman What I'm Watching: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season Four What I'm Listening To: Wild Boys I'm joining my fellow Morning Buzz writers by focusing today's Buzz on the...

Tompkins Center for History & Culture

Voting for the 2022 Best Places in Local Government (aka the #ELGLKnope) Round of 32 opens on March 7, 2022 and closes at midnight PT on Friday, March 11, 2022. One vote per person. Learn more about this award online. Vote in the #ELGLKnope Round of 32! Tompkins Center for History & Culture Ithaca, New...

Webinar Rewind: Unpacking Federal Funding Opportunities to Create More Livable Communities

The ELGL Webinar Library is now members-only, but we think this particular recording provides such an excellent preview of our upcoming cohort that we're making available for everyone! Enjoy the recording, then apply for the free 6-week cohort Federal Funding Opportunities to Create More Livable Communities. While you're at it, check out the AARP Community...

What Do You Love About Local Gov?

We asked councilors, city managers, the Polco team, and other leaders what they love about local government. Here’s what they had to say...

New Cohort! Federal Funding Opportunities to Create More Livable Communities - Apply by March 21

As local governments compete for grants and seek to implement investments strategically, they must navigate complex funding rules and reporting requirements, and design programs and partnerships that can deliver measurable, equitable outcomes for all residents. This cohort sprint is designed to supercharge efforts by local government practitioners to do just that. It will provide an...

The Well-Being of Public Workers in an Age of Anxiety

ELGL is proud to feature the writing and thinking of longtime member Mark Funkhouser. Here’s his latest post, and you can also sign up for his newsletter here or connect with him via email. How are your local government’s employees doing? If you don’t know the answer to that, you should. We’ve been paying a lot of attention...

How Civic Experiences Impact Individuals: Resident User Survey Results

This article was written by Jennifer Elliott, Corporate Marketing Manager for CivicPlus. Residents expect more from their local governments than ever before. How are you responding? As we learned from this year’s New Normal Survey results, residents expect more from their local governments, especially regarding technology. With local governments creating, maintaining, and updating essential resident engagement processes to accommodate new expectations related to contactless...

Communities and the Untapped Potential of Baby Boomers

ELGL is proud to feature the writing and thinking of longtime member Mark Funkhouser. Here’s his latest post, and you can also sign up for his newsletter here or connect with him via email. State and local governments have long known they have a workforce pipeline problem, but the Great Resignation brought on by the pandemic has intensified...

National Civic Review - Winter Edition

This quarterly journal is brought to you by our friends at the National Civic League. Winter Edition — Access Code: ELGL22 In this issue our authors provide new insights on local efforts to address some of the most pressing issues of 2022, including innovative approaches to policing, racial equity, public engagement, restoring trust in the news...