Every major city relies on a strong government that provides its residents with reliable public services, supports the economy and creates jobs. In recent decades, Los Angeles’ large population and stretched budget have made it increasingly difficult for public officials to implement more qualitative reforms at a lower cost. This has caused the government, community and community leaders to recognize that the government cannot address these issues on its own. Job creation is an essential element of city life. Find out how to find a job in Los Angeles here. Learn more at la-future.
Developing an innovative model
The development path should be built on cooperation between the government and public sectors. As a result, an innovative government operations model was developed in Los Angeles. This platform has encouraged cross-industry leadership and collaboration in city governance to implement innovative concepts for systemic reform. This strategy assists city authorities in developing new ways to form cutting-edge partnerships with nonprofits and private sector organizations in two critical sectors that may help the city transform limited resources into positive and sustainable change.
The model was created through a partnership between the Mayor’s Office, the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy and Jobs. This collaboration between the private and public sectors aimed to collect data, best practices and ideas to revolutionize public spending management allows for improving government activities and services and cutting costs while generating new revenue.
Components of the innovative model
Los Angeles’ innovative development model brings together public and private sector expertise to make structural adjustments to the city’s most outdated operating system. This model’s strength comes in its capacity to create a collaborative platform that promotes interaction and innovative thinking among public servants, corporate leaders and civil service employees. The success of this strategy is based on the awareness that implementing beneficial changes will cause some disruption of the status quo and will necessitate the allocation of resources to implement long-term reforms.
The charity functions as an independent organizer with the shared goal of systemic reform of the city government. The philanthropic component of the partnership has the power to create substantial long-term change.
The innovative model was implemented by the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization that stands at the crossroads of local government, business, philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. The Mayor’s Fund raised money to support the project team and provided financial supervision.
The private sector, in collaboration with local governments, has formed an advisory board of private sector executives to help the project team. The advisory board periodically provides feedback on work plans and implementation. The board meets to check on the project team’s progress and provide advice and support to the director and team members. In addition, the private sector supports the team with funding, expertise, mentoring and other resources.
The Los Angeles Coalition is an independent bipartisan alliance that brings together business leaders, unions, academia and nonprofits to advocate for sound policies that will help the economy grow and create quality jobs in the Los Angeles region. Since its inception in 2009, the Coalition has brought together public and private sector resources to generate investments. It has resulted in the revitalization of the region’s transport infrastructure, city government business systems and workforce development programs. These efforts contribute to the reconstruction and development of the community’s infrastructure, skilled labor and the creation of high-paying jobs for hundreds of thousands of city residents.
Leadership and executive sponsorship by elected officials are critical to achieving success. Competitive priorities will exist in any business, whether public or private, thus adequate publicity and management support are required to ensure stable results.
Forming the project team
The project team is made up of both city and private partners. The team provides internal support, plans priority reform initiatives and provides partnerships with universities, technology companies and other stakeholders to achieve the highest possible performance and efficiency in city transformation.
The project team is a joint effort of the city and commercial partners in local government entities. The team is unique in that it includes city staff and works with local officials to achieve favorable results. As initiatives carry on, it is critical to develop an effective communication strategy in collaboration with the mayor or city manager to highlight the team’s vision and work.
The project team must possess such qualities:
- Perseverance in obtaining information
- Strong organizational design experience
- Process design experience
- Design thinking
- An entrepreneurial leader who is an independent employee
- Excellent critical thinking and analytical abilities.
Project team members:
- Appointed mayor. Supervises the team and serves as the link between the group director and the mayor. The individual appointed to the position must be a member of the Mayor’s Executive Office.
- Team director. The team director oversees the project’s current activities. The duties include idea generation, overseeing technologies and management specialists, as well as addressing the concerning issues of experts and other participants.
Project team goals:
- Serving as a catalyst for systemic reforms in government activities
- Supporting government employees rather than displacing them
- Attracting non-governmental entities such as private organizations, non-profit organizations and foundations
- Using a cooperative approach with city workers
- Promoting skill development and knowledge transfer
- Implementing best practices for project analysis and management
- Tracking and documenting progress.
Innovation model results
Since its inception, the Los Angeles model:
- Improved the work of city authorities
- Achieved cost reduction
- Increased transparency and enhanced supervision
- Optimized the city’s procurement procedure to cut expenses and diversify the supplier list
- Digitized the management of urban real estate assets
- Reduced workplace safety risks and expenses.
Workers from many industries engage in active discussions and are aware of the majority of the issues. Their cooperation helps to increase efficiency and improve service. To ensure long-term success, the project team must develop thorough implementation plans, identify key performance indicators and milestones and gather data to track progress.
