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Kingsport wins Harvard Innovations in American Government Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Harvard University has honored the Model City with a prestigious award for its years of work in promoting and advancing higher education — from the Educate and Grow program, to the newly opened Kingsport Center for Higher Education, to the idea of creating an Academic Village in downtown Kingsport.

The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University has selected Kingsport as one of the winners of the 2009 Innovations in American Government Awards. The awards were presented Monday night at the Decatur House in Washington, D.C.

“This is absolutely amazing, and I’m not sure that we realize the significance and importance of winning this,” said Mayor Dennis Phillips. “It is going to draw attention to not only Kingsport, but to the entire state of Tennessee as far as higher education goes.”

Phillips said Kingsport received the most votes among the 16 finalists during the final selection process.

“This really goes to show you what you can do if two things happen — you don’t have to worry about who gets the credit because there is enough credit to go around, and second, this BMA has continued on the course that was set out by previous BMAs,” Phillips said. “This is not the end. This is the middle of what’s going to come in higher education in Kingsport. I think we set an example for the entire state of Tennessee and the nation to follow.”

Kingsport’s higher education initiative was one of six winners out of more than 700 applicants from across the country. The Model City received one of the three $100,000 awards; three $50,000 awards were also presented.

Morris Baker, grant writer for the city, said the $100,000 would be used in primarily two ways — to produce a series of videos on Kingsport’s program and the other five finalists, and to disseminate the program in order to educate the public and other governments about its effectiveness.

The Ash Institute has recognized more than 400 government programs at the federal, state and local level since 1985 — programs that promote excellence and creativity in the public sector. Each program is evaluated on novelty, effectiveness, transferability and the degree in which it successfully addresses an important problem of public concern.

“The idea (behind the award) is people don’t have a lot of faith in the government. But there are really creative and wonderful people in government who are doing spectacular things,” said Marty Manzy, executive director of the Ash Institute. “The program is to recognize there are really good ideas and really great, creative people working in government. Then, the ideas are replicated and not just be the prize itself. The award is used so these best practices can hopefully be transferred across to other cities or states.”

This year’s finalists included programs on improving K-12 education, helping emotionally disturbed youth, health insurance in Massachusetts, water usage in Idaho, and providing government data in Washington, D.C., faster and more effectively.

Kingsport’s submission for the award included information on the higher education initiatives the city has undertaken over the past decade to help revitalize the city’s economic and educational base, which include the following milestones:

•An economic summit called by former Mayor Jeanette Blazier in November 1999 to help improve the economic and educational condition of the city in light of major layoffs announced at Eastman Chemical Co.

•The Educate and Grow scholarship program — started by Kingsport in 2001 and later expanded by Sullivan County. The program (an idea from the 1999 summit) provides tuition assistance for qualifying students graduating from area high schools.

•The creation of the Regional Center for Applied Technology — a downtown satellite location for Northeast State Community College. The RCAT (another idea from the 1999 summit) offers courses in computer science, business management and office administration.

•Kingsport’s building of the the Regional Center for Health Professions (which houses all of Northeast State’s medical programs) and then the Kingsport Center for Higher Education (a facility where students can earn a four-year degree from a variety of colleges and universities).

•Then came the concept of an Academic Village in downtown, including two additional facilities (for a total of five) — the Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing (led by Eastman and Domtar) and the Pal Barger School of Automotive Technology.

“Instead of traditional tax incentives, Kingsport has revitalized its economy by making its work force more competitive,” said Stephen Goldsmith, director of the Innovations in American Government Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. “They recognized that today’s high school diploma does not adequately prepare students for the challenges of the global economy. Cities across the country can learn from Kingsport’s work in revamping curricula, building new infrastructure, and developing creative partnerships.”

When the Academic Village is fully up and running, city officials estimate 2,500 students will be attending courses in downtown Kingsport.

“Kingsport is fortunate to have private citizens, community organizations and elected officials who understand that the only limitation on a community’s economic potential is the quality of the local work force,” City Manager John Campbell said. “Access to higher education not only unlocks a community’s economic potential in the short term, but ensures society’s continuing success in future generations.”

Once Kingsport made the Top 16 in the running for the award, two things took place. Phillips and Bill Locke, former president of Northeast State, traveled to Harvard to make their case for why Kingsport should win the award. Then Pearl Sims, director of the Vanderbilt University Leadership Development Center, visited Kingsport for two days, talking with city officials and reviewing the higher education initiatives for the Ash Institute.

Sims said she recommended Kingsport with “great enthusiasm” to be a finalist for the award.

“The research most impressed me, and the data really was there to support my findings. It was not just a series of stories. (The program) was really documented in a way to lend to other communities to learn from. When you look at it, there’s no question it’s pretty remarkable,” Sims said. “At a time when it appears the public sector is in discord, few models build civic discourse, bring multiple constituents together to agree on what a community had to do.”

Some of the successes cited as a result of Kingsport’s higher education initiatives over the past decade include a more diversified economy, increased sales tax revenues ($950,000 over the past five years), an increase in new construction ($370 million since 2006) and more people moving to Kingsport (2,700 families over the past two years).

“I’ve had my share of looking at small communities, and when (Kingsport) decided to revitalize the whole downtown with the strategy of bringing in higher education, it was a fascinating form of an economic development model and education model,” Sims said. “I’m impressed with your community, and you’ve got something to teach our nation.”

In addition to encouraging the adaptation of innovative practices worldwide, award winners provide models of good governance taught in government school curricula worldwide. Such programs inform research and academic study around issues of democratic governance at Harvard and serve as the basis for case studies for present and future public practitioners.

Many winning programs act as harbingers for reform and new legislation and often serve as the basis for case studies and curricula at Harvard and institutions worldwide.

According to the Ash Institute, a recent survey of past Innovations winners found that 87 percent of respondents stated that winning the Innovations Award had a substantial impact on program credibility, expansion efforts and continued success.

Seventy-eight percent of past award-winning IAG programs have been replicated in other jurisdictions.
For more information visit www.ashinstitute.harvard.edu/innovations.

To view a video of the award winners visit: www.youtube.com/ashinstitute

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Now if we could just get some decent paying jobs to go with our higher education.

john davis | 9/15/2009 - 9:10 AM - (Suggest Removal )

So we are an area that is behind in college preparedness, and a city focuses redevelopment around the under-education issue, and they get an award? Where are the awards for those cities who don't fall behind in the first place?

Castle Romeo | 9/15/2009 - 8:39 AM - (Suggest Removal )

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