Two Kansas City-based initiatives, The Community Improvement District (CID) Revolving Loan Fund and the Women’s Empowerment (WE) Initiative, were selected as semifinalists in this year’s Innovations in American Government Awards competition.

The initiatives earned recognition from The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. After advancing from a pool of more than 500 applications from all 50 states, the two initiatives are among 100 semifinalists vying to earn a spot as finalists.

The Ash Center expects to announce 10 programs as finalists. Finalists will be invited to Cambridge to present to the Innovation Awards Program’s National Selection Committee in March. The $100,000 grand prize winners will be named in June.

Innovation awards evaluators touted the WE and CID initiatives as examples of novel and effective actions that have had significant impact. Further, evaluators believe these initiatives can be replicated across the country and the world.

As the first of its kind in the nation, the groundbreaking Women’s Empowerment (WE) Initiative is a collaboration between the Mayor’s Office, Central Exchange, the Women’s Foundation and the University of Missouri–Kansas City’s Women’s Center. The overall goals are to ensure the City of Kansas City, Mo., is an inclusive, diverse organization and supportive of women-owned businesses and female entrepreneurs. A blueprint for data-driven, research-based action items was unveiled in March 2014.

WE’s focus is to make local government a conduit for women’s success. Accomplishments include:

• The Appointments Project, a public-private partnership that has increased women’s participation in municipal boards and commissions to over 41 percent through 20 new appointments.
• Expanded professional development and leadership opportunities for City staff.
• Support for women-owned businesses and startups through a contribution to the WE Lend microloan program.
• The City’s first-ever paid parental leave policy, which grants City employees six weeks of paid leave at the birth or adoption of a child.

The Community Improvement District (CID) Revolving Loan Fund has strengthened neighborhoods throughout Kansas City. When the CID Fund was launched in 2011, 98 out of the city’s nearly 200 Zip+4 zones were considered economically distressed.

The fund partners with a neighborhood providing resources and support. In turn, neighborhood leaders and citizens are able to take action and make improvements. Once a CID is formed, the organizations within it repay the fund, making resources available for additional investment.

The “Independence Avenue Community Improvement District” became the first CID on March 21, 2013. It provided necessary improvements like security and services. In addition the CID addressed general maintenance of public areas, beautification related issues, as well as additional concerns within the Independence Avenue corridor. This CID successfully led “crime and grime” maintenance and landscaping projects, hosted neighborhood pride activities and supported the construction of community centers.

Visit http://innovations.harvard.edu for the full list of Semifinalists, and for more information regarding the Innovations in American Government Awards.