The last mile for public policy

The useful part

Governments ultimately deliver outcomes through thousands of people making decisions at local government, nonprofits, and service provider organizations. Government employees I've spoken with acknowledge that the status quo of how TA is delivered is fundamentally broken. IT HAPPENS EVERY DAY Imagine a federal program with millions of dollars in grants to disburse to state and local agencies.

How it works

• A significant share of that upstream work is time spent interviewing people and defining criteria.
• Technical assistance is how those decisions improve over time.
• It's one of the most important aspects of how government agencies operate.
• Before a dollar moves, program staff must define which entities are eligible, build a rubric, identify the metrics that define success and community impact, and align stakeholders across thousands of...
• None of it matters if the dollars don't reach the organizations that can improve the lives of the people the grant was written for.

What to take from it

For example, a state board of elections spends significant time advising election clerks on hi...

Details worth keeping

Then they must make potential grantees aware of the grant.