MAYOR GARCETTI LAUNCHES INNOVATION FUND
$1 Million ‘In House Venture Capital Fund’ to Put Employee-Generated Ideas to Make Government Work Better, Faster, Cheaper Into Action
LOS ANGELES — Mayor Eric Garcetti today launched the new $1 Million City of Los Angeles Innovation Fund, which will support ideas from city employees that make city government work better and faster and that save money.
Via innovate.lacity.org or [email protected], employees can submit their ideas, which will be reviewed by the Mayor’s Office, in addition to Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s Office, the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer and the newly renamed Innovation and Performance Commission. Selected ideas will be supported through the fund so that they can be put into action.
Mayor Garcetti’s Back to Basics agenda is focused on making City Hall work better, and in doing so, he believes that front-line workers, who directly preform and deliver services, often have insights that should be listened to. Earlier in the week, Mayor Garcetti presented his first Mayor’s Civic Innovation Award to a team of Sanitation Department employees who replaced a system based on Thomas Guides and paper maps with one that uses a free app and tablets.
“We’ve all had that moment at work – we do the job the way we’re told, but we’re thinking, ‘I know how to do this better.’ Now, I’m saying to the city’s workforce: ‘Tell us.’ Have an idea how to fill a pothole better? Know how to get a permit done faster? Know a piece of equipment that can do more at a lower cost? Tell us, and we’ll tap our new Innovation Fund to put your idea into practice to make government work better,” Mayor Garcetti said.
Garcetti added that employees at all levels, including managers, are encouraged to submit their ideas, as are city commissioners.
