Citizen-Driven Government Performance

Case Studies

The cases featured on this website are narratives of citizen-driven initiatives that involve citizens in the measurement of government performance. Each case is presented in three formats:

• Montclair, New Jersey
• Iowa, Citizen Initiated Performance Assessment
• New York City, Straphanger's Campaign
• Fund for the City of New York
• Dayton, Ohio
• Governmental Accounting Standards Board
• Hartford, Connecticut
• Syracuse, New York
• Worcester, Massachusetts
• New York City, Inside Schools
• Clean Air Council, Pennsylvania
• Sustainable Seattle
• Neighborhood Parks, San Francisco

MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY

Montclair, New Jersey is an economically and racially diverse community of 38,000 people located approximately 12 miles west of New York City. In 1997, the Sloan Foundation funded a three-year citizen-driven government performance project in Montclair. The overall project goal was to involve stakeholders in assessing and improving government performance, and influencing how government services could be made more responsive to community needs.

• Case in Brief
• Teaching Case
• Detailed Case 
• Teaching Notes
• Budgeting Teaching Notes
• Performance Measurement Teaching Notes
• Municipal Managers Teaching Notes
• Program Evaluation Teaching Notes
• Citizen Survey Teaching Notes
• Introduction Module Teaching Notes
• Montclair Strategic Planning and Management Teaching Notes

Background Information

• Montclair Survey
• Montclair Performance Report
• Survey Results (pie charts)