Hello. I’m Estelle Richman and today is a special day for us; the first anniversary
of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Open Government plan. Today, we share with
you how we thought we could better create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities
and quality, affordable homes for all through public participation, collaboration, and transparency.
After all, only by working together and implementing innovative, new ideas that extend beyond the
walls of government can HUD successfully meet its toughest challenges. And today, I am very
pleased to report to you that one year later, we have launched a series of successful programs
that have created a stable foundation for us to build upon. For the story of HUD’s
open government initiative isn’t told here at headquarters, is it Stan?
That’s right Estelle because open government in HUD is all about what’s going on here
in the community. I’m Stan Buch, and on behalf of our open government team, I’d
like to take this opportunity to share with you just a few of the things we have done
to increase public engagement, transparency, and collaboration, with the community along
with our plans for the coming year. For example, chances are you are watching this video on
our new interactive blog, the HUDdle. Here you can not only find out what we’re doing
in the community, but also leave comments and discuss the issues that are most important
to you in either English or Spanish. We have also launched a prized competition with [SOKA]
change makers, the Rockefeller foundation, the US Department of State, and the American
Planning Association called Sustainable Urban Housing, collaborating for livable, inclusive
cities. This competition is looking for innovative solutions that engage communities, entrepreneurs,
and key institutions in developing affordable, inclusive and sustainable urban housing that
respects the environment, local cultures, and practices. And if it is data on the HUD
mission you’re looking for, or just want to see the trends and figures to shape our
communities, you’ll be sure to want to check out our contributions to data.gov; where we’re
working to get information off the shelves and into your hands faster and effectively.
These are just several examples. You’ll find the progress of innovative programs across
HUD in our new open government progress report, found on HUD’s innovation and open government
webpage. Looking forward, efforts are already on the way in partnership with the Veterans
Administration to find new ways to use homelessness data to identify at risk community needs.
We’re also preparing to launch our first employee challenge where anyone in our organization
can answer the call to find new ways to improve our mission. But that’s just the beginning.
We can’t let innovation stop there. So we’re launching one of the federal government’s
first innovation labs; a program designed to capture ideas from both our employees and
the public; brainstorm, research, and test them. And if they work better, to get them
quickly implemented throughout the department. It’s been an amazing year for all of us
and we know we still have a long way to go. That’s why it’s so important that we do
this together. You can find out more about the future of HUD and our open government
at our website, hud.gov/open. But we also invite you to share with us your own ideas
at HUD ideas in action, a collaborative ideation tool that allows you to post ideas, and even
vote on the ones you like the most. HUD ideas in action include many different forums on
many important issues facing our mission, and its impact stretches throughout all of
our program areas. Remember you can keep up with the latest news through the HUDdle, one
of our Twitter feeds, or the Facebook group. On behalf of all of us at the Department of
Housing and Urban Development, thank you for a great year.
