ASPA is proud to host a robust e-learning program including three series of webinars: BookTalks, KeepingCurrent events and Students and New Professionals topics. This list is refreshed constantly as new events are added to our calendar. Please contact us if you have any questions about our upcoming discussions or would like to join us to host an event.

BookTalk: Bridgebuilders: How Government Can Transcend Boundaries to Solve Big Problems

June 1 | 1:00 p.m. EDT

In the face of ever more complex societal challenges, this book provides an essential new model for transforming the public sector and getting things done. Pandemics. Climate change. Refugee resettlement. Global supply chains. We face a new generation of complex problems that stretch across the public and private sectors and flow over organizational boundaries. To meet the moment, we need a fresh, new approach that strengthens institutions and government agencies by breaking free from organizational boxes and rigid, top-down leadership.

As William D. Eggers, executive director of Deloitte's Center for Government Insights, and Donald F. Kettl, public management scholar, show, we need a government of bridgebuilders who collaborate with partners—inside and outside government—to get the job done. These leaders manage horizontally instead of vertically, they see their role as connectors and they identify which players have the assets needed to solve the unprecedented problems at hand.

Presenters:
William D. Eggers, Executive Director, Deloitte’s Center for Government Insights
Donald F. Kettl, Professor Emeritus and Former Dean, University of Maryland



KeepingCurrent: Agile Government

June 8 | 1:00 p.m. EDT

"Agile" government is defined by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) as “...mission centric, customer focused, communication and collaboration enabled, and continually demonstrates success to customers and the public. Agile government involves small teams and customer participation, empowered by leaders to take rapid action to deliver timely, transparent results.” Join Ed DeSeve, coordinator of NAPA's Agile Government Center, and Joe Mitchell, NAPA's director of strategic initiatives and international programs, as they discuss the principles of agile government and how it will shape the future.

Presenters:
Ed DeSeve, Coordinator, Agile Government Center, National Academy of Public Administration
Joe Mitchell, Director, Strategic Initiatives and International Programs, National Academy of Public Administration



BookTalk: Human Resource Essentials for Public Service: People, Process, Performance

June 20 | 1:00 p.m. EDT

Collaboration is a powerful approach to addressing homelessness and the affordable housing crisis in our nation. Collaborative initiatives have been recognized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); state, regional, and local governing bodies; and foundations, private corporations, nonprofit and faith-based organizations for their successes. Panelists will highlight national and regional housing problems and discuss the power of partnerships in addressing housing issues and transforming the lives of individuals, families and communities.

Presenters:
Mary Guy, Distinguished Professor, University of Colorado Denver
Jessica Sowa, Professor, University of Delaware



KeepingCurrent: Staying the Course in Local Govt Innovations: The Case for Ensuring Best Practices Don’t Become the Enemy of Better Practices

July 19 | 1:00 p.m. EDT

Effectively implementing best practices in local government often requires prioritization of incremental changes. For these changes to take root and produce real and sustainable positive change, practitioners must skillfully adapt best practices to consider the organization’s culture, resources and bandwidth. Learn how leaders in the cities of Myrtle Beach and Rock Hill, South Carolina are smartly adding unique adaptions in process improvements and strategic planning to move their organizations forward.

Presenters:
Howard Waldie, IV, Chief Innovation Officer, City of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Emily Burns, Performance Analyst, City of Rock Hill, South Carolina



BookTalk: Crisis Communication Planning and Strategies for Nonprofit Leadership

September 5 | 1:00 p.m. EDT

Crisis Communication Planning and Strategies for Nonprofit Leaders examines the unique position of nonprofit organizations in an intersection of providing public services and also being a part of emergency and crisis management practices. This text discusses the evolution of crisis communication planning, the unique position of nonprofit organizations and the crises they face, along with provision of conceptual and theoretical frameworks to generate effective crisis communication plans for nonprofit organizations to utilize within diverse crises. Through the use of innovative real-life case studies investigating the impact of crisis communication plans, this book provides the foundational knowledge of crisis communication planning, theoretically supported strategies, crisis typology and planning resources. Each chapter focuses on critical strategic planning concepts and includes a summary of key points, discussion questions and additional resources for each concept. With this text, nonprofit organizations will be able to strategically plan for organization-specific and emergency management-related crises, develop effective crisis communication plans, garner internal and external support and generate assessment strategies to maintain the relevancy of these plans within their future endeavors.

Crisis Communication Planning and Strategies for Nonprofit Leaders offers a new and insightful approach to crisis communication planning to assist nonprofit organizations that are called upon to fulfill a variety of community needs, such as sheltering, food distribution, relief funding, family reunification services, volunteer mobilization and much more. It is an essential resource for nonprofit organizations.

Presenters:
Lauren Azevedo, Assistant Professor, Penn State Harrisburg
Brittany Haupt, Assistant Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University



BookTalk: Public Management as a Design-Oriented Professional Discipline

September 7 | 1:00 p.m. EDT

What, fundamentally, is public management? This question is rarely answered clearly and confidently, whether by students of public management or academics in the field. This book's argument is grounded in Herbert Simon's ideas about design-oriented professional disciplines. However, Michael Barzelay's argument runs counter to the idea that public management is a design science. It envisions the discipline as a professional practice that requires the thoughtful and skillful use of purposive theories of public organizations, along with reverse-engineered design-precedents, in problem-solving for public programs and organizations.

Presenter:
Michael Barzelay, London School of Economics