NGA Center for Best Practices

The NGA Center for Best Practices teams and divisions develop innovative solutions to today’s most pressing public policy challenges. The center is the only research and development firm that directly serves the nation’s governors.

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Public Health and Green Spaces

Public Health and Green Spaces

Governors are leveraging the great outdoors to improve health outcomes and bolster state economies. Genetics play a role in one’s health; however, the environment in which one is raised and ...
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Governors Leading on Skills-Based Hiring to Open Opportunity Pathways

Governors Leading on Skills-Based Hiring to Open Opportunity Pathways

Skills-based hiring is a method of recruiting employees that prioritizes a candidate's competencies over more "traditional" qualifications like degrees. This hiring strategy can remove barriers that currently screen out qualified ...
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Maternal and Infant Health: Expanding Access and Quality of Care

Maternal and Infant Health: Expanding Access and Quality of Care

The third roundtable of the New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy’s Initiative on maternal and infant health took place in Detroit, Michigan, presided by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and ...
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Infrastructure Coordinator Quarterly Workshop

Infrastructure Coordinator Quarterly Workshop

From May 16 to 18, 2023, NGA hosted its Quarterly Infrastructure Coordinator Workshop in Washington D.C. With $37 billion in funding for resilience programs in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs ...
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STRENGTHENING YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH

The United States faces a nationwide youth mental health crisis. The roots of this crisis existed before COVID-19, but the pandemic has both exacerbated and highlighted the scope of the challenges in addressing this issue. The time is right and the need has never been more apparent to discuss proven and innovative solutions for states.

Governor Phil Murphy’s 2022-2023 Chair’s Initiative will focus on four key pillars to address youth mental health:

  • Addressing Prevention And Resilience Building
  • Increasing Awareness And Reducing Stigma
  • Insuring Access And Affordability Of Quality Treatment And Care
  • Training And Supporting Caregivers And Teachers
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Program Areas

Center for Best Practices Library

Supporting Successful Workforce Reentry for Justice-Involved Individuals

Supporting Successful Workforce Reentry for Justice-Involved Individuals

As Governors continue to address workforce shortages in nearly every sector of the economy, state workforce development policymakers and their ...
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State Longitudinal Data Ecosystem

State Longitudinal Data Ecosystem

The National Governors Association in partnership with the Data Quality Campaign is working with states in a new learning ecosystem ...
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Increasing Economic Resiliency of the Travel, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Sectors

Increasing Economic Resiliency of the Travel, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Sectors

On March 22, 2023, NGA hosted the first webinar, in a series of four, highlighting innovative and replicable projects funded ...
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Strategies for Cross-Agency Collaboration to Support Student Well-Being

Strategies for Cross-Agency Collaboration to Support Student Well-Being

This webinar discusses strategies for cross-agency collaboration, including children’s cabinets, in support of student well-being and whole child policy. Panelists ...
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Hydrogen as an Energy Source

Hydrogen as an Energy Source

This brief is intended as a short introduction to hydrogen as an energy source. It will briefly discuss the various ...
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Governors Tout Bold Investments in Workforce Development During 2023 State of the State Addresses

Governors Tout Bold Investments in Workforce Development During 2023 State of the State Addresses

A vast majority of Governors spent time during their State of the State addresses outlining their strategy for navigating 2023’s ...
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Governors Propose Bold Economic Investments in 2023 State of the State Addresses

Governors Propose Bold Economic Investments in 2023 State of the State Addresses

In 2023 State of the State addresses, Governors outlined efforts to grow and diversify their states’ economies. In their 2023 ...
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Securing States: Modernizing to Attract & Retain Cyber Talent

Securing States: Modernizing to Attract & Retain Cyber Talent

Just as cybersecurity is a shared responsibility, so is effective recruitment and retention of qualified state cybersecurity personnel. The consequences ...
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State Education Trends for 2023

State Education Trends for 2023

The top trends across the early childhood, K-12 and postsecondary education continuum from Governors’ 2023 state addresses. In 2022, 36 ...
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Governors Focus on Affordable Housing

Governors Focus on Affordable Housing

In 2023 State of the State addresses, Governors outlined efforts to increase housing availability and improve affordability. The high cost ...
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State Approaches to Equitable Distributed Energy Resource Deployment

State Approaches to Equitable Distributed Energy Resource Deployment

Expanding access to clean, renewable distributed energy resources in an equitable manner is a priority of many Governors, and can ...
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Messaging in a Bottle: Evaluating Behavioral Insights to Build Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence

Messaging in a Bottle: Evaluating Behavioral Insights to Build Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence

Increasing COVID-19 vaccine uptake among children is a complex challenge that will likely require many different strategies from Governors. (Download) ...
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