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.

Latest

At Disagree Better Event, National Security Experts Warn of the Dangers of Toxic Polarization

At Disagree Better Event, National Security Experts Warn of the Dangers of Toxic Polarization

Americans are all too familiar with the impact of toxic polarization in settings from home to work to Congress. Whether it’s tense conversations at the dinner table or gridlock on ...
State and Territory Leaders Meet for the Next Generation of the Healthcare Workforce Summit

State and Territory Leaders Meet for the Next Generation of the Healthcare Workforce Summit

The 2023 National Governors Association Healthcare Workforce Summit was held in Broomfield, Colorado, August 21-23, 2023. The summit brought together leaders from 18 states and territories that are part of ...
Bridging Partisan Divides by Repairing American Institutions

Bridging Partisan Divides by Repairing American Institutions

Through his Chair’s Initiative: Disagree Better, National Governors Association Chair Utah Governor Spencer Cox aims to elevate solutions to toxic polarization. At a convening in New Hampshire, Governor Cox welcomed ...
Governors Recognize Suicide Prevention Month  

Governors Recognize Suicide Prevention Month  

Suicide is a leading cause of death and claimed the lives of nearly 50,000 individuals in 2022, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ...

Disagree Better

Americans need to disagree better. And by that we don’t mean that we need to be nicer to each other, although that’s helpful. We need to learn to disagree in a way that allows us to find solutions and solve problems instead of endlessly bickering.

The “exhausted majority” of Americans want this, and the science is clear about interventions that reduce polarization. As doers and builders, Governors are in a unique position to model what healthy conflict looks like.

Governor Spencer Cox’s Disagree Better NGA Chair’s initiative will look at the problems of polarization, elevate the solutions that groups around the country are already implementing, and feature Governors showing what disagreeing better looks like. Through public debates, service projects, public service announcements and a variety of other tactics, Americans will see a more positive and optimistic way of working through our problems.

Program Areas


Center for Best Practices Library

Cleaning Up America’s Nuclear Weapons Complex: 2015 Update for Governors

Governors play an important role in the nuclear cleanup effort by ensuring that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), their ...

Small Business and Cybersecurity

Virtually any small business relies on technology and an Internet connection to thrive in today’s hyper-competitive, digital economy. Consequently, small ...

A Compact to Improve State Cybersecurity

The foremost duty of every governor is to safeguard the public safety and welfare of its residents; that includes protecting ...

Cybercrime: What Can A Governor Do?

The state and local officials that comprise the homeland security and public safety community must confront all hazards to the ...

Building a Cybersecurity Workforce Pipeline

States confront four interrelated challenges to building, recruiting, and retaining a cybersecurity workforce. First, many companies are unable to find ...

Cybersecurity in the Education Sector

Although frequently omitted from conversations about cybersecurity, K-12 schools and institutions of higher education are under assault from so-called hacktivists, ...

Securing Election Infrastructure

The people of the United States are committed to free and fair elections. With the 2016 elections fast approaching, state ...

Cybersecurity in the Health Care Sector

The health care industry faces two major cybersecurity threats. First, the transition from paper record-keeping to electronic health records has ...

Memo on State Cybersecurity Centers

Since 2015, seven states have publicly established or announced the creation of a state “cybersecurity center,” tasked with implementing key ...

Memo on State Cybersecurity Strategies

This memo provides an overview of state cybersecurity strategies, as well as information technology and homeland security strategies with cybersecurity ...

Memo on State Cybersecurity Governance Bodies

This memo identifies commonalities and differences among the 22 states that established governance bodies tasked with identifying the cyber threats ...

Memo on State Cybersecurity Strategies

This memo provides an overview of state cybersecurity strategies, as well as information technology and homeland security strategies with cybersecurity ...

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