EOANF-DOR

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Street Address Address Line 2 City State / Province / Region ZIP / Postal Code Country

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Mayor

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Best Practice Area #1

Best Practice Area #1(Required)

Once you have made your selection, Best Practice options will appear below.

Are you applying for this best practice with other communities?(Required)

Yes

What other cities or towns are you applying with?(Required)

Age and Dementia Friendly - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Age Friendly is a community that is livable for residents of all ages inclusive of older adults and those living with dementia. Age friendly communities strive to be equitable and accessible with walkable streets, housing and transportation options, access to services, and opportunities for residents to participate in community activities.

Convene and engage municipal and community leaders, businesses, and the public to align age- and dementia-friendly goals, conduct a baseline needs assessment, and create an action plan for age- and/or dementia-friendly action to pursue the path of an age- and dementia-friendly designation.

Develop and amend municipal policies, regulations, and programs with a goal of promoting aging in all policies, programs, and services in an equitable and inclusive manner.

Implement age- and dementia-friendly initiatives to support aging in community, including, but not limited to, programs that address social determinants of health, facilitate connection and engagement, promote intergenerational engagement, improve mobility, facilitate technological access, develop digital literacy, support older workers, job seekers and volunteers, publicize and share local information and resources to support aging and care givers, and raise public awareness that aging is an asset and that older adults, including people living with dementia, make meaningful contributions to the community.

Develop and Update ADA Transition Plans for municipalities.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training Program – Develop a comprehensive ongoing training program for staff, elected and appointed officials. The pathway to advancing equity begins with training. Training is helpful in building a shared vocabulary and understanding of equity concepts and how they impact the community.

Community Needs Assessment – Conduct a community needs assessment to ascertain community buy-in and goals related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Workforce Assessment – Conduct Assessment of Town’s workforce and compare to population and census data. Identify gaps. Provide areas that require improvement and make recommendations on how to implement positive change.

Equity Audit – Conduct a town/city wide equity audit to determine what the existing barriers are to equitable representation and participation, access and opportunity for all residents and business owners in the community.

Recruitment and Retention of a Representative Workforce – Develop a data driven and informed plan to guide human resources professionals with the goal of recruitment and retention of a representative workforce. This will include model policies and procedures to be adopted, as well as technology to support the continued practices, including the development of a town/ city public Diversity Dashboard.

Public Engagement – Develop an initiative to improve and increase community engagement, particularly with underrepresented members of the community and young people and improve access to local government. This can include actions to enhance internal and external communications to encourage the use of pronouns in email signatures and on business cards as a way to build inclusive community and the review of websites and printed materials to ensure the use of gender-neutral language and pictures of diverse and underrepresented members.

DEI Strategic Planning – Develop a plan that includes community’s goals and strategies for improving the delivery of services through a DEI lens. (Could include a single focus, like housing, or be more general).

Zoning Review – Comprehensive review of Zoning Bylaws through an informed racial equity and civil rights lens and recommend any changes for adoption by Town Meeting/City Council.

Municipal Supplier Diversity Program – Develop a Municipal Supplier Diversity Program with purchasing policies and procedures to promote and ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion in contracting for businesses owned by minorities, women, Portuguese, veterans, service-disabled veterans, those with a disability, and LGBT individuals, as well as small Massachusetts businesses. This may include spending goals and benchmarks for various businesses.

Economic Development - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Education - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Cultivate partnerships between the municipality, public school leadership and private child care providers to understand the interest and plan for universal pre-kindergarten for all 4-year-olds within the community, with shared curriculum and professional development.

Implement the MyCAP framework for college and career advising for all students beginning in middle school and continuing through high school, in collaboration with regional workforce organizations (e.g., MassHire Career Centers).

Implement collaborative arrangements among regional vocational technical schools, comprehensive high schools, and community colleges to maximize opportunities for high school students and adults to access specialized vocational education programs.

Create opportunities for municipal governments to collaborate with high schools and colleges to provide students with internship experiences aligned to their courses of study, especially in STEM-related departments (i.e., IT, engineering department, accounting, etc.).

Leverage Connecting Activities programs for local high school students pursuing summer jobs and paid internships.

Energy and Environment - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Greenhouse gas reduction and renewable energy

Climate change adaptation and resilience

Sustainable development and land protection

Water resource management

Waste management

Site cleanup

Agriculture

Financial Management - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Establish a Budget document that details all revenues and expenditures, provides a narrative describing priorities and challenges, and offers clear and transparent communication of financial policies to residents and businesses.

Develop, document and implement Financial Policies and Practices including reserve levels, capital financing, and use of Free Cash. Such policies should identify the responsible parties and procedural steps necessary to carrying out the directed strategy or action.

Develop and utilize a Long-range Planning/Forecasting Model that assesses both short-term and long-term financial implications of current and proposed policies, programs and assumptions over a multi-year period.

Prepare a Capital Improvement Plan that reflects a community’s needs, is reviewed and updated annually, and fits within a financing plan that reflects the community’s ability to pay.

Review and evaluate Financial Management Structure to ensure that the structure and reporting relationships of the community’s finance offices support accountability and a cohesive financial team process.

Utilize Financial Trend Monitoring, modeled after the ICMA’s Financial Trend Monitoring System (FTMS).

Perform an assessment of the municipality’s enterprise funds, including revenues, expenditures, indirect costs, and related policies and procedures to determine whether enterprise fund(s) are self-sufficient and make recommendations for best financial policies and practices.

Housing and Livable Communaities - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Human Resources - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Cost-Out Collective Bargaining proposals so that the impact of the total package is known. This provides the municipality with a clear understanding of both short-term and long-term budgetary impacts.

Develop a Workplace Safety program so that the risk of on-the-job injuries is minimized.

Develop a formal Wage and Classification Plan that details, at a minimum, job descriptions, employee grades, and salary ranges, thereby providing the municipality with a tool to make pay decisions that are reasonable in comparison to similar work being carried out in all areas of city/town government.

Develop Employee Policies and Procedures for things such as discrimination, sexual harassment, information technology use, drug and alcohol, use of social media, and town-owned vehicles.

Manage employee benefit costs such as health insurance, dental insurance, unemployment insurance, and worker’s compensation/111F; includes eligibility review and evaluation of insurance choices.

Prepare a Succession Plan to help address the pending wave of retirements that will challenge a municipality’s ability to maintain service levels and utilize expertise and experience of mature workers through consulting or mentorship programs.

Explore Centralized Human Resources/Personnel Operations to improve service delivery and build efficiencies.

Information Technology - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Perform a cybersecurity assessment to identify human and technology risks within the environment, analyze and identify gaps in existing cybersecurity processes, assess vulnerability to external attack, and identify steps to remediate identified issues. The assessment includes a general IT assessment of hardware infrastructure, networking, backup, email and user account management, with a written evaluation and recommendations.

Design a cybersecurity incident response plan tailored to your community to handle rising cybersecurity threats and conduct a tabletop exercise to test your response plan.

Design a regional shared IT services program to maximize technology resources across multiple communities and/or school districts.

Develop a strategy to prioritize technology investments and develop IT resiliency, disaster recovery and contingency plans that protect those investments and position the community to effectively manage unforeseen events.

Ensure that municipal websites, digital reports and documents, desktop and web-based software, and other IT systems are usable by residents with disabilities, as required by federal law.

Mental Health - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Expand community awareness and access to Community Behavioral Health Centers/Community Crisis Intervention and Behavioral Health Urgent Care by coordinating with law enforcement and other first responders to increase drop off rates at CBHCs and decreasing rates of arrest and/or drop off at Emergency Departments.

Disaggregate Behavioral Health Helpline data by caller zip code, race, gender, ethnicity and age to better understand BHHL utilization rates and develop community specific culturally sensitive strategies to increase rates of access.

Strengthen partnerships between public safety, social services, healthcare providers, and local public and private schools to establish systems and protocols for assessing and identifying children and young adults who present risks to themselves or to others, in order to ensure effective and pro-active responses that can prevent violence and provide timely supports to individuals in need.

Public Accessibility - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Undertake a Title II Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Self-Evaluation and Transition plan to comply with the ADA’s TII Administrative Requirements through a comprehensive review of all public buildings, including programs, activities, and services.

Public Health - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Conduct a maternal and child health landscape assessment to identify and understand the community strengths and gaps in improving the health and well-being of birthing people, infants, children and youth with special health needs, and their families, including public health infrastructure and staff capacity. Develop shared public health services with contiguous municipalities.

Collaborate with Emergency Management to ensure preparedness and planning efforts address gaps and ensure resiliency for essential public health and community functions. Using tools, such as CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) and DPH’s Emergency Preparedness Portal, incorporate planning considerations for at-risk populations, including birthing people, infants, children, and youth, including those with special health needs and people with disabilities have access and functional needs in times of disasters and emergencies.

Climate Change Adaptability Planning. Data collection, strategy development and planning at the local level are critical to the overall preparedness and long-term resilience to the effects of climate change. Develop a report that identifies: the range of climate impacts, associated potential health outcomes, vulnerable populations, the additional burden of health outcomes due to climate change, and the most suitable health interventions. Use the CDC’s BRACE framework to develop and implement a plan that introduces health system program changes.

Adopt strategic practices to advance health equity in local health both internally within their departments and externally with communities and other government agencies.

Public Safety - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Police and fire departments, in collaboration with EMS, should establish NFPA3000-compliant Active Shooter Hostile Event Response protocols and hold regularly scheduled, integrated training sessions. The Department of Fire Services (DFS), the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) and the Municipal Police Training Committee (MPTC) are delivering Active Attack Integrated Response (AAIR) training. This integrated response training is consistent with NFPA3000 and is based on four main concepts: Integrated Response, Unified Command, Whole Community and Planned Recovery. To further assist communities, the MPTC and the DFS retain specialty-specific ASHER directors who are available for guidance and coordination.

Develop an Emergency Preparedness Plan in partnership with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) to enhance the community’s disaster and emergency response capabilities.

Establish Hazardous Material Response Protocols in conjunction with Regional Hazardous Materials Response Teams under the Department of Fire Services to enable cities and towns to protect their citizens, the environment, and property during incidents involving a release or potential release of hazardous materials.

Implement a Local Hazard Mitigation Plan that outlines natural hazards that affect your municipality, identify actions to reduce any impacts from those hazards, and create a pipeline of shovel ready projects for state and federal funding. Use the data and information from the State Hazard Mitigation & Climate Adaptation Plan (SHMCAP) to help guide local officials and community leaders during Local Hazard Mitigation Plan development and other strategic planning efforts that address risks and vulnerabilities to natural hazards, especially those exacerbated by climate change. https://www.mass.gov/service-details/local-hazard-mitigation-planning.

Collaborate with the Municipal Police Training Committee (MPTC) to implement the 2020 police reform legislation fully, including: use of force training focusing on de-escalation, school resource officer training, Bridge Academy compliance for any part-time officers and 40 hours of annual in-service training.

Ensure compliance with policies that govern the use of the statewide Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit (SAECK) tracking system with special attention on meeting statutory deadlines for hospitals and collection sites.

Develop whole community plan to divert, prevent, and suppress behaviors that lead to gun violence, especially among young people.

Collaborate with the Statewide Interoperability Coordinator (SWIC) and develop policies that integrate with the Statewide Communications Interoperability Plan (SCIP) and the Massachusetts Interoperable Emergency Communications Best Practices guideline regarding your public safety agency’s communications and interoperable resource utilization and planning.

Pursue opportunities for returning citizens to reintegrate into their community after incarceration through personal connection, meaningful work, sustainable housing, and effective treatment according to their unique personal needs.

Regionalization/Shared Services - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Regionalize services and share resources among municipalities for efficient and effective service delivery to residents and taxpayers in this era of shrinking budgets, loss of seasoned employees to retirement, and increased need for service improvements.

School/Municipal Shared Services Feasibility Study: Conduct a feasibility study on options for shared services among school districts and municipalities for efficient and effective service delivery to residents and taxpayers in this era of shrinking budgets, loss of seasoned employees to retirement, and increased need for service improvements.

Review Existing Regional or Shared Services Arrangements: Existing regional or shared services arrangements can be difficult to sustain over time. Conduct an organizational and operational review of existing an existing arrangement to improve its long-term viability. This study should include substantial engagement of all partners and development of future-focused strategies.

Transportation/Public Works - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Safe & Active Transportation

Resilient & Reliable Transportation

Veterans Services - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Establish a clear VSO Succession Plan that includes all relevant training, manuals, and a concrete timeline for replacing an old VSO to ensure there are no gaps in coverage.

Create and disseminate a veteran survey to capture more comprehensive socioeconomic/demographic data on all veterans in the community. This should also include a needs assessment portion to establish which programs and resources are needed.

Develop a plan for transportation services for disadvantaged veterans to obtain services and care needed outside of the community in which they reside. This could include subsidized, free, volunteer, or ride sharing options.

Develop a robust stakeholder engagement plan to determine the types of info local veterans want, as well as the frequency and methods of communication they prefer.

Explore the creation of a local veteran’s resource center. This area can serve as a one-stop-shop to share information and resources, as well as provide a consolidated meeting space for multiple veteran entities.

Workforce Development - Best Practice Focus Area(Required)

Conduct a comprehensive economic and workforce development assessment of the municipality or region that identifies labor market trends, labor supply and demand data, industry, and employment projections to inform policy and planning, such as economic development goals, zoning/permitting policies, transit development, and workforce planning.

Design and implement workforce training strategies for 1-2 identified high quality and high demand occupations that also have critical labor shortages in collaboration.

Design and implement workforce training strategies for 1-2 high demand occupations identified by municipalities and apply for Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund in partnership with trainers, MassHire and other key partners to fund training across municipalities for specific occupations in demand eg CDL drivers, assessors etc. Take advantage leveraging strategies and investments other programming like registered apprenticeship.

Establish an industry-focused advisory committee comprised of local business, workforce and economic development agencies, and education and training institutions to develop and deploy short- and long-term workforce planning strategies, such as school-to-career pipeline development, occupational skills training programs, and career pathway development.

Create a local MassHire talent recruitment campaign in collaboration with regional employers ready to hire, developing and deploying a comprehensive effort using tactics such as job postings, direct outreach to job seekers, hiring events, job fairs, on site recruitment, direct candidate referrals, and social media marketing.

Why did you choose this best practice and what assistance would you need to accomplish this best practice?(Required)

Funding request(Required)

Any award amount will be determined following application review.

Would you like to apply for a second best practice?(Required)

Yes

Once you have completed the application, please click the "Submit Application" button below. You will not be able to save or review your application once you hit submit. You will receive notice via email confirming your application.

Upon submission, applications will be reviewed by the Senior Deputy Commissioner of Local Services. The purpose of the review is to ensure that the best practice or practices chosen reflect needed areas of improvement. After review, DLS will reach out to your community regarding next steps.

Best Practice Area #2

Best Practice Area #2(Required)