Public leaders in the US are typically rewarded for cleaning up after a crisis, but not for preventing problems that would have avoided the mess in the first place.

“In the aftermath of the BP spill, the public praised government leaders who led the cleanup, found new jobs for out-of-work Gulf shrimpers and determined BP’s culpability for the loss of 11 lives and untold environmental damage. Unfortunately, public leaders, who anticipate problems and work to protect the resources we own in common, typically go unrewarded – or they are criticized as obstructionists,” says Georgianna Bishop, president and founder of the Public Sector Consortium (PSC).

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Released by The Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina

NEWPORT, RI – Leaders from Rhode Island’s cities and towns converged on the Pell Center at Salve Regina University on Friday, March 20, 2015, to report on a year’s worth of effort to improve the responsiveness and efficiency of local government. Part of Leadership Matters—a joint initiative between the Pell Center and the Public Sector Consortium, of Cambridge, MA—the innovation conference highlighted the work of the three Rhode Island communities to participate in the program’s inaugural year: Pawtucket, Middletown, and Newport.