Innovation is alive and well in our counties. Yesterday, I had the honor of presenting at the Tulare County Board of Supervisors meeting, recognizing the county for two outstanding, innovative programs.

The presentation was part of our annual CSAC Challenge Awards road show. Other presentations are on tap: Mono County next Tuesday, Nevada County the following week, followed by Sacramento and Stanislaus Counties. The list goes on. Overall, we will be presenting awards at 11 board meetings over the next two months.

The programs being recognized are as unique as the counties that developed them. In Tulare County, we recognized two library programs; in Mono and Riverside counties, it’s health care.  For Ventura and Sacramento counties, innovative smart phone applications caught our judges’ attention. And it’s an effective AB 109 program in Tehama.

CSAC staff truly enjoys the opportunity to present these awards in the respective counties. Presenting at board meetings allows the county staff members responsible for the programs to be recognized publicly. It’s a positive experience all the way around And it definitely made my 7-hour roundtrip to Tulare County on a construction-infested Highway 99 a lot more worthwhile.

We will return to these counties early next year to produce videos on each of the Challenge Award-winning programs. It’s just one small way we can help promote the best-practices our counties regularly develop.