It’s National County Government Month — and there’s no better time than this month to start brainstorming what innovative programs you want to enter in the 2017 CSAC Challenge Awards. Although the deadline to enter isn’t until June 23, it’s never too early to begin putting together the required two-page executive summary for each entry.

To learn more about the awards, click here to review our electronic brochure.

This year’s competition will feature new entry categories. Entrants will now be asked to market specific issue and population categories. 

Issue Areas

Our new issue areas will be as follows:

Administration of Justice & Public Safety – Includes programs associated with local law enforcement and public safety, adult and juvenile detention, and probation.

Agriculture, Environment & Natural Resources – Includes programs associated with agriculture, the environment, air quality, water, flood control, energy, parks and recreation, public lands, forestry, mining, endangered species, solid waste, and hazardous waste.

Government Finance, Administration & Technology – Includes programs associated with internal operations, employee training and wellness, workers’ compensation, public records, technology, economic development, elections, libraries, food safety, and disaster planning/response.

Health & Human Services – Includes programs associated with health care, mental health, homelessness, foster care, child welfare services, adult protective services, IHSS, general  assistance, aging, CalWORKs,  county hospitals, the indigent, and veterans.

Housing, Land Use & Infrastructure – Includes programs associated with housing, land use, growth, planning, transportation, infrastructure, tribal gaming issues.

Population

Our population categories will now follow CSAC’s three caucuses: rural, suburban and urban.

Rural – Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Colusa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Inyo, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Plumas, San Benito, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yuba.

Suburban –  Butte, Imperial, Kern, Marin, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Placer, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tulare, Yolo.

Urban – Alameda, Contra Costa, Fresno, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Ventura.

Awards may be presented in three population categories for each of the five issue areas.

CSAC is currently producing and distributing videos and blogs on the 2016 Challenge Award recipients. Programs thus far profiled can be found here.

If you want to ensure you receive a printed copy of the Call for Entries, contact David Liebler, CSAC Director of Public Affairs & Member Services at dliebler@counties.org.