Best practices can be found throughout California’s 58 Counties. We know because we have seen them first hand. Now it’s time to show the rest of the state — and nation — the innovative programs your county has developed.

How? By having your County enter the 2018 CSAC Challenge Awards, which spotlight the creative spirit of California county governments. The deadline to enter this year’s awards is June 22. All it takes is a two-page executive summary for each entry.  To learn more about the awards, click here to review our electronic brochure.

Program Categories

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, and tribal gaming issues.

Population Categories

Our population categories will 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 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 Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Ventura.

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

To learn more about how to enter in the Challenge Awards program, click here.

CSAC is currently producing and distributing videos and blogs on the 2017 Challenge Award recipients. Programs thus far profiled can be found here

Deadline: Friday, June 22, 2018

If you have any questions, please contact David Liebler, CSAC Director of Public Affairs & Member Services, at dliebler@counties.org.