Still reeling from the Great Recession and mounting pressures to deliver critical services, many state and local governments are taking aggressive action to survive and thrive in economic uncertainty.

In the latest issue of Virginia Issues & Answers, Virginia Tech’s School of Public and International Affairs brings together experts and practitioners from across the commonwealth to share concepts and best practices for financial resilience in state and local government.

The lessons the authors offer can be applied in Virginia and beyond. Articles include:

Financial Resilience: What it Means to the Local Government Manager
Joe Casey, county administrator for Chesterfield County, Virginia, brings the financial resilience concept to ground level, emphasizing four key components: engaging stakeholders, earning trust, countering emotional decision-making, and deploying economic development incentives.

America’s Progress Hinges on Resilient Public Universities
Mary Sue Coleman, president of the American Association of Universities, argues that the long-term resilience of our public institutions of higher learning depends upon many sectors of society — state and federal governments, the private sector, and universities themselves — taking strong action.

Enterprise Risk Management: A Key to Organizational Resilience and Self-Defense
Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) frees up the flow of information within an organization to help leaders anticipate and prepare for strategic, “big picture” risks. Tom Stanton of Johns Hopkins University discusses the strengths of and basic steps for implementing ERM.

Making Capital Funding Reasonable, Stable, and Sustainable in Orange County, Virginia
Orange County, Virginia, deferred maintenance for so long during the Great Recession that it was eventually forced to use emergency funds to replace an ambulance. Assistant County Administrator for Finance & Management Services Glenda Bradley explains how the county implemented Capital Improvement Planning to anticipate capital expenditures over the long term.

Director’s Experience Building Resiliency in Local Government Informs Graduate Certificate Programs at SPIA

Stephanie Davis, director of SPIA’s graduate certificate in public and nonprofit financial management, describes how she implemented financial resilience principles as a county finance director, and how SPIA’s certificate program teaches these concepts to students.

Virginia Issues & Answers is an online public policy magazine published as an outreach service of the university. It offers a forum for government thought-leaders and policymakers to raise awareness of the issues facing the commonwealth and share options for resolving them.

Published for more than two decades as a print magazine, Virginia Issues & Answers has been reinvented as a quarterly digital publication of the School of Public and International Affairs. It offers SPIA and Virginia Tech faculty, as well as practitioners and policy experts from across the commonwealth, the opportunity to highlight research and impact policymaking. Each edition focuses on a central theme or critical issue in contemporary state and local policymaking, drawing lessons from around the world that can be applied in Virginia and beyond.

Housed within the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, SPIA comprises the Center for Public Administration and PolicyGovernment and International Affairs, and Urban Affairs and Planning, with locations in the National Capital Region, Alexandria, Richmond, and Blacksburg.

Visit https://via.spia.vt.edu/ to learn more about Virginia Issues & Answers.

Share this story