WSW Creates Federal Partnerships to Modernize Operations and Fund Urgent Initiatives for Suburban County
In Brief
- Sustained an aggressive, proactive federal agenda before Congress for the county’s priority initiatives, with over $38 million in funding secured in the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and annual appropriations processes to address community needs related to health care, housing, criminal justice, nutrition, and upgrading transportation infrastructure.
- Developed and implemented focused plans for modernizing the county’s operational infrastructure, leveraging targeted federal funding to upgrade its operations and helping to achieve new levels of efficiency and reduce waste to better serve its residents.
- Established and sustained ongoing, constructive relationships with policymakers on Capitol Hill and in the Executive Branch, including during the COVID emergency, which were essential to public health, economic support, and operational continuity during the pandemic.
Counties play a key role in providing a wide range of services to local residents. They are often on the front lines of addressing some of the most pressing problems, including health care, housing, criminal justice, nutrition, and upgrading transportation infrastructure to meet the needs of suburban growth and connecting people to jobs. In times of need, they are essential – stepping up where towns or local nonprofits can’t bear the burden alone.
WSW has proudly represented a suburban county since 2004, helping it advance an aggressive federal agenda with its representatives in the House of Representatives and the Senate who have secured over $38 million in federal investments for the county and its initiatives. Working through the federal Surface Transportation Reauthorizations and annual appropriations, well over $20 million has been included in legislation for projects that facilitate commerce and enhance roadway safety at one of the nation’s busiest ports and the areas where the port transitions into residential areas to improve the quality of life for local residents, for upgrades to roadway and pedestrian safety to reduce traffic accidents and deaths, and to rehabilitate and replace 100 year old bridges which have far outlived their useful life. To address the ongoing challenges of the opioid epidemic and the mental health crisis which affect so many county residents and their families, the county has sought and received additional millions to expand access to substance use disorder treatment and behavioral services, and upgrade shelters that serve vulnerable residents.
Sometimes what is most important is a small, focused federal investment which can pay extensive dividends in county operations. For example, the county serves as a critical nexus between the state and the federal government when it comes to nutrition, disability, and unemployment benefits. However, legacy paper-based systems often represent a chokepoint that slows or complicates the lives of regular people as they attempt to access the benefits and supports that can be critical lifelines of support in vulnerable communities. The county recognized this challenge, and crafted a forward-thinking plan to digitize its paper-based systems for tracking eligibility and provision of benefits to its residents in an effort to reduce wait times, streamline the provision of services, and cut down on fraud. Working with their representatives on Capitol Hill through the annual appropriations process, the county proposed an ambitious initiative to digitize paper-based files and antiquated internal systems to streamline the experience of residents who apply for and receive benefits. Leveraging a federal investment of $1.4 million, the county has been able to make this key transition – among the first counties in in its state to do so – modernizing its operations and helping to achieve new levels of efficiency and reduce waste to better serve its residents.