The Need

Local government professionals must make the time to create a future of conscious choice that serves people, the planet, and generates real and sustainable improvement in people’s lives, organizations, and communities.

This is the great promise of the Alliance for Innovation, where ideas become the answers that can change the world.

The writer Wendell Berry has contrasted the concept of an “ownership society” with the idea of the “membership society,” where people chose to participate and belong and where problems are solved in community.

The Alliance is an invitation to membership of that sort. The Alliance, at its heart, is a community.    

Working Across Boundaries for
Better Communities in a Global World

The Alliance for Innovation, as a partnership of The Innovation Groups (IG), ICMA, and Arizona State University, has created the widest and deepest innovation based network serving local government.

Building on IG’s rich tradition of regional networking, organization-wide membership, thought-provoking learning opportunities and personalized member services, the Alliance brings professionals, local governments, academics, and private sector partners together to discover and apply the best ideas, practices and solutions to the challenges confronting local government and communities.

At present, the Alliance has 5 regions that deliver personalized service to members and allow convening of forums and learning events with peer communities that are convenient and cost effective. They are: IG East (Charlotte, NC); IG Southeast (Tampa, FL); IG Midwest (Kansas City, KS); IG South (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX); IG West (Phoenix, AZ). Click here to contact your director.

The organization-wide membership that comes with joining the Alliance also provides an environment for managers, department heads, front-line employees, and elected officials to connect, explore, learn, and innovate to improve their organizations and communities. The Alliance membership structure creates a unique setting and “safe-haven” for bringing diverse perspectives and roles together for measured risk-taking, experimentation, and organizational change and service improvement.