Putting young teenagers in jail for felony offenses gets them off the street for awhile but it doesn’t rehabilitate them. So, in Smith County, Texas they found a better way. It’s called Hope Academy and it’s an alternative to the county lock up. Here kids learn to live and work and they create a positive…

People with disabilities in Harford County, Maryland now have a wonderful way to get exercise thanks to a local plan. It’s a sensory trail and it features among other things a huge drum, 9-foot-high chimes, a roller table for tactile sliding and lots of other activities for fun and relaxation. There’s also a specially designed…

Meet the DD-214’s of Josephine County, Oregon. This is a group of combat war veterans who left their rifles behind and picked up a guitar. Thanks to one guitar playing vet services director, they gather weekly to play music together, forming their own musical support group. They play at local festivals and for a few…

The county needed theater space and room for a museum. Some creative thinking by a handful of county officials turned an old and abandoned bowling alley into an arts and cultural center. Listen to the stories of performers who got on stage and one person whose life was actually saved by art classes in Johnson…

The state of Texas has the most women veterans in the entire country. But veterans’ programs were originally designed with men in mind. So, they had to think out of the box to provide women veterans with the services they needed. Women networking with women and with the help of the Travis County vets services,…

In this episode, we go all the way back to the New Deal from President Franklin D. Roosevelt and we meet the folks at Source America. Listen to their inspirational stories about how they were trained, found work and improved their lives in a program still going strong. Transcription of A solution over 75 years…

When the people couldn’t get to the library, or worse, didn’t have a library, the librarians in Catawaba County, North Carolina came up with a solution. They packed the books into a van, loaded it with new electronics, a couch and a few chairs and they drove to the folks who needed it most. Transcript…

Description Transcript of A Tiny Piece of Paradise – Homes for the Homeless (S1E3) David: This is the good government show. Jeff Lawrence: That was 250 square feet of pure luxury. David: That’s the topic of today is the good government show, tiny houses for veterans. Hi, I’m Dave Martin, and this is the good…

On this episode of the Good Government show we travel to Reading, Pa and meet the folks from Berks County. We meet Peggy Kershner and Nikki Schnovel, who are the co-executive directors of the Berks Connections Pre-Trial Services. They came up with a better way to greatly reduce recidivism and becoming effective members of the…

The transcript and other media from how Farmingdale New York transformed itself as David and carol visit the now thriving town.