District of Columbia Expands “DC One Card” ID to Summer Youth Program

The District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), in collaboration with the Department of Employment Services (DOES), today announced the expansion of the “DC One Card” to participants in the DC Summer Youth Employment Program. The new picture ID is a consolidated credential designed to provide access to many DC government facilities and programs in a single card.Today, the DC One Card grants borrowing privileges at DC libraries and provides access to recreation centers throughout the city. Eventually the DC One Card will also become a student ID and an access card for DC Government buildings and programs.“We want to make it easy for our summer youth to get to their jobs, and we want to give them more than just a job—a complete summer experience in the District,” said DOES Director Summer Spencer. “Now our summer youth can travel to and access their jobs, and they can enjoy all the resources of our parks, recreation centers, and libraries—with just one handy card.”

This fall the District will issue DC One Cards as IDs for students in DC Public Schools.

“Soon students and adults of all ages will have easier access to all DC government services,” said Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. “We are leveraging technology to help District youth make a smooth transition into the workforce.”

To learn more about the One Card and other DC Government technology initiatives, visit www.octo.dc.gov.

For the over 18,000 participants in the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), the new card will include a bonus—immediate WMATA SmarTrip® capability to help them travel to and from their summer jobs. The new DC One Card provides SYEP participants SmarTrip® functionality without the standard $5 fee. In addition, the SYEP participants will be able to load the $10 already deposited in their SYEP debit cards onto the DC One Card for use on Metro, even before they receive their first paychecks.

District of Columbia CTO Recognized Among Nation's Best

Today District of Columbia Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced that District Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra has been honored with two major national information technology (IT) awards.

IDG's InfoWorld named Kundra among the nation's top CTOs with its "CTO 25 for 2008" award. Each year the technology publisher honors 25 senior IT leaders from government, nonprofits, and private industry who apply creativity, tech savvy, and management skills to drive excellent results in their organizations. In addition, the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium recognized Kundra among outstanding IT innovators who use leadership skills, business-technology acumen, and out-of the-box thinking to address ever-increasing challenges facing their organizations.

Mayor Fenty appointed Kundra CTO for the District effective May 7, 2007. Kundra joined the District government after a technology career spanning government, private industry, and academia. As District CTO, Kundra leads the District's central technology organization, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO). Its mission is leveraging the power of technology to improve service delivery, drive innovation, and bridge the digital divide to build a world-class city.

The accomplishment that won recognition for Kundra from both InfoWorld and MIT Sloan was the introduction of a new model to manage technology investments in the District. Kundra's idea was to manage IT as a portfolio of stocks, with each project as a company, its team as the management, its schedule and financial status captured in market reports, and customer satisfaction as the market reaction. By applying these stock-market practices to government technology, Kundra was able to identify problem projects early and either switch managers or kill the projects, freeing resources for more promising initiatives.

"My administration has worked hard to attract top talent to government," said Mayor Fenty. "Vivek Kundra is one of the most dedicated,innovative, and people-savvy executives I've ever encountered-within government or outside it. Even with my administration's commitment to flat budget growth, he's been able to produce consistently outstanding results. He's a tremendous asset to my administration and the whole city."

"I'm humbled to receive this recognition," said Kundra. "The real driver of the work that won this award is the challenge and inspiration I get from serving the District of Columbia."

The InfoWorld CTO 25 and MIT Sloan awards are not the only national technology honors that Kundra and his organization, OCTO, have won this year. OCTO won two Public Technology Institute's 2007-2008 Technology Solutions Awards for local governments that use technology to enhance service delivery, lower operating costs, and open new revenue opportunities.

To learn more about DC Government technology initiatives, visit http://octo.dc.gov/