The Center for State and Local Finance connects policymakers, practitioners and academics in public finance through innovative policy research and consulting, as well as premier executive education for state and local leaders.
The center includes a team of administrative staff, researchers, affiliated faculty and graduate research assistants, who work together to serve governments and citizens in Georgia and beyond.
The Center for State and Local Finance is part of the Andrew Young School’s Public Finance Research Cluster, which is aimed at strengthening the school’s applied public finance research and training. The Fiscal Research Center and the International Center for Public Policy also operate under this umbrella structure.
Mission of the Center for State and Local Finance:
To develop the people and ideas for next generation public finance.
Goals and Objectives:
Goal 1: Build on the reputation of the Center for State and Local Finance and the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies as a premier institution for non-partisan, innovative scholarship in state and local public finance in the country.
- Objective 1.1: Support original research in state and local finance with a Georgia and southeastern focus but with implications of national importance.
- Objective 1.2: Develop the capacity to translate academic research for a practitioner audience to promote evidence-based policy-making through publications, social media, infographics, and other web-based technologies.
- Objective 1.3: Support and strengthen a network of nationally recognized in-house and Center-affiliated scholars in state and local public finance.
- Objective 1.4: Develop a database “hub” in the Center for use to support both research and technical assistance activities.
- Objective 1.5: Develop a fundraising strategy that includes a network of grantors interested in project-specific funding as well as a network of donors interested in overall mission and projects supported by the Center.
Goal 2: Build a nationally recognized executive education training program in intermediate and advanced public finance targeted at state and local officials who will provide next generation leadership as Chief Financial Officers and generally serve in public sector finance roles.
Goal 3: Develop the Center for State and Local Finance as a go to place in the state of Georgia (and nationally) for new strategies to improve the analysis and delivery of public services through more effective use of data and analytics.
- Objective 3.1: Build and promote existing capacity for tax policy analysis and advisement with particular emphasis on state-level projects around the country. (Note: The Fiscal Research Center provides state-level capacity in this area for Georgia.)
- Objective 3.2: Build and promote existing capacity for fiscal and economic impact analysis with a particular emphasis on local and regional projects.
- Objective 3.3: Develop capacity in methodologies such as cost analysis, meta-analysis, and risk modeling in order to leverage “big data” to provide a platform for evidence-based policy-making and to improve public service capacity.