2022 Winners

International and Regional

New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission

NJ Motor Vehicle Commission and Office of the First Lady Partnership for Mobile Agency Units

The NJ Motor Vehicle Commission’s two Mobile Agency units and dedicated crews serve as unofficial ambassadors of the agency, traveling all over the Garden State to bring motor vehicle services directly to underserved communities. The Mobile Units often work in cooperation with other arms of government, including the Legislative branch, the Office of the First Lady, and veteran and senior citizen agencies. It is through these partnerships that the NJMVC is able to deliver services to many thousands of New Jerseyans who would otherwise have difficulty accessing services. As First Lady, Tammy Murphy's policy initiatives focused on infant and maternal health, climate change education, and fostering women-owned businesses throughout New Jersey. She worked to create Family Festivals across the state to increase access to resources for mothers, children, and families. The Office of the First Lady reached out to the NJMVC to provide services at the Family Festivals around New Jersey, by providing important documents on site, such as non-driver IDs and/or driver license renewals, free of charge.

Regional

California Department of Motor Vehicles

California ID Program (CAL ID) Interagency Portal Project

CAL ID provides ID card services to California Department of Social Services and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. This service benefits releasing inmates and the homeless population by granting them ID cards, which allow them to receive benefits and services that they otherwise would be denied. The lack of official identification for a homeless person creates many challenges for them, one of which is the inability to qualify and apply for benefits. These benefits can make a huge difference in their ability to break the cycle through community outreach, counseling, and many of the other programs and official ID can make available. Like the homeless population, an inmate who is released back into the community with no official identification faces many challenges. Providing identification prior to release allows them to apply for many services that would be denied without official identification. The project converted a paper-driven, cumbersome, and time-consuming process to an electronic process that is faster and more efficient and significantly reduces the amount of time applicants are waiting for their ID cards, from 20 weeks to about 6 weeks. 

Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles

American Sign Language Driver Knowledge Test

The Nebraska DMV partnered with the Nebraska Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and a vendor to implement a driver knowledge test in American Sign Language. This provides an accommodation to deaf Nebraskans who can take the test in a language they may be more intimately familiar with. It also eliminates the need for the DMV to provide interpreters and translation services and customers can conduct their business with fewer steps and more accommodations. There are many in Nebraska who are deaf or hard of hearing. People who are deaf or hard of hearing are still perfectly capable of participating in many parts of daily life, and driving is no exception. This partnership was a collaboration between a combination of public and private organizations to fill a need for those customers. The new test works by playing videos of sign language interpreters signing the questions, in addition to the printed text. The new test was relatively simple to implement and is easily accessible for test takers.

Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security

Driver Services Division Partners with Middle Tennessee State University

In 2021, the Driver Services Division partnered with Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) to offer an opportunity for a graduating class to gain real-time experience working with a customer on a project. This project was designed to engage Tennessee examiners and keep them focused during virtual training. The graduate students conducted a needs analysis, created focus groups, developed a proposal and timeline, and provided deliverables at the end of the project. The MTSU team worked with trainers and talent management to develop training aids to leverage Microsoft TEAMS and Google classroom which are used for teaching examiners. They developed job aids for staff and updated slides to make the presentations more engaging. They created customer service videos and activities for each CDE module. In addition to providing students with a valuable educational opportunity, Tennessee saved more than $40,000 using this partnership rather than engaging a private vendor.