Increasing Awareness and Appreciation Of Hennepin County Government

Abstract

This paper is the culmination of research and study by three student authors working on their Capstone project as a core part of their Master‘s degree program through the University of Minnesota‘s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. The paper examines how Hennepin County (HC) can increase not only residents‘ awareness but also their appreciation of the value of the programs and services that the county provides. Today, many of the functions of Hennepin County remain invisible to average residents unless they have some reason to interact with the county. For example, residents may bike on the trails in the county park system; they may borrow books or materials from the county library system; or they may be stopped for speeding on a county road by the sheriff. In this economic downturn, county government is being asked to do more with less while demand for services continues to grow. At the same time, people have the ability to access information about anything at any time. The challenge is to harness the tremendous power of information access in a way that most benefits residents. This paper makes recommendations on how the county can begin to achieve these goals.