At the recent State Oversight Academy Symposium, we unveiled the Levin Center’s new report on People-Centered Oversight (PCO), the product of months of work examining how legislatures in every state incorporate the experience of people – both recipients and front-line implementers of programs – in oversight efforts.
PCO is about shifting the focus of oversight from bureaucratic compliance to human impact. It is more than a vision or framework. It is taking shape in state legislatures around the country every day. Its practitioners — legislators and staff from both parties, in both full- and part-time legislatures — are already using these principles to make government more responsive, effective, and accountable. We explore the practice of people-centered oversight in the states, both through broad data and through case studies that highlight innovative approaches in data collection and service delivery across government. We also offer recommendations – both for individual legislators and staff and at the institutional level – to advance people-centered oversight in the nation’s legislatures.
We are pleased to make this report available for legislators, staff, scholars, and anyone who cares about how oversight can deliver better services for the American people.
with David Kirchner, Evaluation Coordinator at the Office of Legislative Auditor (MN), and Megan Rickman Blackwood, Ph.D. candidate at UNC Chapel Hill.
