justin massa

This was one crazy year – we were all over the place.

Sometimes, government speak is almost unbelievable. Take, for example, the below e-mail that was recently sent to applicants to the Grant.gov system, a central application system for all federal government grantees.

Dear CCR Registrant:

Beginning on December 21, 2008 through July 01, 2009, all Central Contractor Registration (CCR) Primary and Alternate Points of Contact (POC) updating their CCR registrations will be instructed to convert their Trading Partner Identification Number (TPIN) login to a self-assigned User ID and Password.

This enhancement (i.e., Release 4.08.2.3) includes the option to invite or assign multiple Maintenance POCs.  Maintenance POCs will also have the ability to access and update the registration.  The CCR Primary and Alternate POCs may remove Maintenance POCs at anytime.  NOTE:  All email notifications generated by CCR will continue to be sent to the CCR Primary and Alternate POCs.  No emails will be sent to the Maintenance
POCs.

CCR Primary and Alternate POCs who manage multiple DUNS registrations will be able to associate those registrations to one User ID and Password.

CCR Primary and/or Alternate POCs must complete this action prior to July, 1, 2009.  After July 1, 2009, you must contact the CCR Helpdesk at 1-888-227-2423. Dial 269-961-5757 for international calls for assistance or by internet at http://www.ccr.gov/contactccr.aspx.

Effective December 21, 2008, detailed instructions on how to change the DUNS/TPIN registration access to User ID and Password can be found at http://www.ccr.gov/FAQ.aspx#accounts.

Thank you,
The CCR Group

But perhaps more troubling is what government speak represents – a federal bureaucracy that is obsessed with process at the expense of product. While I believe that the next administration hopes and plans to improve this culture, it is a monumental task.

From Rooflines.org, where I am a guest blogger:

Through Change.gov, the public is being offered a first-ever opportunity to peek inside and offer opinion on nearly the entire transition process. A large team of academics, former bureacrats, and leading advocates have been appointed by President-Elect Obama to vet possible cabinet-level officials and conduct a thorough review of every federal bureaucracy they might lead.

Nine of these folks have been tasked with a review of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The HUD review leads are Xavier de Souza Briggs of MIT, Roberta Achtenberg, and Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institute ; team members include Ingrid Ellen of NYU, Nicholas Retsinas of Harvard’s Joint Center on Housing Studies, Henry Fernandez of the Center for American Progress, Saul Ramirez, Jr. of NAHRO, Kenneth Zimmerman of Lowenstein Sander, and Robert Weissbourd of RW Ventures.

Read the full post.

I’ve been hard at work for the past few weeks on two new projects:

1. IntegrationAgenda.org is a resource on policies, research, and grassroots advocacy in support of stable diversity. The site grew out of a conference on “The Next 40 Years of Fair Housing” and features a multimedia archive of the conference, multiple wikis for collaborating on the Integration Agenda, an advocate toolbox with multiple active campaigns, and a blog. To build the site, I used WordPress, a heavily tweaked version of the WPRemix theme, and a host of social media tools: Blip.tv, Scribd, ThePoint.com, Wagn, Change.org, and Twitter. This site is a collaboration of MoveSmart.org, the Oak Park Regional Housing Center, the Institute of Government and Public Affairs (UIC), and Jane Addams Hull House Association.
2. Broad Shoulders Update is an aggregated feed and news widget for community development advocates in the Chicago metrpolitan region. There is a rotating featured event or tool every few weeks and an up-to-the-hour newsfeed comprised of more than 20 blogs and sites. I built this on WordPress using the FeedWordPress plugin and includes a Sprout widget. This site is a collaboration of the Neighbors Project, Metropolitan Planning Council, and MoveSmart.org.

Please send along any thoughts / comments / suggestions / requests.