United States
Stephen T. Williams
47,079 (2017)
Improve resident outcomes
Improve service delivery
Anticipate and manage future challenges
Dedicated innovation team
Focus on measurement
Dedicated funding
Culture of innovation in city
Human resource support
Leadership from Mayor
As part of its battle with the opioid epidemic, Huntington’s Compass wellness program aims to prevent “compassion fatigue” among first responders who have been on the frontline against this pervasive and devastating challenge. The city’s Drug Market Intervention program seeks to attack the epidemic at its roots while avoiding overly punitive measures by focusing on key locations and actors in the opioid trade, differentiating between violent and non-violent offenders, and connecting addicts suffering to community resources. Partnerships play a major role in these programs, which leverage donations from the private sector and data analysis from nearby Marshall University.
Along with 50% of cities surveyed, Huntington does not have an explicit innovation strategy. Similar to 24% of cities surveyed, Huntington approaches innovation capacity in specific policy areas/domains.
Huntington does not have a dedicated team for innovation. The city plans to hire its first staff member dedicated to innovation in the next budget year.
Taking risks or testing new ideas
Data-driven analytics/public data management
Engaging residents in new ways
Developing new solutions based on digital technologies
Organizational change within the municipality
Human-centered design
Rethinking your city’s approach to financing partnerships
Like 81% of cities surveyed, Huntington has dedicated funding to support innovation capacity.
Similar to 61% of participating cities in the 2020 survey, Huntington's funding for innovation capacity is directed towards training staff and building capacity*.
*"Training staff and building capacity" is not an option in the 2018 survey, while "Launching or sustaining a project" is not an option in the 2020 survey.
Huntington has developed partnerships to promote innovation capacity with private firms and industry.
To improve data use, the city has also developed data partnerships with academia and think tanks to collect and analyze data.