RD35 - Council on Virginia's Future Annual Executive Summary - January 2015


Executive Summary:
The Council on Virginia’s Future, which is chaired by the Governor and includes state, business, and community leaders, was established in 2004 to advise Virginia’s leaders on the development and implementation of a long-range approach for assessing and improving the quality of life and the effectiveness of state government in Virginia. Virginia Performs, a signature initiative of the Council, is the Commonwealth’s performance leadership and accountability system ( http://VaPerforms.virginia.gov).

The Appendix (page 13) provides a brief introduction to the Council and Virginia Performs. More information is available on the Council’s website ( http://future.virginia.gov).

This report was prepared pursuant to § 2.2-2686 of the Code of Virginia, which requires the Council on Virginia’s Future to provide an executive summary of the activities and work of the Council annually to the Governor and the General Assembly. Included is a discussion of recent accomplishments related to the continued evolution of Virginia Performs and development of special issues. Highlights of recent progress include:

• Keeping Virginia Performs fresh and relevant remains a top priority. Regular enhancements and updates to citizen-facing data are made in collaboration with economists at the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. A new high-level indicator – Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) – was added to reflect the increasing strategic importance of these drivers of Virginia’s competitiveness and quality of life. Improvements were also made to the Emergency Preparedness, Recidivism, and Consumer Protection indicators.

• The Council continued its collaboration with the Virginia Chamber of Commerce on the Chamber’s BLUEPRINT Virginia initiative. In addition to supporting initiative planning efforts, Council staff helped frame the data and performance landscape across Virginia and supported regional and industry outreach and deliberations.

• Enterprise Strategic Priorities (ESP) were established by Governor McAuliffe’s team and include high-priority goals, objectives, and initiatives that often transcend agency and other organizational boundaries. This is the first time these ESPs were developed as input into the first agency strategic planning process of a new administration.

• Launched in late 2012 and revised in 2014, the Virginia Workforce System Report Card was the Council’s first issue-focused report card. Two new report cards, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Government Operations, were added to the Virginia Performs website in early 2014. Report cards are designed to help accelerate progress on high-priority issues.

• The Council continued its focus on the drivers of state and regional economic growth, working with its workforce partners to establish meaningful workforce targets, better align regional workforce capabilities with employer needs, and collaborating with the Virginia Chamber of Commerce on workforce-related issues identified in the BLUEPRINT Virginia initiative.

• The Department of Planning and Budget redesigned the agency planning and performance reporting component of the Performance Budgeting system with significant agency input to be more user-friendly and focused on key performance metrics.

• The Council continued to publish special reports, analyses, and other products that enhance our understanding of issues important to Virginia’s long-term future.