CPACS Dean Speaks at Launch of New Websites Providing Access, Transparency to Government Financial Data

John Bartle, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Public Affairs and Community Service (CPACS) and professor of public administration at UNO, is one of the featured speakers at a webinar hosted jointly by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) and the Fiscal Service of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The webinar provides an opportunity for NAPA and the U.S. Treasury Department Fiscal Service to unveil two new websites designed to provide policymakers and the general public with information regarding federal financial data and critical government information.

Bartle's portion of the webinar can be seen here. His part showcases the Federalism.us website, which provides policy makers, researchers, and interested citizens with information and background on issues tied to American federalism, intergovernmental relations, and multilevel democracy.

Federalism.US features data from federal, state, and local governmental sources that will be available for research and review in one central location for the first time. The website has three sections: An online data book, a news and blog center, and a resource hub providing materials on federalism and intergovernmental relations in the U.S.

The other new website, FiscalData.Treasury.gov, provides historical and current data on fiscal workings within the U.S. government. Datasets are available on topics including the national debt, government spending, savings bonds, and more. Both websites were created with transparency and ease of access in mind.

UNO’s Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR) collaborated with NAPA to create Federalism.us. CPAR’s history hosting online data sets, including data and visualizations previously hosted by Governing Magazine, made it an ideal partner to assist with developing Federalism.us. In recent years, CPAR has worked to preserve the archived data, visualizations and analysis provided by Governing Magazine, a national monthly publication centered on issues affecting state and local government, which is no longer in print. The archives can be viewed at governing.unomaha.edu.

“These two public websites can help inform the nation’s approach to a number of the Grand Challenges in Public Administration facing the nation in the decade ahead,” said NAPA President and CEO Terry Gerton. “In particular, they highlight critical facts relevant to how to Advance the Nation’s Long-Term Health and Develop New Approaches to Public Governance and Engagement. We hope that policymakers and administrators can leverage this information to develop innovative, data-informed solutions to our nation’s significant fiscal and governance dilemmas.”

Ahead of the webinar, Bartle also took part in recording an episode of the "Management Matters" podcast, which is produced by the National Academy of Public Administration. The episode features Bartle alongside Jamie Boex, Senior Fellow at the Duke Center for International Development, and Tom Shoop, Executive Vice President and Editor-in-chief at Government Executive Media Group, who discuss gathering, presenting, and using data on the federal government system. The episode can be heard here as well as on popular podcasting platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and others.