Civic Transitions Toolkit: Building Effective State and Local Government Transitions

Q/A with Tisha Edwards, MSW, JD, Secretary of Appointments, Office of Governor Wes Moore

The period between Election Day and Inauguration Day, often referred to as "the transition", is a critical time for newly elected officials.  The transition is a unique opportunity to engage the public, turn broad policy intentions into actionable policy proposals, and recruit top talent to fill roles throughout government. Facilitating a strong public engagement process during the transition can help a newly elected official prepare to take office and strengthen the civic fabric of the communities they serve.

The Moore-Miller gubernatorial transition team in Maryland, designed a unique approach and created a historically diverse and inclusive transition that engaged the public at every step. University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement lead by Senior Fellow, Cleo Hirsch worked alongside the Governor’s office to design a simple Civic Transition Toolkit to provide a step-by-step guide for newly elected officials to engage the public in their transitions.

The Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement had the pleasure to sit down with Secretary Edwards who served as the Executive Leader of the Transition to share more about this innovative toolkit.

What was the vision of the transition for Governor Wes Moore’s campaign?

Following the election, the transition team was chaired by Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller, whose guiding vision was to build the most diverse and inclusive transition in Maryland’s history and ensure a strong start to the Moore-Miller Administration.

As the Executive Leader of the Transition I got to work quickly to form a strong steering committee that comprised 29 business, philanthropic, and elected leaders from across the state who provided expert guidance throughout the transition to elevate the voices of all Marylanders. The committee co-chairs included Angela Alsobrooks, Prince George’s County Executive; Shelonda Stokes, president of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore; Mary Tydings, the Moore-Miller Campaign Treasurer; and Ken Ulman, former Howard County Executive and current President, Terrapin Development Company and UMD Chief Strategy Officer for Economic Development.

What was the most important public-facing component to the transition process?

Our first step was to launch a micro-site on election night with key forms and processes to engage the public. The micro-site automated processes, so that we could gather feedback and interest in our administration effectively and efficiently.

It is important to note that it was not a complicated site.  It was a standard micro-site (click here for the template) and was stood up very quickly.  The design was intentionally simple to allow for quick engagement, ease of back-ending processes and transparent sharing of information.

How many people submitted their resumes to the talent pool?

We had over 2,833 people share their resumes on the micro-site in hope of supporting the administration.  That is a significant number and speaks to the power the campaign had to motivate people to engage in civil service. 

On the backend, the team reviewed and categorized resumes to identify candidates for key day-1 hires and eventually support the hiring process for our cabinet members.

[CDCE would highly encourage any transition team to purchase an affordable applicant tracking system. Workable is one strong example. These turn key tools include AI integrations, the ability to tag/comment, and build an equitable recruitment process. By adding a strong applicant tracking system you can alleviate up to 60% of the administrative effort.]

How did this process allow Marylanders to engage in the transition agenda?

On the micro-site, we developed a few simple google forms that included a place for the public to share ideas and to share upcoming events in their local communities.  These forms had a back-end process to automate directly into the topical area of the transition committee folder. All ideas were flowed to the relevant committees and reviewed by our committee members.  Our idea form collected 1,739 ideas throughout the transition period.

Our event database introduced the administration to key events that ranged from agriculture fairs to tech conferences. It allowed the administration to prioritize and attend important local events across the state.

Can you walk us through your transition subcommittee strategy? How did you manage their meetings and execution of plan development?

After two years on the ground speaking with Marylanders, Governor Moore and Lieutenant Governor Miller had a strong sense of the key issues facing our state, which informed the creation of our Transition Committees.  Once committees were established, we set-up a weekly cadence of meetings with sub-committee meetings occurring throughout the week as needed.  Each committee was provided with a clear roadmap of critical policy priorities to tackle that were informed by the core values of the campaign. Each committee also received a transition report template that was a model for the final product. These tools provided clear direction for the work week in and week out. The transition also staffed each policy committee with a policy advisor who shaped weekly agendas, compiled work between meetings, and shared information with committee members regularly. 

There were about 250 named members of these committees, but we also opened up the process to all Marylanders, who were able to sign up as “at-large” members of the committees based on their interest and expertise. At-large members were invited to a series of town-hall style virtual meetings. In those meetings, policy committee members presented their work, received feedback, and Marylanders engaged in robust dialogue about their vision and ideas for our state. This model was inspired by a guiding principle of the Moore-Miller administration: “those who are closest to the problem are closest to the solution.”

What is one piece of advice you would give someone who is responsible for operationalizing a government transition?

The biggest takeaway from the Moore-Miller transition was that driving towards inclusivity and transparency is worth it, even in the very busy time between election day and inauguration. By establishing simple tools like a micro-site geared towards civic engagement and opening up our policy committee process to at-large members, we were able to establish a clear value system that prioritizes the voices of all Marylanders. We were also able to encourage service and civic engagement early on in the administration. These values remain central to the Moore-Miller administration. As the Governor often says, “service will save us.” 

A big thank you to Secretary Edwards for sharing your expertise, and to our readers for following along! We encourage you to check out the civic transition toolkit and  Governor Wes Moore’s transition report. If you have more specific questions or would like an implementation partner please contact the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement. The CDCE can provide support on design of your micro-site, building back-end forms and more. 

We also encourage you to view our recent webinar hosted by Compass Compact with Tisha Edwards, MSW, JD, Secretary of Appointments and Dr. Hanmer, the Director of The Center For Democracy and Civic Engagement. Video can be found here.

Lynn Handy is a Senior Fellow at the University of Maryland Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement.