Senator Voinovich's handbook on public-private partnerships published by OU Press

Today, as many municipalities face budget crises, officials need to understand how to tailor and implement their own P3 model. Voinovich’s insights, drawn from decades of public service at the city, state, and national levels, will illuminate the process and inspire positive action based on the steps he outlines. At the same time, it is a first-person story that provides insight into the personal qualities that made Voinovich one of the great statesmen of the past half-century.The public-private partnership (P3) model that the late Senator George V. Voinovich pioneered in the 1980s has since become the gold standard for cities seeking to maximize resources and create sustainable growth. Now, in association with the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University, Ohio University Press has published Voinovich’s Empowering the Public-Private Partnership: The Future of America’s Local Government.

Written as a handbook with clear, actionable steps for local leaders, Empowering the Public-Private Partnership takes as its case study one of Voinovich’s signature achievements: using the public-private partnership (P3) to lead the famed “Cleveland turnaround” of the 1980s. Voinovich, by drawing on the combined strengths of the public and private sectors, took Cleveland from financial default to “America’s Comeback City,” and he later used the best practices he developed there to tackle state-level challenges as governor of Ohio.

Representatives of the Voinovich School and people who worked closely with Voinovich himself are available for interviews and panels. Among other topics, they can discuss the Voinovich legacy, the specifics of the Cleveland turnaround, how P3s have changed since the 1980s, and how local governments continue to innovate with constrained budgets.

For review copies or to set up an interview with a representative of the Voinovich School, contact Samara Rafert, Publicist, Ohio University Press, at rafert@ohio.edu or 740-593-1160.

Advance Praise:

“George Voinovich’s extraordinary success as senator, governor, and mayor was due in great part to his being a pioneering master of collaboration. This book is a legacy of his powerful and practical insights on how to build public-private partnerships that fuse the best of all sectors to create a better society. In these times when conflict seems to dominate political dialogue, his wise words extolling the virtues of collaboration are refreshing and illuminating.” —James E. Austin, Harvard Business School