state EO programs

[Sara Lawrence <sara@cfed.org>]

Hello,
I would greatly appreciate any feedback on the following:

We are working on a project at the Corporation for Enterprise Development
(CFED) benchmarking outcomes and policies at the state level that are
promoting asset building and asset protection for state residents.  Within
this "Assets Report Card" we are including state policies that promote
business capital as one set of asset building strategies.  Within business
capital, one of our measures evaluates  employee ownership programs at the
state level.

In this measure, we want to make sure that the program meets a certain
threshold, so that we aren't praising a state that has an EO program that
isn't good, or effective.

>From reading John Logue's recent article, I picked these out as requirements
for a quality EO state program:

-disseminates info
-provides assistance with succession planning
-encourages employee participation

Do you think this is a decent standard, or do you have any suggestions on
what we should or should not consider in determining a threshold for a
quality EO program?  The difficulty here is that we want to define a
standard for a quality program, yet we don't want to overwhelm 
state policymakers with requirements that seem impossible for state
officials to consider.  

The end result of our project will be a set of criteria, where we can
"check" or give credit to a state for having these elements in their EO
program.

Suggestions on what you consider essential for an effective EO program at
the state level would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Sara Lawrence


Sara Lawrence
Corporation for Enterprise Development
123 West Main Street, 3rd Floor
Durham NC 27701
919.688.6444
http://www.cfed.org