City programs among innovations in government awards finalists.

A partnership that finances the purchase of land and buildings for affordable housing, a juvenile justice reform initiative that offers family-focused, community-based alternatives to incarceration and an in-classroom approach to teacher preparation are among 15 finalist programs in the 2008 Innovations in American Government Awards competition administered by the John E Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

New York's Acquisition Fund and Project Zero and the Boston Public School District's Teacher Residency program will vie for $100,000 prizes to be used to replicate and disseminate their innovations

The states of Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and 66 Yukon River Tribes round out the finalists

Fifty semi-finalists were named from a pool of nearly 1,000 applicants in mid-April. The 15 finalists will present their initiatives before a national selection committee on June 12.

Five winners will be announced at an awards gala in September.

Project Zero was also named one of three finalists for the third annual Annie E. Casey Innovation Award in Children and Family System Reform. The winner of this competition will also receive a $100,000 prize at the September event.

Details: Kate Hoagland at (617) 495-4347 or Kate_Hoagland@harvard.edu