State and local governments are struggling to hire public finance professionals. Is this due to a shortage of qualified individuals, or something else? We talk with Heidi Voorhees, co-founder of GovHR USA and GovTempsUSA about recruiting strategies and how government agencies can incentivize professionals - from recent college grads to those working in the private sector - to work in public finance. In Ripped from the Headlines, we discuss what college graduates look for in potential employers, and how employers can make themselves competitive for applicants.

From small municipalities to large urban centers, how do we define "politics" in local government budgeting? How do elected officials and finance professionals build trust and credibility with the public? And what does politics mean as we "reinvent" local budgeting. Join us for a master class on these and other questions in our third and final interview from the 2024 GFOA conference, where we sat down with Rick Cole, Chief Deputy Comptroller for the City of Los Angeles; Mike Bailey, Director of Internal Audit for Northshore School District in Washington; Amelia Powers Gardner, Commissioner of Utah County, UT; Daniel Ramos, OMB Director for Harris County, TX; and Andrew Scott, Deputy COO of Portland Metro.

How has Detroit turned around their finances to receive a major credit upgrade? What challenges still linger, especially when it comes to using federal money and tax credits effectively to invest in the community? Learn the answers to these questions and more in our second installment of interviews from the 2024 GFOA conference, where we spoke with Kevin Bain, Director of Strategy for the City of Detroit.