Not only did the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provide substantial increases in funding to states, localities and private non-profits as part of an effort to stimulate the economy during the Great Recession, it also provided incentives for states to institute new programs and procedures. The additional funding, however, also required greater accountability. This panel provides examples of how well states, localities and community-based organizations did in terms of spending relatively large amounts of funding in a short time frame, how they coped with the rapid ramp up and spend down, and the types of innovations they were able to undertake. Two papers examine the impact of funding on the workforce development system, one paper focuses on the Community Services Block Grant, and the fourth paper examines how states managed the administrative challenges caused by the high demand for unemployment compensation and efforts to “modernize” their Unemployment Insurance programs. The papers offer insights into the effectiveness of stimulus funding in terms of job creation, service delivery, and preparation of individuals for jobs in the post-recession period. They address the role of policy guidance in shaping the way grantees handled the rapid start-up of most programs and the challenges that states and other grantees faced in integrating these new funding streams into their ongoing operations. These experiences provide valuable lessons for a future in which government will be required to be more efficient, effective, and accountable.