Finding Inspiration: How Local Governments are Innovating in a Time of Uncertainty
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.
By Lindsay Pica
May 14, 2020
Local governments—especially small and medium-sized communities—are navigating uncharted waters.
The COVID-19 pandemic is upending the way governments function, not to mention the daily lives of citizens. Budget cuts are coming for many offices. The upcoming election season could bring more change, and makes it hard to enact long-term plans.
But unpredictable times are a prime environment for innovation—if people are given the leeway to think outside the box. A number of cities are coming up with creative solutions to the challenges they face.
Here are a few examples we at Govlaunch have seen of cities that are innovating in the face of uncertainty.
Citizen Engagement
From new social media platforms to social distancing and political polarization, the way people interact with one another is changing. As things evolve it’s essential that cities adapt how they communicate with their citizens.
A number of products exist to facilitate this. Citibot uses bots to answer constituent questions and log requests. Voterfied lets citizens share feedback on everything from area vacation rental rules to dog beaches. Balancing Act brings the public into the budgeting process.
For example, Virginia Beach used Balancing Act to develop an interactive website that invites people to suggest funding priorities. The tool shows the city’s overall budget breakdown in a series of charts, then lets people suggest spending changes in various departments and taxes. It’s budgeting, gamified, and the only rule is the final number must stay balanced.
In addition to soliciting feedback, the system has notes giving context to the expenses. This shows the public how their tax dollars are being used, providing a transparent look into what the local government is up to.
Digital Services
More local governments are having to move paper and in-person services online. Due to the need for contactless work during the pandemic, all sorts of previously in-person licenses and services have gone digital.
Take marriage licenses. Typically, couples must go to a county clerk’s office in person. Now, municipalities such as Cuyahoga County, Ohio are offering online marriage licenses, to allow residents to continue with their wedding plans in the coming weeks and months.
While the move online may be a temporary response to COVID-19, local governments should view this as an opportunity to make lasting changes to their processes. It’s not as difficult—or expensive—as it once was. Products such as CityGrows help local governments digitize their workflows and forms without IT or contractors. Some even price based on population size, giving medium-sized governments access to powerful technology that was previously out of reach.
Transparency & Open Data
Many open data portals are being repurposed for coronavirus resources and tracking. Cities with existing platforms have been able to quickly pivot and use the tools for real-time updates.
Take Montgomery, AL, which introduced its open data portal in 2017, offering a look at the city’s budget and public official salaries. Open Montgomery was recently updated to include more data, and when the coronavirus hit, the city quickly added a COVID-19 resource center. The portal now provides quick links to information on local groceries and pharmacies, restaurants, local updates and more. Shelby County, Tennessee, took a similar approach with their newly launched platform.
These cities took the tools they had developed for general transparency and repurposed them to meet a new need.
Public-Private Partnerships
Cities don’t have to do it all themselves. Often, the best way to adapt to difficult times is by partnering with businesses and private sector groups to help solve a problem.
As COVID-19 spreads across the country, cities are at risk of seeing their services stretched amidst growing demand and limited staff availability. They also have particularly vulnerable populations to look out for, from people experiencing homelessness, to first responders and medical professionals, who can’t stay at home or in shelters without risk of contaminating others.
To meet the needs of these vulnerable populations, a number of cities, such as New York and Chicago, through public-private partnerships, are renting rooms in local hotels for first responders and patients with mild symptoms (thus easing the burden on ICUs and saving hospital beds for those in critical condition). Other cities, such as Los Angeles and Seattle, are securing hotel rooms to house their homeless populations, to prevent further spread of the disease.
These public-private partnerships aren’t just happening in big cities with big connections.
Naperville, Illinois has been looking locally for its partnerships. The Chamber of Commerce worked with the Downtown Naperville Alliance and area restaurants to create a GoFundMe campaign to support first responders during the pandemic.
Takeaways
These examples are only the tip of the iceberg. Govlaunch—the wiki for local government innovation—has crowdsourced over 1,500 innovative projects shared by governments around the world. Now more than ever, local governments of all sizes should look to each other as inspiration for their own projects.
By learning from the successes (and failures) of others, cities can be more efficient and effective in their efforts to innovate.
Author: Lindsay Pica founded Govlaunch with the belief that all local governments, regardless of size, need easy access to the innovative practices and tools being implemented by other local governments, so they can avoid “reinventing the wheel.” When not evangelizing local government innovation, she spends time with her daughter, dog Harvey, and co-founder James, who also happens to be her husband.
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Finding Inspiration: How Local Governments are Innovating in a Time of Uncertainty
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.
By Lindsay Pica
May 14, 2020
Local governments—especially small and medium-sized communities—are navigating uncharted waters.
The COVID-19 pandemic is upending the way governments function, not to mention the daily lives of citizens. Budget cuts are coming for many offices. The upcoming election season could bring more change, and makes it hard to enact long-term plans.
But unpredictable times are a prime environment for innovation—if people are given the leeway to think outside the box. A number of cities are coming up with creative solutions to the challenges they face.
Here are a few examples we at Govlaunch have seen of cities that are innovating in the face of uncertainty.
Citizen Engagement
From new social media platforms to social distancing and political polarization, the way people interact with one another is changing. As things evolve it’s essential that cities adapt how they communicate with their citizens.
A number of products exist to facilitate this. Citibot uses bots to answer constituent questions and log requests. Voterfied lets citizens share feedback on everything from area vacation rental rules to dog beaches. Balancing Act brings the public into the budgeting process.
For example, Virginia Beach used Balancing Act to develop an interactive website that invites people to suggest funding priorities. The tool shows the city’s overall budget breakdown in a series of charts, then lets people suggest spending changes in various departments and taxes. It’s budgeting, gamified, and the only rule is the final number must stay balanced.
In addition to soliciting feedback, the system has notes giving context to the expenses. This shows the public how their tax dollars are being used, providing a transparent look into what the local government is up to.
Digital Services
More local governments are having to move paper and in-person services online. Due to the need for contactless work during the pandemic, all sorts of previously in-person licenses and services have gone digital.
Take marriage licenses. Typically, couples must go to a county clerk’s office in person. Now, municipalities such as Cuyahoga County, Ohio are offering online marriage licenses, to allow residents to continue with their wedding plans in the coming weeks and months.
While the move online may be a temporary response to COVID-19, local governments should view this as an opportunity to make lasting changes to their processes. It’s not as difficult—or expensive—as it once was. Products such as CityGrows help local governments digitize their workflows and forms without IT or contractors. Some even price based on population size, giving medium-sized governments access to powerful technology that was previously out of reach.
Transparency & Open Data
Many open data portals are being repurposed for coronavirus resources and tracking. Cities with existing platforms have been able to quickly pivot and use the tools for real-time updates.
Take Montgomery, AL, which introduced its open data portal in 2017, offering a look at the city’s budget and public official salaries. Open Montgomery was recently updated to include more data, and when the coronavirus hit, the city quickly added a COVID-19 resource center. The portal now provides quick links to information on local groceries and pharmacies, restaurants, local updates and more. Shelby County, Tennessee, took a similar approach with their newly launched platform.
These cities took the tools they had developed for general transparency and repurposed them to meet a new need.
Public-Private Partnerships
Cities don’t have to do it all themselves. Often, the best way to adapt to difficult times is by partnering with businesses and private sector groups to help solve a problem.
As COVID-19 spreads across the country, cities are at risk of seeing their services stretched amidst growing demand and limited staff availability. They also have particularly vulnerable populations to look out for, from people experiencing homelessness, to first responders and medical professionals, who can’t stay at home or in shelters without risk of contaminating others.
To meet the needs of these vulnerable populations, a number of cities, such as New York and Chicago, through public-private partnerships, are renting rooms in local hotels for first responders and patients with mild symptoms (thus easing the burden on ICUs and saving hospital beds for those in critical condition). Other cities, such as Los Angeles and Seattle, are securing hotel rooms to house their homeless populations, to prevent further spread of the disease.
These public-private partnerships aren’t just happening in big cities with big connections.
Naperville, Illinois has been looking locally for its partnerships. The Chamber of Commerce worked with the Downtown Naperville Alliance and area restaurants to create a GoFundMe campaign to support first responders during the pandemic.
Takeaways
These examples are only the tip of the iceberg. Govlaunch—the wiki for local government innovation—has crowdsourced over 1,500 innovative projects shared by governments around the world. Now more than ever, local governments of all sizes should look to each other as inspiration for their own projects.
By learning from the successes (and failures) of others, cities can be more efficient and effective in their efforts to innovate.
Author: Lindsay Pica founded Govlaunch with the belief that all local governments, regardless of size, need easy access to the innovative practices and tools being implemented by other local governments, so they can avoid “reinventing the wheel.” When not evangelizing local government innovation, she spends time with her daughter, dog Harvey, and co-founder James, who also happens to be her husband.
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