Local Governments Designated as Citizen-Engaged Communities
Washington, DC, June 1, 2010 – Public Technology Institute (PTI) has designated nine local governments from across the U.S. as “Citizen-Engaged Communities” for their efforts to provide the public with multi-channel (web, civic media, Interactive Voice Response, 311/call agents) access to government services and information.
PTI’s Citizen-Engaged Communities Designation Program challenges local government to achieve high standards in citizen participation, seamless service delivery and democratic accountability.
The eight cities and one county that are designated as Citizen-Engaged Communities for 2010–2012 were cited by an advisory board of local officials and representatives from the technology sector as having implemented “best practices” for their use of Citizen Relationship/Records Management (CRM) systems, coupled with 311/call center, web portal technology, telephony systems, Interactive Voice Response, and mobile communications infrastructure to advance new standards for citizen participation and government performance reporting.
The local governments that are designated as Citizen-Engaged Communities are:
- Buffalo, New York
- Corpus Christi, Texas
- Greensboro, North Carolina
- Hampton, Virginia
- Miami-Dade County, Florida
- New York, New York
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- San Francisco, California
- Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Funded by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, over the past two years PTI and an advisory board of local officials and representatives from the technology sector developed criteria for designation as a Citizen-Engaged Community. These criteria address:
Citizen Participation Processes (information, service requests, complaints, interactive business applications and forms, surveys, focus groups, suggestions, chats);
Integrated Communication Channels (contact center, self-service Web and automated phone systems, walk-ins, neighborhood stations, contact center linkage with service departments, mobile citizens and mobile crews);
Integrated Technology (311, call management, CRM, Web 2.0 applications, VoIP telephony, GIS, work management, mobile communications, knowledge-based data repositories);
Performance Reporting (external citizen metrics, customer-driven internal service metrics, use of real-time data, service level agreements for contact center and service departments).
The Citizen-Engaged Community designation is for two years (2010–2012). After that, the local governments that were designated in this inaugural round of the program must re-apply for designation.
Local governments will again be invited in the fall of 2010 to apply for designation for the 2011–2013 Citizen-Engaged Community Designation program.
PTI invites you to a Facebook page that includes profiles of the 2010 Citizen-Engaged Communities, resources for multi-channel contact centers and a place for local government officials to ask questions, post comments, and share information about challenges, successes, events and ideas.
About PTI
Created by and for cities and counties, the not-for-profit Public Technology Institute promotes innovation and collaboration for thought-leaders in government, and advances the use of technology to improve the management and delivery of services to the citizen. For more information visit www.pti.org.
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