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Pillar 3: Development of Easy Options for Civic Participation
The Future of Local Government and the Importance of Building a Digital Public Square
How local governments can leverage digital operations to sustain—and grow—citizen engagement.
Pillar 1: Efficient Outreach That Builds Trust
Pillar 2: Service Delivery That Meets Modern Digital Expectations
With the convergence of these disparate crises, it’s clear that business-as-usual has been replaced with ready-for-anything. And there is no turning back. Governments need to become more nimble and adapt to this new normal of a deeper, more connected citizen-government relationship. The answer is in digital transformation. The local government of the future is no longer around the corner. It is here—now—and it needs to provide the kinds of modern digitization that consumers have come to expect if it’s going to make a lasting impact. In this guide, we’ll highlight the three pillars of the Digital Public Square of the future, one where citizens and governments build lasting and meaningful connections.
The importance of local government has never been more clear. The recent pandemic led to a near-universal need for public assistance—be it for an accurate count of cases in a given county, where to locate testing sites, guidance on what restrictions local businesses must adhere to for re-opening or how to apply for rent relief. And as the pandemic evolved, residents turned to their local governments for direction. At the same time, another dynamic of civil unrest emerged. While people urgently needed to communicate with their local government during the pandemic, there was also a growing desire to want to communicate with their public offices and voice their opinions in matters of public policy.
What it Takes to Do This Right
Government-built communications tools that offer government-grade security
Governments that successfully transform their digital efforts are able to reach more of the population in times of urgency with clear, trustworthy messaging and have a greater opportunity to build lasting connections with citizens.
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Principle #1
To Win the Public’s Trust, You Must Actively Work to Combat Misinformation
Immediate Response Requires Broad Communication, And Recovery is All About Coordination
Principle #2
Err on The Side of Proactive and Frequent Communications
Principle #3
Takeaway
Governments that plan ahead and lay the groundwork for digital communications are able to reach more of the population in times of urgency with clear, trustworthy messaging and have a greater opportunity to build lasting connections with citizens.
A strategy to amplify the expertise of others through distributed content creation
Proven ability to deliver messages to the devices the community uses most
A continually growing network of community members and a segmentation strategy
A continually growing network of community members
This triggered a moment of realization for local governments: the first connection points are critical trust-builders, and it’s important to get it right. With digital solutions like email, text message, and social communications, local governments cut through the noise, communicated directly with residents, and became the voice of authority and clarity. The city of Berkeley, California, is an example of a local government that was especially sensitive to developing trust quickly by providing communications about the first coronavirus cases to its citizens within a matter of hours. They elevated medical experts' advice on social platform and ensured that as many people as possible received digital messages simultaneously.
Historically, local governments have struggled to communicate effectively with communities during a crisis. In a dynamic, evolving situation like a hurricane or other natural disaster, agencies often resorted to fielding phone calls from worried citizens or trying to update an aging website with real-time information. The results were often frustrating for everyone—and critical information wasn’t always clearly communicated. As COVID-19 spread across the country, more people than ever turned to their local government leaders to fill saw twice as much engagement with digital messages as federal government in the early days of the pandemic. It was an opportunity for those leaders to communicate decisively and with urgency. Suddenly, there were millions more Americans who were opting in to government communications who hadn’t before.
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See Pillar 2: Service Delivery That Meets Modern Digital Expectations >>
And not only will a digital infrastructure help ease the burden on already strained budgets, they will encourage better end-to-end citizen experiences. One great example of this is in Maricopa County Clerk’s office in Arizona, where leaders found a better way to provide critical services like applying for a marriage license, e-filing a document, or submitting a payment. Until recently, the only way for citizens to complete these types of requests would be to print a form, fill it out, and mail it in. With a new digital presence that incorporated online forms and a virtual assistant, the Clerk’s Office is now able to handle even more service-related requests across various departments than it could when processes were more manual (roughly 2,000 a month).
Local government leaders are very familiar with department silos. For a long time, the culture in government was to “stay in your lane” and focus only on deliverables that are relevant to a specific department. This culture was reflected in engagement opportunities with citizens, most notably in fragmented service experiences. In order to build a Digital Public Square of the future, this attitude needs to shift towards data-sharing and cross-government collaboration - both internally and externally. Thanks to multi-functioning platforms that layer over existing processes, the results of breaking down silos don’t cause traffic jams. On the contrary, they’re multi-lane highways through which governments can increase efficiency.
The more local governments can unify their digital presence, the better the experience for all (both staff and users). With an aligned strategy and the right digital tools, local government will enable the modern experiences that residents have come to expect.
Low- and no-code tools that allow rapid replacement of forms and intake of custom documents for the community
Solutions specifically built for government that allow small teams to handle high workloads
A universal platform for creation of all digital services
API rich tools that allow leave-and-layer tech, so you can move quickly in hours vs. months
See Pillar 3: Development of Easy Options for Civic Participation >>
While there are certainly opportunities to showcase how important citizen participation is to local decision-makers,there's an even greater opportunity to boost awareness of digital platforms that enable intake of citizen voices and interactions - creating more opportunities for two-way connection points, and building the dialogue that people want. In a post-COVID environment, many governments realized this when they moved their public meeting processes into virtual environments. With no option to provide in-person public council or committee meetings, cities like San Antonio and Phoenix upgraded their live streaming capabilities, broadcast their meetings to a wider audience, and allowed viewers to comment on agenda items. As a result of moving these opportunities for engagement online, both cities saw sharp spikes in engagement in attendees (from hundreds to over 4,000) and online comments (over 300 in one meeting).
For many residents, voicing opinions or submitting proposals to local governments can seem very one-sided. Imagine feeling strongly about a piece of policy, taking the time to voice an opinion or concern, and not hearing back from elected leaders. This sentiment was apparent in a 2018 Granicus survey where 25% of citizens said they aren’t motivated to engage with government because they felt as though their opinion would not have an impact. What may surprise local leaders, though, is that in the same survey, the greatest reason as to why citizens don’t engage with government is because they simply lack the time (nearly 40% of respondents). There must be easier and more accessible ways for citizens to connect and engage with government.
The modern citizen is more interested in engaging with governments more than ever. For those who don’t, it’s simply because they lack the time they believe it takes to participate in civic processes. By making engagement easy, and providing digital options for participation, local governments will build policy that’s more inclusive and representative.
Informed citizens that know when important topics are on the agenda
Transparency through searchable minutes
Community engagement through digital tools
Community communication and review
While there are certainly opportunities to showcase how important citizen participation is to local decision-makers, there's an even greater opportunity to boost awareness of digital platforms that enable intake of citizen voices and interactions - creating more opportunities for two-way connection points, and building the dialogue that people want. In a post-COVID environment, many governments realized this when they moved their public meeting processes into virtual environments. With no option to provide in-person public council or committee meetings, cities like San Antonio and Phoenix upgraded their live streaming capabilities, broadcast their meetings to a wider audience, and allowed viewers to comment on agenda items. As a result of moving these opportunities for engagement online, both cities saw sharp spikes in engagement in attendees (from hundreds to over 4,000) and online comments (over 300 in one meeting).
See Next Page: Conclusion >>
Following a Clear Path to the City of the Future—Powered By Local Government
The way forward in the relationship between governments and citizens is clear: trust built through clear, actionable information; a unified digital presence across agencies; and seamless digital options for civic participation. Many citizens already trust their local governments, but there is an opportunity to take that connection further. The local government of the future is digital, connected and accessible.
In the past, most local governments had the good intentions to digitize, but did so slowly as a result of budget constraints and red tape. The pandemic revealed the vulnerability of communities and the need for leadership, especially at the local level. As a result, digital communications are no longer a “nice to have,” but a “must have”—accelerating governments’ modernization efforts into the future, now. The urgency brought on by this current moment will fade, but it will inevitably be followed by another.
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About Granicus Granicus is a leading provider of citizen-engagement technologies and services for the public sector, bringing governments closer to the people they serve with a civic-engagement platform. Granicus works with more than 4,500 government organizations and connects more than 220 million people in the largest citizen subscriber network of its kind.
Pillar 3: Create Easy Options for Civic Participation
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