Center for Digital Government survey commends cities harnessing technology for better government
SACRAMENTO, CA, UNITED STATES, November 10, 2022 — The Center for Digital Government (CDG) announces the winners of the 22nd annual Digital Cities Survey, recognizing cities utilizing technology to strengthen cybersecurity, enhance transparency and digital equity, plan for the future of work and more. The top 10-ranking cities in each of five population categories and the Future Ready Award winner will be honored during the Digital Cities Awards event at the National League of Cities “City Summit” on November 17th in Kansas City, Missouri. Registration is open to the public sector only and is complementary.
“Constituents expect more from modern governments. Our Digital Cities survey winners have worked hard to keep the focus on the needs of the communities they serve while implementing technology to improve delivery and execution,” said CDG Vice President Brian Cohen. “We congratulate them for leading the way towards a smarter and more responsive government.”
This year’s first place winners in each population category include:
City of San Diego, Calif. (500,000 or more population category):
San Diego’s digital equity program, “SD Access 4 All”, uses technology to drive decision-making and focus resources in the highest priority areas. The GIS Team mapped digital equity assets across the city – such as open public WiFi, hotspots, free tech support and free computer and internet skills classes – to provide access to free city Wi-Fi at over 300 locations in areas that would benefit most.
City of Long Beach, Calif. (250,000 – 499,999 population category):
Long Beach IT is supporting the city’s strategic goals and plans for citizen engagement, economic development, Smart City, and Racial Equity and Reconciliation by development of the Equitable Data Collection Toolkit, by supporting the Digital Inclusion Resources Hotline, by enhancing the “GoLongBeach” app, and by providing permanent virtual participation during official city meetings, community listening sessions and townhalls.
City of Bellevue, Wash. (125,000-249,999 population category):
Bellevue launched four interactive, public-facing dashboards – “Economic Data”, “Sustainable Bellevue”, “Council Priorities”, and “Police Transparency” which shows crime statistics, community engagement efforts, “use of force” reports, and information about diversity within the police force. In addition, a Future of Work cross-functional team put together resources, training, and policies; and facilitated the “Colleagues Connect” activities for navigating hybrid work.
City of Avondale, Ariz. (75,000-124,999 population category):
Avondale launched a Strategic Plan Performance Dashboard that allows residents to follow progress on the city’s five-year goals, including 29 Key Performance Indicator metrics and capital and operations projects. In addition, Avondale partnered with the private sector to create “way-finding” kiosks powered by solar power and to establish Fiber-to-the-Home services to residents which increased property values.
Village of Schaumburg, Ill. (up to 75,000 population category):
The IT team of Schaumburg not only have traditional skills from edge networking to application and hardware support, but also business, municipal, and innovation analysis skills – providing excellent IT partners for all village departments. Among the team’s accomplishments is the production of a 30-factor Cybersecurity Report Card to inform village directors and the city manager and to implement cybersecurity best practices and trends.
For the full list of winners, CLICK HERE.
FUTURE READY AWARD 2022: The Future Ready Awards were created to recognize the innovative vision that cities, counties, and states have for the impact of technology on the people they serve – specifically those jurisdictions that are laying the foundation for the disruptive and converging forces that are shaping an uncertain future.
CDG presents the Future Ready award to the City of Allen, Texas. The city’s innovation processes have demonstrated success in both public safety and fire. Drones, SMS citizen interaction, a robotics process automation solution for Fire for vaccine data entry, 9-1-1 text and video capability and auto-dispatching of Fire units are great examples. In addition, using data visualization based on GIS and PowerBI, the city is measuring neighborhood equity to determine underserved areas for service provision.
CDG expresses its gratitude to the underwriters of this year’s survey: Premier Corporate Members – Accela, Amazon Web Services, Infor, Laserfiche, Microsoft, Oracle America, Inc. and Yubico; Standard Corporate Members – CAI, LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Pure Storage, RingCentral, Inc., SHI International Corp. and VertiGIS.
About the Center for Digital Government:
The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute focused on technology policy and best practices in state and local government. CDG is a division of e.Republic, the nation’s only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government and education.
