Apply for the CityGrows Q1 2017 digital process pilot program for local governments
We’re no longer accepting applications to the pilot program; however, we have a new beta program for local governments interested in access to our premium features.
Learn more about CityGrows and test out our platform.
CityGrows is expanding the work that we’ve done to date with the City of Santa Monica and the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment in the City of Los Angeles to additional city, county, and state government agencies. We believe working closely with partners inside of local governments is the best way to improve local digital services quickly and effectively.
As part of this digital pilot program, CityGrows will work closely with up to 10 governments to digitize local or state government forms and processes on the CityGrows platform. Participation offers our pilot partners automatic open data and improved efficiency.
We are looking for government partners who meet the following criteria:
- Have one or more paper/ PDF-based forms/ processes they want to digitize and improve
- Have identified a department interested in working closely with the CityGrows team to analyze, implement, and field test new digital solutions
- Have identified a main collaborator/ contact person with whom the CityGrows team will work
- Able to participate in weekly status calls and biweekly training/ implementation sessions
- Willing to conduct a pilot test of the process with constituents
- At least one of your identified pilot processes involves a fee/ payment
Governments accepted into the pilot program will have the CityGrows component of our standard (public data) processing fees waived for one year (not applicable to private process accounts).
We are prioritizing outreach to governments in Southern California and Massachusetts, but our team is comfortable working remotely with any location. We are accepting applications on a rolling basis, so please apply as soon as possible if you’re interested.
Our target pilot partners are small to medium-sized government organizations, but we are happy to review applications from any size of government (other than Federal). Additionally, we welcome applications from individual departments inside large municipal and county organizations.
As part of this pilot cohort, CityGrows will provide extensive onboarding and implementation support — led by our team with experience and familiarity with local government — to our pilot governments. Here’s our planned schedule:
January:
- Kickoff/ planning meeting
- CityGrows platform orientation and training
- Process mapping and process analysis and optimization
February:
- Draft process implementation and internal testing
- Revision/ review
- Process external implementation/ field testing
March:
- Evaluation
- Report back to Council or other decision-making body
Our partners in Santa Monica have reported the following positive impacts from implementing CityGrows:
- Reduced anxious emails and phone calls from constituents
- Improved internal communication/ transparency within/ between departments
- Faster and more accurate payments
- Easy open data
The cost to participate in this pilot process is $5,000. We encourage all eligible governments and departments to apply.
Are you a member of the League of Women in Government and/or The Municipal Management Association of Souther California? Let us know on the pilot application — we’re offering members of those organizations a special program as part of the pilot.
Application review is underway, with an anticipated program start date on January 17, 2017.
