South Bend @ Code for America
Last week I represented the City of South Bend at the Code for America Summit in Oakland, California. The sessions that stood out to me were about modernizing 311 systems and gauging trust in local government through resident engagement.
Are We There Yet? Turing Legacy 311 Systems into Agile, User-Centered Digital Services
The first breakout session I attended was about moving 311 and information about City services into the digital age. Panelists LaWanda Crayton, Michelle Thong, and Kristen Tonga (of City of Chicago, City of San Jose, and Majifix respectively) talked through their challenges and successes in updating the ways in which residents learn about their local government. The common thread was that getting all of this information out of the heads of City employees and into the hands of residents is challenging, but necessary for effective service-delivery.
In South Bend, we recently developed a new CRM system (c/o Kheran Joseph) and a corresponding 311 Portal (c/o Michael Kennel). While the tech development itself was a huge lift, it also involved coordinating with every City department (c/o Danielle Fulmer) and some dedicated project management (c/o Daniel Collins). It was comforting to see that municipalities across the country and the world are working through similar problems and sharing the work they did to overcome those challenges.
Building and Measuring Trust in Government by Meeting Residents Where They Are
The other breakout session that stood out to me was from Chelsie Bright (Qualtrics), Matt Broffman (City of Orlando), Derek Konofalski (City of Gilbert, Arizona), and Isaac Wang (Open San Diego and candidate for San Diego City Council).
Matt Broffman described how the City of Orlando has been measuring trust in their City government — by asking residents if they trust the City government. This survey is sent out to residents who had requested a service online and asks residents to rate the service based on aspects of the service like friendliness of staff, helpfulness of information, and timeliness of service completion.
The very first question in the survey is “How much trust or distrust do you have in the City of Orlando when it comes to handling local problems?” and they found that satisfaction is a leading predictor of trust. While this isn’t the most shocking conclusion, the survey also showed the City what services were eroding trust. They found that usefulness, service satisfaction, and timeliness were strong indicators for trust, while friendliness and ease of use had less effect.
While the residents who answer this survey are most likely not representative of Orlando’s residents, this survey is a strong start to understanding a concept as nebulous as trust in government.
Anna Kennedy is a Business Analyst in the Department of Innovation & Technology.
