2012 Finalist: Raleigh[BETA]
“Fostering innovative ways in which to bridge the gap between citizen access and city resources supports our efforts to make living in Raleigh a quality of life experience”
- Gail Roper, Chief Information and Community Relations Officer for the City of Raleigh
Over the past few years, Raleigh has been creatively leveraging technology to improve access to government services. Citizens can submit local issues, find information online, and engage with the city. However, the communication methods currently tend to be one-way, with either the government issuing statements or the citizens reporting concerns. Moreover, the focus has been on government to citizen interaction and not citizen-to-citizen. There are missed opportunities for effective collaboration.
Raleigh is seeking to partner with Code for America to create a platform for a new, collaborative model of citizen and government interaction, taking advantage of the work being done across the country on 311 — that is, constituent request — data. Governments are increasingly adopting a common standard for 311 reporting, Open311, which allows apps built on 311 data anywhere to be used everywhere. By deploying this Open311 standard in Raleigh, Code for America fellows would open up access to the dozens of web and mobile applications empowering citizens to report problems and track their status, as well as enabling government officials to monitor requests and make better decisions.
In particular, the Raleigh project would emphasize citizen participation through online forums allowing for two-way communication between city officials and citizens and civic engagement not just in the reporting of issues, but also their resolution, organizing amongst themselves to take care of their communities. Such a tool will allow the city to better leverage and utilize their resources, and also the resources of our communities and residents.
The Challenge
Raleigh is a finalist for the 2012 Code for America Fellowship, and if selected, it’ll be up to a team of CfA Fellows to take on this challenge. In less than a year, they’ll need to work with the city and our local partners to go from concept to delivery — with everything from research and marketing to development and testing. Up for the challenge? We’re now accepting applications.
