2013 Partner: South Bend, IN[BETA]

“The City of South Bend has made a concerted effort to become a more innovative and technologically creative city. Good government starts with being a smarter and more efficient operation. As a Code for America 2013 city partner, we are putting South Bend in high gear as we strive to better serve the people of our community.” — Mayor Pete Buttigieg

In South Bend, economic development decisions are often made on limited information or a “just trust us” basis with developers.  Policymakers struggle to understand and communicate the basis for decisions, and citizens sense a lack of transparency around economic development decision-making.  The Code for America project will focus on creating a simulator tied to GIS systems to capture property and tax data on city parcels to help better inform policy and project decision-making, estimate the future outcomes of decisions, and communicate decisions and their implications to the public.

Goal: new GIS tool for economic development decision-making

Key Outcomes:

• increased data driven decision-making for economic development projects
• improved ability to anticipate the investment return and growth impact related to economic development decisions.
• increased citizen engagement and participation in economic development decisions
• cultural shifts in government that result in increased emphasis on strategic and innovative technology use internally

• creation of CIO position/function

Lead Agency:  Mayor’s Office

Primary City Contacts:  Kathryn Roos (Deputy Chief of Staff), Matt Sikora (Director of Special Projects, Mayor’s Office), Kris Priemer

Core Partners: City Controller, lead community Economic Development organizations