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Pushing local government’s digital services to the next level

When it comes to digital services, innovation at the local level has not kept pace with the private sector, exposing a wide gap between the seamless user experiences people now expect on their smartphones and the clunky ways they often still interact with government. Raising local governments' ambitions in this area is the focus of a new Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative with the capital cities of Europe. By accelerating digital innovation, these cities will identify emerging best practices that cities around the world can benefit from.
 

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MEET SUSAN SCHROCK

Title: Communications Coordinator
City: Arlington, Texas

As a reporter for the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Susan Schrock covered Arlington city government for 13 years. That’s still her beat—but now she’s working on the City Hall side of things as part of a nine-person communications team that is using storytelling to engage residents in new ways. At budget time, for example, Schrock and her colleagues wanted to make it easier for residents to understand where their tax dollars are going. Using a combination of social media-friendly infographics, explainer videos on Facebook Live, and an impressively viral YouTube video, they reached more people (478,000) than Arlington has residents (390,000). Schrock is especially excited about telling stories with city data, deploying weekly “Data in Action” infographics to break down numbers on water usage, library visits, ridesharing, and more. They help show how the city is using data to drive decision-making, she said, and also demonstrate the city’s commitment to transparency. These efforts contributed toward Arlington earning What Works Cities Certification in April—as well as today’s announcement that Arlington’s Office of Communication has won Results for America’s first-ever Sharman Stein Award for Storytelling Changemakers. “We’re trying to give our residents and businesses an idea of what’s happening here,” Schrock said, “so that they know how their tax dollars are being spent and they know what services are available to them.”

Pro tip:Loop in your communications person when you’ve had a breakthrough, so they can help you shine.

WHAT WE’RE READING

HOUSING: How cities like Charleston, S.C., Houston, and New Orleans are testing solutions such as land trusts, rent control, and inclusionary zoning to address the affordable housing crisis. (The Post and Courier)

TECHNOLOGY: From New York City to Spokane, Wash., here are five approaches cities are taking to grapple with ethical questions related to the use of algorithms in local government. (Muckrock)

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Participatory budgeting is giving residents direct control over how some of their tax dollars are spent in Boston, Seattle, and cities around the world. (Axios)

ENVIRONMENT: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranked 75 large U.S. cities on clean energy policies. Here’s the top ten. (Forbes)

NETWORK NEWS

JOB POSTING: Harvard University is hiring a Senior Communications Manager to work on the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Cities of Service is recruiting AmeriCorps VISTA members to serve for one year in 20+ city halls across the United States.

SURVEY: Help us by taking part in the Public Entrepreneur Skills Survey documenting the innovative tools and approaches civil servants are using to solve problems around the world. It takes only 10 minutes and we’ll share the results in a future edition of Spark!

Contact us to share events and job postings with the Bloomberg Cities network.

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Bloomberg Philanthropies


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