The awards recognize the achievements and best practices of states, cities and counties that are radically improving the experience of government and pushing the boundaries of how citizen services are delivered. Top government jurisdictions, agencies and departments were honored during a virtual awards event this week.
“Our state and local government winners this year demonstrated that focusing on the government experience provides a foundation that played a vital role in responding and adapting to the uncertainties and disruptions of 2020,” said Dustin Haisler, chief innovation officer for the Center for Digital Government. “This year’s winners employed innovative methods and technologies to transform their government experiences … .”
The complete breakdown of winners nationwide appears in Government Technology, Techwire’s sister publication.
For Techwire readers, here are the winners from California:
Agencies of California state government were among the winners in two categories. In the category “State Government Experience,” the California State Library won recognition for its California Grants Portal project. And in the subcategory “State Government Experience – COVID-19 Response,” the Department of Motor Vehicles won for its “DMV Modernization During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
In the category “Overall County Government Experience,” Los Angeles County took second place, and San Diego County took third place.
In the counties’ “Project Experience” category, three entries from Los Angeles County won: the “AB210 Countywide Homeless Information Portal (CHIP)”; the “Voting Solutions for All People and Interactive Sample Ballot,” from the county Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office; and the “Metro Bus and Rail Digital Signage Connection” from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The other California county to win in this category was Nevada County for its “Ready Nevada County” initiative.
Among California cities, San Diego took first place in the category “Overall City Government Experience.”
A major website redesign for the city of San Diego in 2016 started with a huge community engagement effort. “We learned that the majority of people who come to our site have an action in mind: pay a bill or report a pothole,” said Ron Vazquez, Web services manager. “So we made sure all the action-oriented services are among the first things you see, such as our Get It Done feature, which spotlights the most common action items on SanDiego.gov.”
The city of Santa Monica was the only other California municipality to win a mention, finishing as a finalist in this category.
In the category “City Government Project Experience” relating to specific projects, Sacramento was among the winners for “Citizen Engagement Modernization.”
And in the special “COVID-19 Response” subcategory for “County Government Experience,” Alameda County won for its COVID-19 chatbot, “CACHe” (County of Alameda Community Helper).
*The Center for Digital Government is part of e.Republic, parent company of Techwire. It is a national research and advisory institute focused on information technology policy and best practices in state and local government. The Center is a division of e.Republic, the nation’s only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government and education. For questions about these awards, contact Janet Grenslitt, Director of Surveys and Awards.
CDG's 2020 Government Experience awards program is underwritten by Adobe, Akamai, Amazon Web Services, Crown Castle, EasyVote Solutions, Google Cloud, Laserfiche, McAfee, Medallia Inc., NIC, Oracle, SHI, Spectrum Enterprise, Tyler Technologies, and Verizon Enterprise Solutions.
