Information and Technology Services: CiviForm Partnership with Google.org

The Challenge:

 

Signing up for critical government services often requires reentering the same information on each application. Research shows that the need to repeatedly navigate complex requirements and re-enter sensitive personal information can feel dehumanizing. Moreover, people seeking to help residents apply for programs, such as local administrators or community-based organizations, must spend valuable time and resources to work through duplicative data.

In times of crisis, these problems can be particularly acute (e.g. during a public health emergency like COVID-19).

The City of Bloomington is always looking for ways to improve the process of residents accessing important city services. According to residents, the City Parks and Recreation Department, and the City Information and Technology Services (ITS) Department, the application process for public benefit programs such as the Parks Foundation Youth Scholarship Program and the ITS Computer Surplus Request process could use improvement. Many residents have limited awareness of these City programs and face complicated enrollment processes in order to apply. The City of Bloomington needed a tool that would not only improve the user experience, but also build upon a goal of providing sustainable, resilient, and equitable economic opportunity for all City residents. 

The City of Bloomington needed a tool that would help residents navigate important services quicker, easier, and by using less paper. This process improvement not only lowers the barriers to accessing city services, but improves city governance with no additional cost to taxpayers. 

In order to address this issue... the City of Bloomington partnered with Google (yes, THAT Google!) to roll out CiviForm!

 

The Idea:

The City’s ITS Director, Rick Dietz, became aware of an opportunity that Google was offering to city governments. The opportunity was to explore and pilot the use of Google’s CiviForm application and host Google Fellows for six months at zero cost to the municipality. In exchange for the obvious benefit to Bloomington, the Google Fellows would collect information that will help Google continue to iterate and improve the application. 

 

CiviForm will simplify and centralize online applications for City assistance programs and help  Bloomington to accomplish the following goals:

• Provide an easy-to-use way for residents to apply for city programs
• Improve internal City review and information publishing processes
• Enable collecting applications from residents and intermediaries without paper or paper-equivalent forms (e.g. fillable Word or PDF files)

 

Fellows will collaborate across City Departments to deploy CiviForm to enable low-income residents to enter their information ONCE to apply to many programs securely and efficiently. 

 

“Google and the City of Bloomington share a commitment to creating opportunity for everyone,” said Rob Biederman, Director of External Affairs for Google. “By bringing together the best of Google’s tech expertise with the City’s knowledge of the community’s needs, we hope to simplify the benefits application process for Bloomington residents.” 

 

The Costs:

A team of 12 Google employees will work full-time with the City of Bloomington for six months as part of a Google.org Fellowship,  providing pro bono technical expertise to nonprofits and civic entities. After the Fellowship ends, City staff can continue using CiviForm further to improve online access to other City services. The only cost to the City of Bloomington is the time spent by City employees in describing the current application process and barriers experienced by residents. 

 

The Benefits

CiviForm will be a no-cost initiative to help residents better use citywide tools, services, and programs. The tool will modernize, simplify, and centralize online applications for easy access to enrollment applications for government assistance. Each resident will benefit from a quicker, simpler, and hassle-free online tool for essential city services. 

Google does not have access to applicant data in CiviForm. It was built as a low-code solution for government employees to respond to the needs of their community without needing technical expertise. Thanks, Google!

 

Metadata

Department(s): ITS, Office of the Mayor, Parks and Recreation

Department Point(s) of Contact: 

Rick Dietz, Director dietzr@bloomington.in.gov; 

Greg Overtoom, Assistant Director for Enterprise Applications greg.overtoom@bloomington.in.gov; 

Seth Tierney, Systems Administrator tierneys@bloomington.in.gov 

Cliff Ingham, Applications Infrastructure Analyst, inghamn@bloomington.in.gov

Desiree King, Office Manager desiree.king@bloomington.in.gov

Devta Kidd, Director of Innovation kiddd@bloomington.in.gov

Michelle Waldon, Finance Manager waldonm@bloomington.in.gov

Edie Henderson, Customer Relations Representative henderse@bloomington.in.gov

Holly McLauchlin, Communications Manager mclauchh@bloomington.in.gov

Kim Clapp, Office Manager, Parks and Recreation clappk@bloomington.in.gov

Partner(s) and Partner Point(s) of Contact

GOOGLE.ORG TEAM

Google.org Fellows:

Program Manager (PgM)/Technical Program Manager (TPgM): Dave Moerlein

Product Manager: Cassandra Fernandes, Kristin Yim, Gloria Liou

Product Marketing Manager: Robert Conners (50%)

User Exp. Designer: Raha Ghassemi

User Exp. Researcher: Jessica Borland

Software Engineers: Susan Goldblatt (TL), Kiana McNellis, Leyla Azizova, Brett Clouser, Jeannie Fu

Google.org:

Google.org Program Lead: Erin Hattersley

Google.org Tech Lead: Rasmi Elasmar

Google.org Program Manager: Sophia Tareen

Google.org Works Product Manager: Adam Herscher

Google.org Works Eng Manager: Ivan Rodriguez

Google.org Works Engineers: Bion Johnson, Shane McDaniel

 

Type of Innovation: Digital Tool

 

Date implemented: June 2022