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Seattle’s CiviForm tool recognized in 2023 Smart 50 Awards

The City of Seattle’s CiviForm tool was named one the 50 most transformative smart projects of 2023 by Smart Cities Connect. Affordable Seattle is an an online resource to help residents find benefits they may be eligible for in the City of Seattle. CiviForm is an open-source tool that makes… [ Keep reading ]

Black Tech Night: Building Community and Advancing Equity in Seattle’s Technology Hub

The Seattle Office of Economic Development in partnership with F5, Zillow, Google, and the Downtown Seattle Association, hosted the second Black Tech Night on April 13, 2023 in downtown at Inside, a recent graduate of the Seattle Restored program. The Black Tech Night series was created through Mayor Harrell’s One… [ Keep reading ]

Automating fire department EMS data to inform treatment of cardiac arrests

“Innovation & Performance provides a one-stop shop for a growing number of data sources, allowing easy analysis, visualization, and export. We are already seeing the benefits of this system as it reduces manual, repetitive data analysis and provides a window for department leadership into trends and hotspots.” – Jon Ehrenfeld,… [ Keep reading ]

CiviForm: Streamlining Access to Affordable Seattle

“When trying to get help, how frustrating would it be to have to confirm, over and over again, that you’re poor?” Georgetown University master’s students interviewed more than 10 stakeholders about the development and rollout of CiviForm for the City of Seattle. This summary describes how CiviForm can serve as… [ Keep reading ]

Designing Equitable Distribution of the COVID-19 Vaccine

“Seattle has become the first major American city to reach its goal of fully vaccinating 70% of residents 12 and older, helping push Washington toward its overall vaccination and reopening targets.” – Seattle Times, 6/9/2021 The Need The City observed vaccine allocation being rolled out by the Federal and State… [ Keep reading ]

Effectively Planning the City’s Post-pandemic Return to Office

The Need During the COVID-19 pandemic, 40% of the City of Seattle’s workforce was mandated to telework in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus. In June 2021, Seattle reached the milestone of achieving 70% vaccination in our eligible population and WA Governor Jay Inslee began reopening the… [ Keep reading ]

Streamlining access to City affordability programs

The Need While current City benefit programs might not close the affordability gap entirely, they can help to reduce monthly expenses for Seattle residents. Most benefit programs require documentation to prove identify and income to qualify for programs. Some programs share information between them, many do not. In addition, community-based… [ Keep reading ]

Delivering an accessible and customer-friendly COVID-19 testing experience

The Need The Seattle area was the initial U.S. epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the City quickly took steps to isolate and control the virus. Our colleagues in the Seattle Fire Department developed experience conducting COVID-19 tests for first responders and Long-Term Care Facility residents and workers. Around the… [ Keep reading ]

Elevating the voice of Lyft and Uber drivers to shape policy

The Need Seattle has a long history of innovative policy making to support workers across the economic spectrum—from pioneering the $15 minimum wage for all hourly employees, to secure scheduling protections for retail and food service employees, and minimum wage protections for domestic workers. But because Uber and Lyft (referred… [ Keep reading ]

Measuring the City’s performance through residents’ eyes

“Seattle took its commitment to governing with data and evidence one step further by launching Performance Seattle, a new centralized dashboard where residents can see what their City is doing to serve their residents in seven key priority areas…Residents can now keep track of how well the City is meeting… [ Keep reading ]