We're building an easier way for residents to make their voices heard and for DC Government to listen. Government decision-makers ask questions formatted as short surveys and residents - like you - from across DC answer them. This was also our big idea for the Bloomberg Mayors Challenge that earned us a semi-finalist award.
This is a tool to gather opinions from residents about their experiences and priorities. The purpose of SpeakUp is to spark conversations between government and residents, starting with a quick survey or poll. People in DC Government then uses the results of SpeakUp to make decisions, communicate with residents, and drive change. These results are shared transparently so that residents can see how their feedback has influenced decisions and the city.
Government decision makers want public input on a policy or plan, so they do a quick, easy survey of a representative group of residents online, by phone, mail, kiosk, etc.
Empowered with a convenient way to engage, more residents give their feedback and opinions on issues that matter to them.
Results are transparently presented and discussed, in turn informing decision making.
The process of collecting and using resident feedback becomes a regular practice for DC Government.
Every day, DC Government makes decisions that affect how you and other residents experience life in DC. Every resident of DC deserves a voice in these decisions. We aim to collect inclusive, representative feedback so that city decision-makers can be better informed about the residents affected by their decisions.
DC Government would like to bring residents into decision making, including the SpeakUp process and tools. The public has already played a role in shaping SpeakUp through our work at the 2018 InnoMAYtion hackathon and our public naming campaign. This site is created as a prototype using a Test and Learn process. Prototypes are created as an inexpensive way to introduce learning from users into the process of design. By raising the importance of users, we create a better product. However, this means that some less important parts of the site aren't fully built or tested.
It's important for you to know that all of the surveys are real. Your responses will be used to make decisions, and we plan to show you exactly how your input mattered by sharing the results publicly as quickly as possible. In addition, we are using a mature, industry-leading survey tool. What we are testing is how we can best capture and represent resident perspectives through this site and other SpeakUp approaches.
In November 2018, we learned that our proposal to Bloomberg Philanthropies to further develop SpeakUp DC was not awarded. Please bear with us these next few months as we recalibrate our plans for the program.
