Local governments have increased trust by 56% through community engagement and more participatory, inclusive, and responsive decision-making.

NEW YORK, NY, USA, February 1, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The pandemic challenged local governments of all sizes to navigate continued economic and social hardships, but some found a new way forward: digital community engagement with CitizenLab. In 2021 alone, local governments launched over 2,000 projects on their CitizenLab platforms and have seen a 12x increase in resident engagement.

As more local governments renew their community engagement strategies and begin to tap into the benefits of digital engagement, we’ll see:

+ More participatory decision-making. With a higher quality of input and processes as well as shifts in traditional power dynamics, community engagement will help more people engage and more officials listen. In 2021, governments working with CitizenLab saw 88% of their teams engage more often with their communities, and residents who engaged reported 56% higher trust in local government.

+ More inclusive decision-making. With both higher levels of engagement and more representative participation across projects, digital community engagement leads to 51% more participation on average and helps governments reach more young people, with 60% of CitizenLab platform participants under the age of 45.

+ More responsive decision-making. With better feedback after participation, government officials spend 55% less time on analysis and reporting when they use CitizenLab’s platform and more than 50% of their community’s input receives feedback within 3 months.

In the City of Lancaster, PA the local government’s CitizenLab platform launched with 13x the participants compared to the “usual suspects” who attend town hall meetings. Today, the Engage Lancaster platform has over 2,000 registered participants contributing input that will shape the future of their community. "The Engage Lancaster platform is an undeniable tool for me as Mayor to get qualitative input from our residents on strategic priorities in order to make adjustments," said Danene Sorace, the Mayor of the City of Lancaster.

About CitizenLab: CitizenLab’s digital community engagement platform helps local governments launch projects using a variety of consultation methods, without having to juggle different tools. More than 300+ local governments across 18 countries have trusted CitizenLab with their community engagement projects. View CitizenLab’s full 2021 impact report here.

Amir Bolouryazad
CitizenLab
+1 424-276-1789
amir@citizenlab.co
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