‘Trust is the currency’ in local government, and tech can help build it
John Coletti via Getty Images
By
Chris Teale
Leaders must think about programs and their goals first and then use technology to help them get there, but when done right, it becomes vital help, speakers at a recent conference said.
Polling in recent years has consistently shown a severe lack of trust in the federal government, albeit with much higher levels of trust for local government.
But a greater reliance on technology, especially artificial intelligence, could erode that trust in local government, especially if it is not used transparently and has real-world impacts, like the denial or approval of benefits claims.
Given that, speakers said at the Code for America Summit last week in Washington, D.C., that governments cannot rely just on technology to solve all their problems. Instead, they must work hard to maintain communication and trust with residents, and build programs to help them first that can then be helped by technology, where appropriate.
“Trust is the currency of local government,” Tamika Williams, deputy director of the Memphis, Tennessee, Joint Office of Neighborhood Safety & Engagement, said during a panel discussion. “But that trust has to be earned, and we earn that trust by making sure that our participants are in our conversations.”
In Memphis, building that trust and supplementing it with technology has been crucial for a program that looks to connect what officials on-stage called the city’s “disengaged youth” with job and educational opportunities. That program had previously relied on paper applications, manual data entry into spreadsheets, and contacting young people with phone numbers that were likely to be disconnected. Around 5,000 high school graduates in Memphis every year are unsure of their next steps.
Known as Opportunity R3, the city now has a digital hub in which public agencies, community organizations, employers and young people can register for the four-week program, communicate and receive information. Topics for the program include financial management, job applications, information about educational opportunities, lessons on interacting with law enforcement and more. Technology has helped augment those offerings and make it more streamlined and transparent.
“We knew that there were going to be some uncertainties,” Williams said. “[We] talked a lot about the uncertainty of, would this replace people? Would this replace human connection? Could it really bridge the language barriers we were having with young adults who complete applications and things of that nature, and we learned soon that tech was that answer. It didn't erase the human connection; it strengthened that connection.”
In building the program, Williams said it was important to be open with the community about what they wanted to achieve and ask for feedback about how it could be improved. But that can be tricky, she said, as certain communities in the city feel they have been left behind over generations and don’t trust what might come next. It’s incumbent, then, on the government to not only lead with “goodwill and good intention,” she said, but to prove it with their actions.
“Building a bridge takes a lot of repairs,” Williams said.
Efforts to build trust take many forms. In redesigning its call centers with generative AI to make the process smoother for constituents, New Jersey officials found that navigation menus must be easy to understand and make residents feel like they are not getting lost in a maze of options. Joe DeLaTorre, a project manager at the New Jersey Office of Innovation, said if people feel they must “work around” menus that are too complex “rather than with” them , it can make people feel like their questions will never be answered properly.
Building trust among staff, especially around AI, takes many forms too. Georgia is getting ready to launch its AI Innovation Lab, which has 19 industry partners and will act as a place for state agencies and the private sector to test new use cases to improve state government.
In getting employees on board with AI, Nikhil Deshpande, the state’s chief digital and AI officer, said that while many agencies have a “risk-averse posture,” he has maintained an open dialogue and “roadshow” to get people comfortable with using new technology. This lab should help further build that trust, he said, as it will be a “safe space for them to experiment.”
Terrance Smith, Baltimore’s chief innovation officer, said trust is a key component that cannot be taken for granted as cities design programs and integrate technology.
“Trust is a dynamic to be managed,” he said on stage. “It's not a destination. It is a design tool. It is a requirement for how we operate and how we move things forward, whether you're reimagining a policy or holding a new system or creating a new initiative, trust should be at the very center of today.”