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Accela Launches Civic Voice to Help Engage More Citizens in Governing

New Legislative Management Solution Helps Agencies Reimagine Citizen Participation

 

Accela, the leading provider of cloud-based civic engagement solutions for government, announced today the launch of Accela Civic Voice, a new Legislative Management solution designed to help government agencies of all sizes engage citizens online. The cloud-based solution involves citizens in core community decisions, when, where and how they want and lets agencies quickly and easily share information, collect public input and build support to improve project outcomes. Through a rich assortment of features including forums and discussions, dashboards and search capabilities, governments give citizens what they need to voice their opinion on issues that matter most.

Civic Voice allows citizens to engage their local government through a simple website. Constituents can offer feedback on planned and ongoing projects through forums and discussions, quickly find projects and initiatives through online search capabilities and crowdsource ideas by creating, sharing and commenting on both government and citizen-generated ideas.

“The exploding adoption of social media means citizens are talking about their agencies and community projects – and not just at planning or council meetings,” said Daryl Blowes, General Manager, Accela Legislative Management. “With Civic Voice, citizens can easily participate in the decisions that impact them and their communities, when, where and how it is convenient for them. For government it provides a simple way to educate and share information online to build citizen trust while saving time, money and management.”

The cloud-based solution provides governments with the ability to track public opinion and share responses with elected officials through a simple dashboard and apply ZIP code filters to control public participation by residents. And with activity threshold levels and built-in content filter checks, staff can be alerted to topics and projects that are “trending” without having to worry about offensive content. Simple routing capabilities let staff easily direct content to the people responsible for topics or initiatives to ensure timely response and engagement.

Additionally, because Civic Voice is the newest addition to the Legislative Management solution suite on the Accela Civic Platform, government agencies are provided even more ways to engage and involve citizens throughout their governing process. Accela Legislative Management allows governments to easily streamline legislative meetings, from document creation to video presentation, making workflow simple while saving time and money.

Accela Civic Voice offers the following features:

• Forums and discussions where agencies can invite feedback on planned and ongoing projects
• Global, online search of ideas, discussions and comments to find projects and initiatives citizens care most about
• Dashboard functionality to track public opinion and share with elected officials before policy and project decisions are made
• ZIP code filters to control public participation by residents and visitors
• Designated activity threshold levels to alert staff that topics or projects are trending
• Built-in content filter checks for offensive comments
• Routing capabilities to direct content to staff responsible for topics or initiatives

To learn more about Accela Civic Voice, visit Booth #613 at the American Planning Conference or visit: https://www.accela.com/solutions/legislative-management/civic-voice