By Tom McClimon
May 12, 2003

At an awards ceremony held May 8 in Washington (DC), Chicago's 311 System was one of five programs selected for this year's Innovations in American Government Awards sponsored by the Ford Foundation and Harvard University. Chicago was the only local government winner among the 5 honorees.

Chicago's 311 System handles telephone requests, 24/7, from Chicago's citizens for city services and information about city events and programs. The program eliminates several smaller call centers and combines one easy-to-remember number and a staff of highly trained, multilingual operators with high-powered, enterprise-wide software that automatically channels service requests to the correct department.

Other city government finalists were San Diego's Public Contract Operations "Bid to Goal" to improve the efficiency of its water and waste-water treatment facilities; Tempe's Care 7-Crisis Services that provides mental health emergency services to crime and trauma victims; Knoxville's Public Safety Collaborative which is a partnership between the city's correction, law enforcement, and social services agencies; New York City's Citywide Geographic Information Systems Utility which integrates city data and geographic tools to improve public services and operations; and Fresno's Oso de Oro Lake Park which provides physically challenged children total access to a many-featured park.

In addition to Chicago's 311 System, the other award winners were: State of Vermont Energy Efficiency Utility which provide energy efficiency services by an independent utility to residents of the state; New York State's La Bodega de la Familia which is a support center that provides a wide range of services for families of drug offenders; Ohio's Center for Education which provides education services and programs to residents in the Appalachia area; and FirstGov.gov which is the federal government's official web portal and connects citizens to more than 180 million pages of web based information and services.