isabella232 / values

Code for America's work is driven by a vision of cities that truly work for the people, by the people, in the 21st century.

After working with nearly a hundred local governments and their communities, we're seeing patterns in those that can effectively serve their community and rise to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

####We believe effective governments:

1. Design for (and with) people: Create easy, convenient, and effective access to public services and information tailored to resident’s needs, comprehension, and literacy.

2. Listen to the community: Actively seek participation from all residents in decisions that affect them (regardless of language spoken, technical ability, or geographic location) and explain how that input informed decision-making.

3. Collaborate with others: Draw on the knowledge, skills, and experiences of residents, community groups, and other governing bodies to enhance existing capabilities of government.

4. Default to open: Drive transparency, accountability, and community engagement by making public data open and easily accessible.

5. Use good data for better decisions: Leverage data to drive insight and improvements into the way government processes and services work.

6. Strive for progress: Challenge and reform policies and practices that are outdated, inefficient, and compromise opportunities for innovation and empower public employees to try new approaches to improve service delivery and quality of life for residents.

####We believe effective residents:

1. Get involved: Are active and engaged in civic life, share opinions, and take responsibility for improving the community.

2. Collaborate with government: Share time, expertise, and skills with government to build a better community together.

3. Support innovation: Demand ongoing assessment, improvement, and new approaches to problem solving and service delivery, while recognizing that not all new solutions will succeed the first time.

4. Are neighborly: Give each other the benefit of the doubt and act as part of a larger community, considering diverse viewpoints to ensure productive conversations and inclusive decision-making with one another and with government.

This is our current thinking which we will continue to evolve as we learn and grow. We invite feedback from each of you on these values to help us refine and focus our collective work.