Mayor Bruce Harrell announced the expansion Wednesday of CiviForm, a technology platform that helps residents apply to City of Seattle benefit and discount programs with greater ease.
The move was part of an executive order signed by the mayor aimed at affordability in the city and in line with his ongoing “One Seattle” initiative which promotes public and private partnerships. Harrell directed an “Affordable Seattle” team to help more City departments adopt or integrate CiviForm by the end of 2024.
The CiviForm tool was developed by the City of Seattle’s Innovation and Performance team and Seattle Information Technology Department and first piloted in June 2021. The City received pro-bono support from the Google.org Fellowship program, a part of Google’s philanthropic arm that provides technical expertise to help nonprofits and civic entities solve technical challenges.
Smart Cities Connect named CiviForm one the 50 most transformative smart projects of 2023.
The tool works by easing some of the time, computer literacy and language barriers that can create roadblocks for residents seeking to access benefit programs. It allows residents to enter their information once and apply to multiple City programs.
Harrell called CiviForm a “game changer” for Seattle communities by helping those in need save time and money.
“Rooted in Seattle’s spirit of big ideas and support for those in need, we are leveraging innovation and collaboration to make it easier for people to understand what assistance programs they qualify for and then apply in just minutes,” Harrell said.
According to the City, in its first year of piloting with community partners in Seattle, CiviForm reduced time for residents to apply to a City discount program from an average of 30 minutes to five minutes, resulting in time savings of 80%. For qualified households, the total available savings through programs that use CiviForm is up to $23,000 per year, and the City is continuing to add more benefits to the tool with a goal of including over 20 assistance programs by the end of 2024.
Community-based organizations were involved in the development of CiviForm which was designed knowing that case workers at such organizations often apply for programs on behalf of their clients.
Residents can currently apply for the following programs via CiviForm:
- Seattle Parks and Recreation Scholarship Program: Residents can save 50-90% off recreation programs for all ages including aquatics, recreation, preschool and childcare.
- Seattle Preschool Program: Residents can get access to free or discounted preschool for children ages three and four.
- Gold Card: Residents ages 60 and older can save on retail, services, art, entertainment, and tourism, including free passes to the Seattle Aquarium.
- FLASH Card: Residents ages 18-59 with qualifying disabilities can save on retail, services, art, entertainment, and tourism, including free passes to the Seattle Aquarium.
Paco Galanes, leader of Google’s Seattle-area offices, said the company jumped at the opportunity to support the City of Seattle. A pro bono team of 14 full-time Google.org Fellows including product managers, engineers, user experience researchers and designers dedicated nine months to the project.
“This collaboration demonstrates what can happen when the public and private sector come together and use technology as a vehicle to create equitable access to critical resources, for everyone,” Galanes said in a statement.
CiviForm technology has also been adopted by the City of Bloomington, Ind.; the State of Arkansas; and the City of Charlotte, N.C. Exygy, a San Francisco-based social impact tech company, serves as steward of the CiviForm shared open-source software project and is supported through a grant from Google.org.
Last month, Harrell rolled out his “Downtown Activation Plan,” providing more details on a series of initiatives aimed at helping the city’s urban core bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.
