Rome brings innovative civic engagement technology to Georgia
Rome, GA - Polco, an innovative community engagement startup, has recently been brought to Rome, Georgia. Polco allows local officials and leaders in community organizations to post questions directly to residents, giving them a voice in the community decisionmaking process. In return, decision makers receive insightful, reliable data to help inform policy decisions.
Polco is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin and is live in over 20 cities, with planned expansion to over 30 more by the end of the year. They have received awards at the local, state, and national level, and have been featured by the National League of Cities. Rome is Polco’s first stop in the state of Georgia.
Residents can become active users at any time by visiting https:// polco. us/ to create an account.
Polco’s platform is available via web, mobile, email or any place citizens find Polco e- ballot’s online. In addition, Polco is committed to a strict privacy policy where they only share aggregated de- identified results. Participant detailed data and votes are never shared. This service is free to all constituents.
Wendy Davis, a Rome City Commissioner seeking re- election in November, is the first elected official to use Polco’s platform, and the first to use Polco in Georgia. Using Polco, Davis will be able to gather input on all kinds of issues — from roads to recycling to land use to public spending. Davis has posted questions on open container laws, preferred communication channels, favorite local amenities, and has pioneered innovative engagement practices by crowdsourcing topics for a coming survey. Those questions have received a very high level of engagement for early stage use of the platform, and can be found at https:// polco. us/ wendy.
Says Davis, “Please join other interested citizens in weighing in on issues that affect us locally. Your opinion matters, and our community will be enhanced by your engagement.”
About Polco: Polco is a platform designed to increase civic engagement, improve government transparency, and inform municipal governments of constituents’ input which, in turn, will help better guide public policy. Polco provides the tools for municipalities to collect citizens’ views concerning proposed legislation, ordinances, or meeting agenda items. Community responses are validated using the local voter database to verify the responses. Civic engagement is enhanced by using websites, widgets, and apps to meet the citizens where they are. Residents become more active and informed participants in the political process by voicing their views to municipal leaders and other residents. Polco makes voicing opinions accessible, easy, and convenient. For more information about Polco, please visit https:// polco. us/.