Transparency at the Local Level

Good news if you live in California, Louisiana, Maryland, Texas, or Wisconsin! Yesterday the Sunlight Foundation and the Participatory Politics Foundation launched OpenGovernment, a tool designed to make local government more accessible and accountable.

OpenGovernment is modeled off of a similar project, OpenCongress, which lets users track bills, votes, and members of Congress.

In blogging about the debut of OpenGovernment, the Sunlight Foundation quoted the executive director of the Participatory Politics Foundation who hopes that this will be a tool to fight "systemic corruption" while also creating "user-friendly interfaces for this baffling and arcane world of legislative data."

Tracking local government is of the utmost importance to all nonprofits. Local government controls money that your organization does or doesn't get in addition to prioritizing your community's issues. By keeping tabs on your state legislature and city government, you can find out who cares about your nonprofit's work and what's (not) being done. This kind of information gives your organization a platform from which to reach out, build relationships, and act.

OpenGovernment plans to expand to other states, but in the meantime take a look!

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Putting History Online

Michigan’s Macomb County is a historian’s dream come true. The county has posted a plethora of information online, including death records, campaign finance reports, and county commissioner minutes dating back to 1924. Now, the county will also be posting its election journals.

Election records from 1998 to the present are already available online, but commissioners approved almost $4,000 for a project that will electronically scan election journals dating back to 1838. The handwritten records from 1838 to 1909 will be indexed by year, and typed records will be text searchable.

The project could be completed by the end of the year, allowing residents, historians, and researchers to learn more about "why certain measures are passed or laws are on the books." Best of all, access is free to the public.

Macomb County is at the forefront of transparent governance, also publicizing its expenditures online, where the public can access reports and records, and "trace the activity of county government spending."

By making this and other information available online, Macomb County is allowing the public to access the things that have effected their lives, whether they happened last year or a century ago. Thanks to Macomb for making information available to residents, and people who just want to learn more!

What kinds of information does your local government make publicly available?

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