On Thursday, November 14, Macon-Bibb County’s IT Department, Planning & Zoning, and NewTown Macon will participate in the fourth annual The Opportunity Project for Cities (TOPC) Demo Day, which is hosted by The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University and the Centre for Public Impact. 

The demonstration will be hosted live in the Planning & Zoning Board Room in the Macon Mall. County Manager Dr. Keith Moffett and representatives from partner agencies will be on hand beginning at 2:00 p.m. for media interviews and to discuss Macon-Bibb’s participation. The Macon-Bibb team will present nationally about 2:30 p.m. 

“We want Macon-Bibb to be as business friendly as possible, and that meant bringing together a team from multiple agencies and departments to streamline the licensing and permitting process…and making it easier to understand,” says Dr. Moffett. “They all tackled the problem early on, and with the support of our national partners, are preparing to launch an amazing new resource.” 

The fourth cohort of TOPC partnered local governments and community organizations with pro bono support from technologists at Google.org to design new digital tools that address resident challenges, powered by local data. Click here to read full details of Macon-Bibb’s participation. 

“We actually began this process in the third cohort by looking at how our partners interacted with each other and creating internal process solutions,” says Barbara Marlin, Macon-Bibb County GIS Manager. “With the internal process streamlined, we were ready to begin working on how the public accesses these services, and we know this will help businesses both large and small.” 

This year’s Demo Day features local governments and community organizations from Akron, OH; Macon-Bibb County, GA; Miami-Dade County, FL; and Ramsey County/Saint. Paul, MN as they showcase the digital tools they are developing, powered by open data, to address pressing community challenges. TOPC is supported by the Knight Foundation, with pro bono support from technologists provided by Google.org.

Demo Day provides a unique opportunity to see these developing solutions and hear about the learnings gained through a 20-week design cycle, during which governments, technologists, and community leaders have collaborated to co-create products that address residents’ most critical needs.