Civil Municipal View Feb2023

75 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2 rates and/or programs. “It’s certainly encouraging people to connect for further opportunities,” Mitchell shares. From an equity perspective, San Jose is trying to make services friendlier and more accessible, for business and community support entities. To that end, the city announced last summer its new Equity Through Data and Privacy program, which uses government data and analytics to improve both equity and accountability in the way that the city serves its residents. From using data to transform processes to understand gaps and opportunities in broadband expansion and equitable transit, the program—a joint effort between the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation, the Office of Racial Equity, and the Information Technology Department—will also work to enhance digital privacy using three core tenets: transparency, community engagement, and community impact. “We’ve created an Equity Atlas to understand which areas are underdeveloped, underserved, or have language barriers,” shares Khaled Tawfik, Director of Information Technology. “We want to ensure that Hispanic and Vietnamese communities understand our services. We’ve also done a pilot of installing cameras to detect and deter crimes in certain areas. The cameras help preserve the peace, but privacy is still front and center.” They’re also providing free wifi in neighborhoods where it’s needed, either for lack of connectivity or economic resources. “We have strategic locations closer to some of the schools that we’re targeting so that these connections SAN JOSE , CAL I FORNI A