Baton Rouge, La. – November 10, 2022 – Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced today the Center for Digital Government has named Baton Rouge a Top 10 Digital City for the eighth consecutive year.
This year, Baton Rouge ranks third among mid-sized cities, which highlights the City-Parish’s investments in numerous initiatives to improve internal efficiencies, modernize key systems, engage East Baton Rouge Parish residents in areas related to data and technology, and deliver more effective services.
“Since day one of my administration, we have been committed to leveraging technology and digital resources to enhance how we efficiently and effectively serve our community. Since then, our team has worked diligently to integrate innovative technology across our departments to expand the services we offer our residents,” said Mayor Broome. “Baton Rouge’s continued standing as a Top 10 Digital City is a testament to the progress we have made, while serving as a reminder of the value in our efforts. I am immensely proud of our City-Parish government, and I look forward to building on this success in delivering a stronger digital foundation for our future in East Baton Rouge Parish.”
Each year, the Center for Digital Government — a national research and advisory institute on IT policies and best practices in state and local government — conducts the Digital Cities Survey to inform its digital city rankings. This comprehensive survey is distributed to all U.S. cities, towns, villages, and consolidated city-county governments.
The Top 10 Digital City rankings recognize a distinguished group of cities that have implemented best practices for public-sector IT organizations to improve their digital, citizen, and government experiences. In 2022, Baton Rouge is ranked alongside fellow leading digital cities, including Bellevue, Washington, and Alexandria, Virginia.
Over the past year, the City-Parish has allocated millions of dollars in one-time federal funding to enhance cybersecurity technology, software, and infrastructure; improve its cybersecurity operations; and strengthen the City-Parish's email security system. In addition to its investments in cybersecurity, the City-Parish has leveraged its expansive data repository available through the award-winning Open Data BR platform to inform drainage maintenance work, public safety initiatives, and upcoming capital projects throughout East Baton Rouge Parish. The City-Parish has also invested in a unified communications system, which has consolidated 40+ disparate phone systems to maximize efficiency within its phone system and has already seen reduced operational cost while improving internal collaboration and communication.
Additionally, the City-Parish launched and expanded its Citizen Data Academy: On Demand, an award-winning video series designed to help empower residents with the tools and information to navigate and use the City-Parish’s extensive open data and analytics resources.
The City-Parish and all of this year’s honorees will be recognized Nov. 17 at an awards reception in Kansas City, Missouri. For more information on the 2022 Digital City awards and other honorees, visit: https://www.govtech.com/dc/digital-cities/digital-cities-survey-2022-winners-announced and for Baton Rouge’s population category, https://www.govtech.com/dc/digital-cities-2022-125-000-to-249-999-population-category