Open Communities

For Cook County’s policies to be effective, they must be built upon a foundation of good governance. Open Communities focuses on achieving excellence in County operations by prioritizing transparency and accountability, investing in its workforce and continuously improving the effectiveness of services. Open Communities’ work is centered on ensuring that Cook County provides responsive, transparent and accessible services for residents, municipalities, organizations and businesses, attracts and retains a thriving and diverse professional workforce, and responsibly stewards taxpayer dollars through sound and innovative fiscal management practices.

Goal: Ensure Cook County provides responsive, transparent services and develops a thriving, professional workforce that reflects the communities served.

Objective 1:

Improve transparency, accessibility and responsiveness for residents, municipalities, organizations and businesses.

Strategy	Key Projects	Related Strategies	Equity Fund Recommend-ation
1.1) Improve communications with residents, paying special attention to those with unique needs related to disability, language and other barriers.	Equity landscape review Community engagement planning working group Updates to web content to comply with accessibility rules		6.2 Equitable Community Outreach 6.3 Immigrant and Refugee Communities
1.2) Coordinate OUP media messaging, branding and communication, ensuring increased public awareness of initiatives and services across the County and separately elected official offices.	Shared communications materials for property tax reform group New OUP branding
1.3) Improve community engagement by involving community members and stakeholders in an authentic way that centers them in processes and informs planning.	Community engagement planning working group Community compensation policy ARPA sustainability community engagement plan		6.2 Equitable Community Outreach
1.4) Utilize innovative practices to streamline the procurement process to make it more efficient and accessible.	Bonfire and Oracle integration
1.5) Identify and implement best practices to help community-based organizations strengthen capacity and access County funding opportunities.	Starting Block Grants program Readiness and Capacity Building Initiative	Vital 7.4) Provide capacity building assistance to municipalities and non-profits so they can better serve residents.	6.1 Equity in Grantmaking
1.6) Ensure that access to emergency response resources and capabilities are equitably distributed throughout Cook County.	Cook County municipalities preparedness planning	Sustainable 1.1) Address communities’ environmental priorities and identify their assets and vulnerabilities.
1.7) Support digital communications and enhance digital delivery of services for residents in a multi-modal way.	Additional online content Cook County YouTube channel restructuring Cook County Works monthly television show

Objective 2:

Attract, support, and retain a diverse, high-quality workforce to improve the delivery of services to residents by positioning Cook County as an employer of choice.

Strategy	Key Projects	Related Strategies	Equity Fund Recommendation
2.1) Recruit and hire high performing talent that is reflective of the residents we serve.	Hiring fairs BHR marketing initiative
2.2) Increase employee retention by offering professional development, training and opportunities for career progression.	Professional development policy
2.3) Implement a uniform employee evaluation process to promote continuous improvement in support of the County’s culture of equity, engagement and excellence.	Employee performance development platform Employee engagement surveys
2.4) Ensure alignment of organizational design and job functions with the operational needs of Cook County bureaus and departments.	Job architecture and framework project
2.5) Support a healthy workforce by prioritizing employee wellbeing in policies and practices.	Sick and wellness leave for mental health Parental leave policy

Objective 3:

Ensure responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars through sound and innovative fiscal management practices.

Strategy	Key Projects	Related Strategies	Equity Fund Recommendation
3.1) Routinely identify revenue opportunities and areas for cost savings without sacrificing program impact.	Promotional items policy
3.2) Ensure transparency, efficiency and accountability around budget, transactions and financial projections.	Hyperion budget and reporting system upgrade
3.3) Continue rigorous tracking and reporting to ensure compliance with federal, state and local guidelines.	ARPA reporting and data collection refinement
3.4) Continue improvement of grant management policies and procedures.	ARPA grant management system Grant Infrastructure Optimization project Equity in grantmaking best practices implementation		6.1 Equity in Grantmaking
3.5) Leverage County assets and capital investments to balance our financial responsibilities and maximize use.	Warehouse RFP Tririga asset management system Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system for county vehicles

Objective 4:

Ensure security and accountability and demonstrate impact by implementing an infrastructure and culture of data-driven decision making.

Strategy	Key Projects	Related Strategies	Equity Fund Recommendation
4.1) Maintain and grow centralized, secured and integrated data systems.	Data strategy implementation DHRE case management system
4.2) Foster a culture of data literacy, analysis and collaboration.	ARPA-related data literacy training and support
4.3) Implement public-facing communications to share data on an ongoing basis.	Performance management platform implementation and integration to Socrata open data dashboard Annual performance plan redevelopment Medical Examiner mortality dashboard
4.4) Provide staff support and processes for consistent performance metrics and program evaluations.	Departmental operational sessions
4.5) Manage and maintain all the County’s physical technology and data assets to ensure consistent and ready access to all applications and data.	Retire legacy environment applications
4.6) Continue securing the County’s information assets, including protecting sensitive resident data (i.e., court and health information) and the efficacy and integrity of elections.	Data masking in ESS Identity and Access Management (IAM) program Mobile device management (Intune) program

SPOTLIGHT: JOB ARCHITECTURE AND COMPENSATION INITIATIVES

As part of a wider strategy to market Cook County as an employer of choice and retain employees, BHR implemented the OUP job architecture project and compensation changes. It aligned non-union titles to the job market, assigned job families and levels, developed promotional tracks and mapped employees to a new market-aligned non-union salary schedule. The job architecture changes were instituted to improve employee retention by fostering career growth, streamlining job descriptions and enhancing talent engagement, while the compensation changes targeted fairness, transparency and enhanced competitiveness.