Our Team
Providing one public engagement platform to educate, involve, and collaborate.
OUR STORY
PublicInput was co-founded by Jay Dawkins and Graham Stone, who came together over the shortcomings that exist in the civic engagement efforts, but are essential to successful planning projects. Both having experience in the municipal planning field, they strongly believe that communities across the country are best built on the needs and wants of the people who live there, and that public agencies make the best decisions when armed with the greatest understanding of the people they serve. Yet when the traditional public engagement process is used, the needs of busy, average people go unheard. PublicInput was started with the goal of giving the average citizen a voice, on their schedule.
Jay recently shared with GrepBeat, “We believe that the next evolution of democracy is more collaborative and built upon consistent, two-way communication as opposed to showing up once every two years and checking the box. Ultimately, every participant in the process has value and information to contribute to decision-making. Our job as a technology is to make sure that that value and information can be transferred between people and government.”
PublicInput is Now Working in 37 states
MISSION AND VALUES
PublicInput believes that collaborative democracy succeeds through technology. We help local government agencies succeed with improving their public engagement when we keep our core values at the center of our work.
Respects All People
This is the cost of admission if we want a shot at relationships and listening.
Thinks Critically
We pride ourselves on thinking on our feet and solving problems from multiple angles. We treat systems, processes, and rules as things here to serve us – not replacements for clear thinking.
Relationships First
When we’re faced with an obstacle, we instinctively turn first to the relationships who we trust can help us understand and overcome it.
Listens Obsessively
We “obsess” over listening because it almost always results in better decision making over blind hubris. While it may mean saying “no”, we embrace listening as a core element of our work.
Tests and Iterates
When doing something new, we prioritize getting a viable approach into the world ASAP. This lets us to ‘listen’ to behavior, engage more minds, and puts evolution on our side.
Loves to Learn
Each day presents an opportunity to gain new perspectives and apply those experiences to our own challenges. The hardest part isn’t answering the questions, but asking them.
CAREERS
Join Our Team
PublicInput is a mission-driven startup transforming the way government agencies interact with their residents. Our belief is that collaborative democracy succeeds through technology. We work to ensure government agencies can build lasting relationships with the communities they serve and help facilitate equitable participation and representative decision making.
We’re a team of planners, engineers, communicators, geeks, and artists focused on building a better interface between people and government. We are looking for people, like you, to join our team to help further our mission.
