As part of its continuing commitment to transparency and to keeping customers informed on all aspects of operations, in 2023, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) unveiled an improved, expanded and interactive tool to track the agency's performance. The new Performance Metrics dashboard, updated monthly, measures multiple areas of performance, from ridership numbers to operator headcount, elevator and escalator up-time and availability of bus and rail fleet for service. The dashboard provides a 13-month history to look at historical performance and customize information to user preferences. This dashboard is a collective agency effort building on "Meeting the Moment" action plan from 2022, and it is primarily maintained and updated by CTA's Performance Management team.     

In 2023, the City added a data dashboard to the Digital Equity Coalition website showing Chicago's broadband connectivity. This dashboard displays U.S. Census data on a map of Chicago's 77 Community Areas. Community members can click on their Community Area to view data points such as percent of households with internet at home. The dashboard was created together by the Office of the Mayor, Department of Assets, Information and Services, University of Chicago Internet Equity Initiative, and Kids First Chicago Data Science and Research Department.

In 2023, the City launched a first-of-its-kind transparency website to enhance residents' ability to track the progress and impact of the Chicago Recovery Plan (CRP) and centralize data access and visualization across a wide array of programs and departments. The CRP is the City’s plan to amplify once-in-a-generation federal funding to create an equity-based investment strategy to catalyze a sustainable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This $1.2 billion dollar investment funds dozens of programs across city departments covering 13 key priority areas ranging from affordable housing and community development to public health and violence prevention. The website was created by DataMade and the Office of the Mayor with data from program managers across City departments.

In 2023, the City released a refresh of the CHI311 mobile app. Now residents, visitors, and businesses can access programs and services outside of 311 such as paying bills/fines, free museum days, building permits, and more. The app includes a City News Feed as well as app alerts to display timely information based on external factors like current weather conditions. The upgrade also features more accurate completion times for service requests, push notifications, and automated translation within a more user-friendly interface to make it easier to engage with the City. The update was done together by the Office of the Mayor, Department of Assets, Information and Services, Office of Emergency Management and Communications, and Catalyst.

In 2022, the City launched the Chicago Digital Equity Council (DEC), a cross-sector, community-driven effort to understand and tackle the nuanced barriers to digital equity and close Chicago's digital divide once and for all. The DEC was led by a group of community leaders, community-based organizations, government entities, and digital equity subject matter experts. Since launching, the DEC published a Digital Equity Plan for the City, and is convening partners citywide through a Digital Equity Coalition to implement recommendations. Click on the image to stay up to date on Chicago’s progress in closing the digital divide, access resources, and connect with the Coalition.

In 2022, the City announced two thousand vacant City lots available for purchase and redevelopment by private buyers through a new land sale portal. The “ChiBlockBuilder” online portal includes an interactive map of available properties, pricing information, and a digital submission process that will foster infill development and open space projects within local neighborhoods with the goal of putting vacant land to productive use in a community-driven way. Created together by the Office of the Mayor, Department of Planning and Development, and DataMade.

In 2022, Together We Heal and The Folded Map Project partnered to create a custom designed Action Kit to align with the Year of Healing. The goal is to help Chicagoans understand how segregation maintains and continually (re)builds racial inequities. We invite all Chicagoans to join us on the journey towards racial healing and transformation. The Folded Map Action Kit, Together We Heal Edition was created by the Office of Equity and Racial Justice, the Folded Map Project, Englewood Arts Collective, and ESRI.

In 2021, City Leaders announced ‘Un[ ]spoken’, a citywide campaign to combat the negative stigma surrounding mental health and increase awareness of the publicly funded resources that have significantly expanded under the Lightfoot administration and her Framework for Mental Health Equity. The campaign includes a website with a resource finder that makes finding help easier and more accessible. Residents can use an interactive map or enter a location to find a care center nearby. The resource finder was created together by the Department of Public Health and Edelman.

In 2021, the Mayor's Office launched the My Chi. My Future. Mobile App to connect teens and young people to a variety of rich, engaging, safe, and youth-centered out-of-school experiences and ensure all Chicago youth have a meaningful plan for the summer. This includes online and remote activities as well in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. MCMF has come to fruition through the combined efforts of government, community, academic, philanthropic, and corporate input including the Office of the Mayor, Department of Family and Support Services, EX3 Labs, and Northwestern University’s Office of Community Education Partnerships.

The My CHI. My Future. Data Working Group brings city and community representatives together to share and leverage youth and program data, break down data barriers with increased collaboration, plan and deliver data-driven projects to connect all youth in Chicago to out-of-school programs, and provide greater access, participation, and equity in the youth program search and connection process to empower youth to build their futures. Members of the data working group include the Mayor’s Office, DFSS, CPS, Park District, Chicago Public Library, City Colleges, CHA, and After School Matters

The launch of this site in 2021 was the first time the public could submit and track requests for public records (FOIA) to any city department from a single website. Created together by the Office of the Mayor, Department of Assets, Information and Services, Chicago Police Department, and GovQA.

The Mayor's Office Violence Reduction Dashboard, launched in 2021, shares real-time data on violence trends in Chicago and its inequitable impact across the city, as well as critical information about the City’s community-centered and trauma-informed response. This public dashboard supports the first-ever Chicago open data project with the primary goal of supporting community-based violence reduction partners in their efforts. Created together by the Office of the Mayor, University of Chicago Crime Lab, and the Department of Assets, Information and Services.

Launched in June 2020, Chicago Connected is a first-of-its-kind broadband program which provides no-cost internet to qualifying Chicago Public Schools (CPS) families for four years. It is a partnership between the City, CPS, Kids First Chicago, 10 philanthropic donors, and more than 20 community partners. In 2021, the program expanded to City Colleges of Chicago. In its first two years, the program connected more than 60,000 unique households, equivalent to 100,000 students. Click on the image to check your eligibility or to learn more about the program.

Launched in 2020, this site marks the first time the City published employee demographics measured against the resident population and easily broken down by race, age, gender, management, union, salary, and employee residence. Created together by the Office of Equity and Racial Justice, Bloomberg LP, Chicago's Chief Data Officer, Department of Human Resources, and Department of Assets, Information and Services.

In 2020, the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice launched “Together We Heal”, a campaign aimed at building racial healing across Chicago. Born in part from COVID restrictions, the Office recognized a need for a digital space and decided that an interactive healing map that spotlights community work on racial equity would be an important way for the city to elevate other voices and literally “put them on the map”. It was created together by the Office of the Mayor, Department of Assets, Information, and Services, and ESRI. 

Launched in 2020 early in the pandemic, the COVID dashboard was built upon an automated, open data infrastructure that joined data from labs across the local healthcare ecosystem. Created together by Chicago's Racial Equity Rapid Response Team, Office of Equity and Racial Justice, West Side United, Department of Public Health, Slalom, Chicago's Chief Data Officer, and Department of Assets, Information and Services. 

Upon Chicago’s COVID shutdown, the team immediately created a digital resource to help residents connect with personalized guidance on dealing with COVID infections, at a time when tests and treatment were reserved for severe cases. Created together by the Department of Public Health, Office of the Mayor, MTX and Google.

Over 300 datasets have been updated over the past 3 years on the city's data portal. When many businesses were closed in the summer of 2020, the data portal was used to give residents an updated list of open grocery stores and pharmacies for access to food and medication. In 2021, new datasets were added focusing on the victims of violent crimes and their demographics to meet the call to treat violence as a public health crisis. Chicago's Open Data website is a joint effort of the Department of Assets, Information and Services, Office of the Mayor, and all city agencies.

In 2019, the City introduced data collection requirements that set a new standard for evaluating the operations of Uber and Lyft. Cities from all over the United States have since studied Chicago's ridehail data standard, and the accompanying public dataset is routinely used by academics to study urban mobility patterns. Created together by the Office of the Mayor, Department of Assets, Information and Services, and Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.

In 2019, the City used 5 years' worth of data on Uber, Lyft and Via trips to understand congestion patterns on Chicago streets. The study revealed, among other things, that the companies were primarily directing drivers to occupy the most congested streets of the city. The study resulted in a new dynamic congestion pricing ordinance that incentivized shared trips outside the downtown core and at off-peak hours. Created together by the Office of the Mayor, Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, and Department of Assets, Information and Services.