Public Technology Institute (PTI) recently announced that Franklin County and the Franklin County Data Center (FCDC) were awarded with Significant Achievement in web services, e-government, and mobile applications. The award salutes the county’s innovations with Microsoft Dynamics 365 to create tailored, data-driven assistance for boys and young men of color. This award marks the second time in two years that the agencies have received national recognition for their technological innovations.
The winning application was created by FCDC for the Family Stabilization Unit within the Franklin County Department of Job and Family Services (FCDJFS), which specializes in providing services for justice-involved youth and young men of color to help them gain independence and reduce recidivism. The important work of FCDJFS’s Family Stabilization Unit was also recently recognized by the National Association of Counties (NACo) with its 2021 Achievement Award in the category of Human Services.
County Administrator Kenneth N. Wilson said this application and the FCDJFS unit are part of larger county efforts aimed at providing the most beneficial and cost-effective services for all residents.
“The commissioners are focused on providing services for all residents that can be really transformational. These programs are also then managed and tweaked based on documented, data-driven evidence,“ Wilson said. “This allows us to zone in on what neighborhoods need in a cost-effective way that is also proven to be successful.”
The Data Center is overseen by Franklin County Auditor Michael Stinziano, who serves as the Secretary of the Franklin County Automatic Data Processing Board. “I commend the Data Center for its continued use of innovative technology to benefit the agencies, residents and businesses of Franklin County,” Stinziano said. “We are using 21st century solutions that help make our community the very best place to live and work.”
Much of the day-to-day work for this project was led by Adam Frumkin, Chief Information Officer for the Franklin County Data Center; Juan Torres, Chief Information Officer for the Franklin County Board of Commissioners and Joy Bivens, a Deputy Director for the Franklin County Commissioners and Director of Franklin County Job and Family Services.
“The Data Center is honored to receive this recognition from the Public Technology Institute/CompTIA and is proud to lead the effort to transform the technology of the county,” Frumkin said. “These awards reflect our ongoing commitment to leveraging the power of technology for the benefit of Franklin County’s residents and businesses.”
Franklin County also won three technology awards in 2020 from PTI. The awards were for customer service for assisting 4,500 employees in 40 different agencies when the pandemic hit and remote work capacity was needed for thousands almost instantly; data analytics for the transition of legacy systems into user-friendly systems that could be shared by multiple offices and provide data for analysis; and cyber security for integration allowing various programs to identify users in different ways while still being easy for the user and maintaining cyber security.
More information about the awards or PTI can be found at www.pti.org. Additional information about NACo is available at https://www.naco.org.