The City of Austin’s Downtown Austin Community Court (DACC) and researchers from the University of Texas at Austin (UT) are working together to provide better data to improve services for people experiencing homelessness thanks to a $50,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
The award is funding the initial co-creation and planning for improved data sharing to assist service providers in giving people experiencing homelessness easier access to basic needs like food, clothing, and assistance with public benefits. In early 2023, UT and DACC, along with the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO), the Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center, and other community collaborators, submitted a further grant application which, if awarded, would provide an additional $1 million in funding over one year to develop and pilot increased service provider data sharing and a community dashboard.
“This current grant is the initial phase to co-create a real time public facing dashboard and support data sharing to provide summary information to policymakers and the community, and support the information needs of people experiencing homelessnes,” said Robert Kingham, Interim Court Administrator at the Downtown Austin Community Court. “Additionally, this project will provide us with the tools and data to support analysis that we can use to allocate services and resources more efficiently and effectively, and better inform policymakers and the community. This effort will also improve our outcome reporting, which we can use to advocate for further funding to expand the services that we provide for people experiencing homelessness.”
The project is funded by the Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC), a research and action competition sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Homeland Security. Teams of academic and civic partners competed for awards to support the rapid implementation of community-driven, research-based pilot projects. For CIVIC 2022, 56 teams received Stage 1 planning awards of $50,000 over 6 months.
“This grant opportunity has given us the resources we need to bring the community together to begin collaboratively designing a pilot project that is reflective of our local needs,” said Sherri Greenberg, Assistant Dean for State and Local Government Engagement at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. “By prioritizing equity, user experience for individuals experiencing homelessness, functionality for service providers, and data needs in our community, we have the potential to improve access to services and data sharing capabilities across our homeless services continuum.”
To kick off the collaborative planning process, UT and DACC hosted a co-creation workshop on October 20, 2022, which included key stakeholders from across the community. Participants included individuals with lived experience, service providers, community planning partners, and governmental organizations.
Over the grant period, UT and DACC will continue to bring together community stakeholders and service partners. The goal is to equip service providers and the community with access to better data that can help them to provide timely and tailored wrap-around services.
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Federal Grant Kickstarts Effort to Make It Easier for People Experiencing Homelessness to Get Help
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Spring Festival Season Begins This Week, 3/7/23
Spring Festival Season is back, and the City of Austin is preparing to welcome visitors from around the globe for events happening in the coming weeks, beginning with the iconic SXSW Conference & Festivals that officially kicks off Friday, March 10. City leaders gathered Monday at Butler Park to discuss preparations currently underway for the safety of community members and visitors during Spring Festival Season.
“We are so excited to welcome SXSW – the festival that made Austin famous across the globe – back to our city, along with the thought leaders and trail blazers in education, music, technology, film and television that this iconic conference and festival draws year after year,” Mayor Kirk Watson said. “We live in a special place where ideas that change the world are conceived and launched and where creativity is fostered and flourishes. We are proud of our reputation as an incubator for all of those things and welcome the thousands of folks coming to experience it.”
While visitors who are drawn to Austin by the several festivals and major sporting events scheduled over the spring season add to the vibrancy of the City and bolster the local economy, City leaders recognize they also create added strain on City resources, traffic congestion increases, and potential travel delays. Safety is the City of Austin’s priority, and at the Spring Festival Season Pre-Event Press Conference, representatives from the City and partner agencies shared preparations in place to support the safety of community members and visitors.
“Austin is prepared, and we ask for the patience and partnership of our residents as we navigate the by-product that these wonderful festivals and tremendous events bring with them,” Watson said.
Watch a replay of Monday’s press conference on ATXN.
Austin Transportation Department
Spring Festival Season will be a busy time downtown, and delays should be anticipated from the increased congestion in the area. Expect road closures and detours, and if employees and business owners can telework during this time, they are encouraged to do so.
A map is available with all the street closures. The map also includes important information about parking areas for scooters and shared bicycles, ride-share staging areas and public transit stops. Festival attendees are invited to take advantage of all the mobility options Austin has to offer like biking, walking, taking public transit, or using one of the City’s micromobility options.
If attendees drink at Spring Festival events, it is important that they to plan to get home safe. If they make the responsible choice and leave their parked vehicles overnight, get a safe ride home after drinking, and receive a citation, they may be eligible to get the parking ticket waived. To have their ticket waived, save the receipt from the safe ride home and fill out the online Get Home Safe Ticket Waiver Form.
Austin Police Department
Please drink responsibly and have a plan to get home safely. A no-refusal initiative will begin on March 9 and run evenings and nights through March 19. During that time, additional officers will be staffed for DWI enforcement. This initiative is an effort to enforce DWI laws and keep the public safe by encouraging drivers to make responsible decisions.
With an increase in pedestrians, everyone should ensure they are following traffic signals, signage, and officer instructions. Additional officers will be assisting at some intersections to manage pedestrian traffic.
Human trafficking is always a concern, but especially during large-scale events. For more information about human trafficking, including signs for spotting it and prevention, visit texasattorneygeneral.gov.
Pay attention to your surroundings, especially in crowds. If you see something, say something.
Austin-Travis County EMS
Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) will have multiple dedicated response units and personnel assigned to the downtown area to respond to calls for service and transport patients who require additional care.
The ATCEMS Patient Collection Point will be in operation from Tuesday, March 14 through Saturday, March 18 from 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. each day.
Austin Fire Department
The Austin Fire Department’s (AFD) Special Events division will be working to ensure a safe, secure experience for all by:
- Performing both public assembly (PA) permit and night inspections.
- Teams of night inspectors will be out and about during the entire event, ensuring venues operate safely. The focus will be on inspections for overcrowding as well as general fire- and life-safety issues, including locked/blocked/obstructed exits, and complaint calls.
- AFD is part of the Public Assembly Code Enforcement (PACE) team and will be responding to overcrowding complaints in bars and other public assemblies, reports of unpermitted events, and will investigate complaint calls.
- Performing fire watch in those cases where necessary due to the complexity or size of particular events and/or variances allowed.
While COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Austin-Travis County area are trending downwards, the virus is still present in the community, and it is as important as ever to follow precautions to lower your risk.
- In a time when international travel is high, getting vaccinated will increase protection against COVID-19 variants and sub-variants during the Spring Festival Season.
- Wearing a mask during travel and in crowds will lower the risk of getting COVID-19.
Leave No Trace to protect Austin’s parks, trails, and green spaces. When visiting:
- Respect other visitors.
- Take trash, leftover food, and pet waste with you when you leave Austin’s green spaces.
- Plan ahead.
- Dress for the weather.
- Bring bags for pet waste, scoop the poop, and dispose of bags in designated areas.
- For more information visit AustinTexas.gov/
LeaveNoTrace.
Communication During Spring Festival Season
The City of Austin (@austintexasgov) and Austin Emergency Management (@AustinHSEM) will utilize Twitter to share relevant information using #SpringFestATX.
The Austin Police Department (@Austin_Police), Austin-Travis County EMS (@ATCEMS), and the Austin Fire Department (@austinfiredept; @AustinFireInfo) will also employ their Twitter feeds for time-sensitive public safety notifications.
Community members and visitors should call 9-1-1 in the event of an emergency – where there is an immediate threat to life or property – and Austin 3-1-1 (512-974-2000) to report a non-emergency situation.
Details and updates for Spring Festival Season will be posted on austintexas.gov/
About Austin Center for Events
The Austin Center for Events (ACE) is a collaborative assembly of City of Austin departments and agencies designed to streamline special event permitting on public and private property. ACE is anchored by teams from Austin Public Health, Transportation, Parks, Music, Police, Fire, EMS, Code, Austin Resource Recovery, Development Services, and partner agencies. ACE works closely with event organizers to guide them through the special event permitting process.
Reminder Space Still Available for Spring Break Lifeguard Training, Lifeguard Hiring Event March 8
What: Lifeguard Hiring Event
Who: Aquatic Division, Parks and Recreation Department, City of Austin
When: Wednesday March 8, 4–8 p.m.
Where: Aquatic Office, 2818 San Gabriel St.
Why: Space Still Available for Spring Break Lifeguard Training
Aquatic team is now hiring hundreds of lifeguards at $20 per hour! Lifeguard training and hiring starts at age 15. Most lifeguards get certified during spring break to be ready to work in the summer! Training and uniforms are free.
Potential lifeguards are encouraged to come to this event to complete the job application and hiring paperwork, then register for training. Applicants should bring their photo ID and social security cards.
More information at LifeguardAustin.com.
Monday, March 6, 2023
Austin Municipal Court North Substation Reopens with Expanded Virtual Services
Austin Municipal Court has resumed in-person services at its North Substation location at 12425 Lamplight Village Avenue. After being shut down due to concerns surrounding the pandemic, Municipal Court North Substation is now open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
This location serves as an in-person customer service center; there are currently two service windows available. There is also a computer kiosk available in the lobby where customers may contact the court virtually. Customers may now contest a parking ticket with a Civil Hearing Officer; speak to a Youth Services team member regarding juvenile cases; fill out a payment plan application with support from Compliance staff; and/ or print a copy of their driving record, as well as access relevant court information via the web. The kiosk is free and available for use upon request of Municipal Court staff at this location. Customers are not able to speak to a judge or prosecutor or appear for court at the North Substation.
The Austin Municipal Court's main location at the Bergstrom Tech Center is open for all services at 6800 Burleson Road, Building, 310, Suite 175. Operating hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, with extended hours on Thursdays from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
For more details about court services, please call (512) 974-4800 or contact the Municipal Court via Live Chat, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. by visiting www.austintexas.gov/court.
Friday, March 3, 2023
APD Launches New Non-Emergency Reporting System
The Austin Police Department (APD) has partnered with Versaterm Public Safety’s Case Service to launch a new non-emergency online reporting system via ireportaustin.com. Case Service is an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant that instantly communicates with community members through voice, mobile, web, and text. The AI assistant conducts a full interview with the person filing a report and provides key information to the police department. This system allows the report to be accepted into the official offense report database within hours or a similar time frame as if an officer wrote the report. This platform reduces wait times for community members and speeds up the investigation process.
To file a report online, the following guidelines must be met:
• No immediate danger to people or property
• The suspect is no longer on-scene
• The reporting party must be 17 years old or older and have a valid email address
The online system accepts the following report types:
• Assault (minor or no injury, excluding domestic violence)
• Threats (excluding domestic violence)
• Burglary that does not involve fire/arson
• Theft (excluding prescriptions, firearms, explosives, vehicle license plates, and motor vehicles of any kind)
• Lost or missing property (excluding narcotic prescription medication, vehicle license plates, and firearms)
• Damaged property or Graffiti
• Fraud
• Harassment
• Counterfeiting or Forgery
• Identity theft
• Illegal use of a credit or debit card
• Minor, non-criminal child custody issues for documentation only
• Trespassing (suspect no longer on scene)
• Shoplifting reports
Once a report is submitted, the individual who submitted the report will receive confirmation via email with the assigned case number. If a supplement needs to be added later, community members can create a new report and provide the original case number when prompted.
The new reporting system supports multiple languages, including English, Arabic, French, Hindi, Korean, Simplified, and Traditional Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese, among other languages.
We are confident this technology will streamline the reporting process, alleviate the current backlog for APD non-emergency requests submitted via 3-1-1, and provide community members personalized attention to their incidents. Upon successful deployment of this first phase, APD plans to expand the use of Case Service further.
APD's 2023 Spring Break DWI Enforcement 'No Refusal' Initiative, March 3rd through March 19th.
The Spring Break season is quickly approaching, and the Austin Police Department (APD) wants to remind the public officers will be on patrol and looking out for drunk drivers. Two initiatives will run consecutively. In conjunction with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the first DWI Enforcement will focus on having more officers on the street making traffic stops from March 3rd through March 19th. The second, a 'No Refusal' initiative, will focus on gathering evidence in DWI arrests and will occur each night from March 9th through March 19th.
Both efforts enforce DWI laws and keep the public safe by encouraging drivers to make responsible decisions. Also, to apply for blood search warrants on suspects who refuse to provide a breath or blood specimen as the law requires.
The Austin Police Department and the City of Austin Transportation Department continue to focus on preventing deaths on Austin's streets, highways, and waterways. APD is dedicated to making the roadways and waterways of Austin safe for residents and visitors through education and enforcement.
Don't drink and drive.
#EndTheStreakTX
Open Data Portal Gets New Look to Celebrate Open Data Day
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The Communications & Technology Management Department (CTM) is proud to recognize Open Data Day, on Sunday, March 5, 2023. Open Data Day is an annual opportunity to recognize the value and importance of an open data policy in local government. In conjunction with Open Data Day, CTM has a new homepage design for the City of Austin’s Open Data Portal. |
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AUSTIN, TX – On Thursday, March 7th, Council Member Alison Alter, Assistant City Manager Veronica Briseño, and the women of the Austin Cit...
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The City of Austin has activated the Event Operations Center (EvOC) to coordinate public safety and transportation operations for the 2024 S...
