What we do

We help local governments make inclusive, evidence-based change

Tools & Methods

We design and deploy surveys that surface actionable insights from your community—helping you prioritize what matters most.

We lead one-on-one interviews with users and stakeholders to surface insights, build trust, and ensure any changes are informed by those most affected.

Planning a new service or redesigning a current one? We work with you to outline each layer—frontstage and backstage—so your offering runs smoothly from the inside out.

Leaning on industry best practices and deep UX expertise, we review your product to highlight areas where usability and accessibility can be strengthened.

We observe real users as they interact with your digital solution to uncover friction points and recommend targeted improvements.

Through in-depth interviews with users and stakeholders, we map the full experience to expose pain points, inefficiencies, and moments of opportunity—giving you a clear picture of what to fix and where to innovate.

We invite participants to document their day-to-day experiences over time, revealing patterns and pain points that one-off interviews often miss. This method is especially powerful for capturing behavior in context.

Based on real-world research, we create personas that distill key user types—their goals, frustrations, needs, and motivations. These become a touchstone for design, communication, and service delivery decisions.

From 2-hour sprints to 2-week design labs, we facilitate collaborative workshops—whether you’re refining a roadmap, rethinking a service, or launching a new community initiative.

We help you identify meaningful metrics—qualitative or quantitative—that align with your mission and make success measurable. From community impact to service performance, we turn abstract goals into trackable outcomes.

We analyze survey data, behavioral metrics, and performance outcomes to uncover trends, compare options, and support your decisions with rigor. Whether exploratory or evaluative, our analysis is always grounded in practical insight.

We help you zoom out and make sense of the big picture—facilitating conversations, clarifying priorities, and co-creating plans that move your team or organization forward with focus and intention.

If you’re interested in a specific method that you don’t see on this list, let us know!

New Programs & Procedures

When local governments plan new programs, procedures, or services, it’s critical to start with a clear understanding of community needs and internal goals. GovEmpower provides in-depth foundational research to set projects up for success. We conduct community surveys and user interviews to validate that the problem being addressed aligns with real community experiences.

We also conduct in-depth interviews and workshops with internal stakeholders, including department staff, leadership, and partner organizations, to understand operational needs, existing constraints, and definitions of success.

To ensure all parts of a new program fit together smoothly, we create service blueprints — visual maps that outline how a service flows across different departments and touchpoints, from internal processes to public-facing interactions. This comprehensive approach helps ensure new programs are grounded in real-world needs, technically feasible, and designed to deliver meaningful impact.

Existing Processes & Programs

Even the best-designed processes and programs need regular evaluation to identify areas for improvement. GovEmpower helps local governments assess both internal workflows and community-facing programs to uncover inefficiencies, pain points, and opportunities for innovation.


We conduct heuristic audits, where our experts assess the usability and accessibility of forms, processes, and digital services against best practices. We also facilitate usability testing, where real community members or staff interact with existing processes, providing valuable feedback on what’s working and what’s confusing or frustrating. To visualize findings, we create journey maps that trace the end-to-end experience for staff or community members, helping identify where breakdowns or inefficiencies occur.

Finally, we bring internal teams and community stakeholders together for co-design workshops, where we collaboratively reimagine how processes could work better — ensuring solutions are not only effective but also inclusive.

Community Engagement & Research

Strong, responsive local government starts with a deep understanding of community needs — and an open, ongoing dialogue between governments and residents. GovEmpower helps governments enhance their community engagement efforts through a range of research and participatory methods.


We design and analyze community surveys to gather broad input on local priorities, challenges, and ideas for improvement. We also conduct one-on-one interviews, giving residents the opportunity to share their experiences in greater depth. For more hands-on collaboration, we facilitate community workshops, where residents, government staff, and local organizations work together to explore issues and brainstorm solutions.

Throughout our work, we focus on building the local government’s capacity to listen, understand, and respond — creating stronger, more trusting relationships between governments and the people they serve.

Welcome to the future of government

Journey Maps

Through in-depth interviews with users and stakeholders, we map the full experience to expose pain points, inefficiencies, and moments of opportunity—giving you a clear picture of what to fix and where to innovate.

usability tests

We observe real users as they interact with your digital solution to uncover friction points and recommend targeted improvements.

heuristic audits

Leaning on industry best practices and deep UX expertise, we review your product to highlight areas where usability and accessibility can be strengthened.

Service Blueprints

Planning a new service or redesigning a current one? We work with you to outline each layer—frontstage and backstage—so your offering runs smoothly from the inside out.

Co-Design Workshops

From 2-hour sprints to 2-week design labs, we facilitate collaborative workshops—whether you’re refining a roadmap, rethinking a service, or launching a new community initiative.

Interviews

We lead one-on-one interviews with users and stakeholders to surface insights, build trust, and ensure any changes are informed by those most affected.

Community Surveys

We design and deploy surveys that surface actionable insights from your community—helping you prioritize what matters most.