The City of Fort Collins in Colorado (USA) has been on a continuous improvement journey since 2010. They made great progress on their Income-Qualified Assistance Program (IQAP) to help residents pay their utility bills, and were recognized as the 2020 winners of the IISE Excellence in Sustainable Development Award. Related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Fort Collins’ efforts helped impact Goal #10, Reduce inequality within and among countries.
Starting with a baseline of 10% participation in the utility payment assistance program, they wanted to increase participation to 75%. Rework related to the application process was 40%, which created at least one hour of effort to correct.
After conducting some process improvement events using process mapping, 5 Why’s and Fishbone Diagrams, the team was able to increase participation to 64% with only 5% rework. In addition, the rework effort was reduced to only 15 minutes.
The improvements were a result of a simplified form using Behavioral Insights EAST methodology that required only essential information, and reduced barriers to participation for Spanish-speaking residents.
Pete Iengo (eye-en-go) and Jamie Gaskill provide insights into these improvements, along with their continuous improvement journey.
You can also listen to the podcast interview
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