Columbus CIE – Initiative Plan

Approximately 200,000 people live in poverty in Franklin County. Fifty-nine percent of Franklin County residents will experience poverty at some point in their life.

As the county grows, so will these numbers. The community simply can’t afford a siloed approach to support services

The Community Information Exchange (CIE) Initiative is a county-wide initiative that makes it possible for individuals to access health and human services when they need it the most. Co-designed by its end users — Central Ohio residents and caseworkers — and the community-based organizations (CBOs) supporting them, the CIE Initiative is guided by an intentional focus on equity to ensure that solutions serve the entire community.

The CIE Initiative is an essential infrastructure investment for the well-being of the community —just like roads, bridges, and energy systems. Like other critical infrastructure, the CIE Initiative will use data to measure the real impact on improving residents’ lives in Franklin County.

Building a technology solution is not enough. The CIE Initiative will require robust and ongoing multi-stakeholder engagement and alignment, organizational change and digital transformation across multiple agencies, data integration, ongoing operations, policy change and advocacy, and much more. The CIE Initiative includes six components that encompass the community-wide change work required to make the CIE Initiative successful.

This initiative plan provides an overview of the CIE Initiative, its components and the work plan ahead for phase one development. This is a living document that will be updated when there are notable changes to scope and timeline.