As we reflect on the insights from our surveys, one thing is clear: meaningful engagement requires not just listening but acting on input in ways that communities can see and trust. Residents are asking for better feedback loops – clearer communication on how their contributions impact decisions, and more actual influence – and governments are seeking tools and support to translate intention into real impact. 

In 2025, we’re doubling down on innovation to help governments bridge divides and connect with their communities in meaningful ways. Here’s how we’ll be doing it.

Smarter tools for stronger connections

Learning from peers:

• We’re making it easier for governments to discover, share, and learn from successful engagement initiatives across the Go Vocal network. By spotlighting best practices and lessons learned, we aim to empower them with the tools and inspiration needed to run effective, inclusive processes.

Monitoring sentiment in real-time:

• Understanding how communities feel is crucial when divisions run deep. Our enhanced sentiment-monitoring tools give governments real-time insights into shifting community concerns and emerging priorities. By staying ahead of sentiment changes, decision-makers can address issues early, fostering proactive responses instead of reactive ones.

Enabling better dialogues with AI:

• When polarization dominates, productive conversations can feel out of reach. That’s why we’re introducing AI-assisted input authoring to help residents express their ideas constructively and precisely. 
• But we’re going further: through conversation modeling, our platform will analyze dialogue patterns to identify areas of common ground and highlight shared concerns. By modeling productive conversations, governments can guide discussions toward collaborative outcomes, ensuring diverse perspectives are heard, understood, and valued.

We know that if we can pull this off, it has the potential to transform the ways people experience democracy, bringing communities closer together, rather than driving them apart. 

We’re excited to share this work with you in 2025. Our team is more energized than ever to think big about the challenges of democracy and local policy and decision-making, to deliver more meaningful impact for governments and communities.