Newport News Wins Granicus Award for Trust and Transparency
Newport News, VA — The City of Newport News has been named the winner of the Trust & Transparency category at the 15th Annual North American Granicus Digital Government Awards, recognizing the city’s leadership in open government and innovative public service delivery.
The awards celebrate excellence across seven categories—Changemaker, Community Engagement, Operational Excellence, Service Delivery, Trust & Transparency, Total Government Experiences, and Website of the Year—highlighting organizations that are redefining digital government across North America.
Mayor Phillip Jones emphasized the significance of the recognition. “Transparency builds trust,” Jones said. “By investing in digital solutions like our FOIA Request Archive and Open Data portal, we are making it easier for residents to access information, engage with their local government, and see firsthand how their city operates. This award reflects our commitment to openness and service.”
The City of Newport News earned top honors in the Trust & Transparency category for the collaborative work of the City Attorney’s Office and the Office of Innovation in implementing the city’s new FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) Request Archive and expanded Open Data pages. In 2025, Newport News launched two complementary digital solutions designed to increase visibility into public service processes and foster trust among residents, businesses, and stakeholders.
The city implemented Granicus GovQA, a specialized cloud-based workflow platform that manages and automates responses to public records requests. The system streamlines and standardizes FOIA processing citywide, ensures compliance with legal requirements, improves security for sensitive information, and introduced a new FOIA Request Archive that makes completed non-exempt requests publicly accessible. The city also expanded its frequently asked questions to include councilmembers’ Statements of Economic Interest, travel logs, and employee salary information.
In January 2025, the Office of the City Attorney hired a full-time FOIA Coordinator to implement a uniform citywide protocol for responding to requests. This included updated redaction standards, retention guidelines, processing cost policies, and staff training—creating consistency, efficiency, and accountability across departments.
At the same time, the Office of Innovation launched GeoHub Newport News, a public online platform that allows users to explore, visualize, and download location-based datasets. The Open Data Program proactively provides direct access to city datasets in accessible, consumable formats while addressing confidentiality, privacy, and security considerations. Current Open Data pages include Crime Reports, Budget & Evaluation, Statistical Profile, Apartment Survey, Citizen Self Service, the FOIA Request and Archive Center, and the 2025 Street Resurfacing List, with additional datasets being added.
FOIA is about access to records on demand, while Open Data is about proactively sharing information. Newport News strategically uses high-demand FOIA requests as a roadmap for deciding what information to publish openly. This approach creates a virtuous cycle: proactive publishing reduces reactive requests, public feedback informs additional data releases, staff resources are freed for higher-value services, and transparency and efficiency increase together.
Both digital solutions are available at no cost and are designed to increase accountability, improve public understanding of city operations, create economic opportunities through third-party data use, and foster civic engagement.
The city has already seen measurable engagement growth. In 2024, Newport News received 2,007 FOIA requests. In 2025, the city received 3,375 requests, reflecting expanded public awareness, improved accessibility, and greater trust in the system.
Newport News’ leadership in transparency has also earned recognition from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. The city’s FOIA Request Archive model has influenced similar initiatives across the Commonwealth, including proposed efforts to establish FOIA libraries modeled after Newport News’ approach.
“Awards like this affirm that transparency is not a one-time initiative, but an ongoing commitment,” said City Manager Alan K. Archer. “By investing in modern digital infrastructure and empowering our staff with the right tools and training, we are building a government that is responsive, accountable, and worthy of our community’s trust. This work positions Newport News as a leader in open government and sets the standard for how cities can serve their residents in the digital age.”
By integrating reactive public records access with proactive data publishing, the City of Newport News is setting a new standard for digital government and demonstrating how transparency strengthens democracy at the local level.