90 Days of Data. One Story to Tell.

When I hired the country's first civic data storyteller in Gilbert, it was because I had learned something the hard way: dashboards do not move people.

The stories inside them do.

The template walks you through four sentences that turn any dataset into a story residents actually read.

What happened. One number, in plain language. Not "linear feet of pipe replaced." The percentage of your water system upgraded to reduce breaks. The sentence a resident understands at the grocery store.

What changed. Before and after. The first 90 days of this year versus the last 90 days of last year. If your repair time dropped from 12 days to 4, that is the story. If nothing changed, that is also a story worth telling.

What it means for residents. This is the sentence most cities skip. It translates the data into impact. Do not make your residents do the math.

What happens next. One commitment. A next step. This is what separates a data story from a data dump.

Here is what your finished story looks like:

"In the first 90 days of 2026, residents submitted 4,200 requests through 311. The top three issues: potholes (31%), streetlight outages (18%), and graffiti (12%). Average resolution time dropped from 9 days in the previous period to 6 days in the first 90. The fastest fix: a broken traffic signal, reported at 7:14 AM, repaired by noon."

That is a social media post. That is a slide for council. That is the opening paragraph of a quarterly update residents will actually read. And it took one afternoon to pull together.

Pew Research Center reported in December 2025 that only 17% of Americans trust the federal government. That number has not been above 30% since 2007. It dropped five points in a single year.

Your residents may not trust Washington. But they will trust a city that shows them where their tax dollars went, in plain language, with before and after.

Data storytelling is not a communications tactic. It is a trust strategy. And right now, local government has something the federal government does not: proximity.

You are close enough to show the work. Close enough to show the receipts. Close enough to make people feel seen.

The first 90 days are ending. This is your window.

Luke Norris leads government experience strategy at Granicus. On Episode 14, he put it plainly:

"Facts now more than ever are under attack. Governments have a responsibility to truly talk to the facts, help explain to folks how decisions are made, why decisions are made, what data is informing those decisions."

He also named the gap: cities have the technology to collect data, but not the people or process to turn it into stories. Technology alone will not solve it.

By tomorrow: pull one dataset from the first 90 days. Use the template. Write four sentences. Post it.

Talk soon,

--Dana