Finding Services on the New Website

Welcome to the new City of Chicago Website. As you may have noticed, the site is focused on enabling businesses, residents, and visitors to find City Services more easily, and in many different ways. 

What about 311?

You may be accustomed to finding Services on the former City website by clicking on a "311 City Services" button.  Please note, you may continue to call 311 for any City request or service you may need.  311 will continue providing you up to date information and will route you to the service provider that offers the information and Services you are seeking.

On the new website, however, City Services are decentralized and found within the Departments that provide and manage them.  You will find enhanced searching capabilities, easy-to-use navigation, and other features to access those Services, but the Services themselves are found within the Departments, and not within the 311 Department's pages.

How to find Services on this New Site

You won't need to know or remember which Department offers the Service you are looking for, but the information ultimately does reside within the Department.

On the new site, you can find Services in several ways.

1. Click on City Services in the top orange bar, or its first option on the drop-down "Find Services". Here you can do a custom search and narrow your results.

2. Click on any of the verbs in the left column. Services are organized by the verb you may use to perform the Service. Do you want to "Find/Get" something? Do you want to "Pay for/Buy" something?  Click on the various verbs to see what is available.

3. Maybe you just prefer a quick 'n easy Service Search. Just enter a search term in the left column's "Keyword" search box to find some helpful service search results.

{Note, this search box searches all services only. If you'd like to search across the entire website, enter some search text in the upper right corner search box}.

4. The website also provides a lengthy and comprehensive Service Directory.  The Directory is organized by nouns that are related to the service. For example, click on "G" for Garbage or "T" for Trash... either way you'll find information about Garbage/Trash/Refuse pick-up.  The Services are organized by common nouns that you may look for.

5.  Have you been working with the City for a long time? You already know that you need to file your construction permits with the Department of Buildings? Perhaps you wish to go straight to the City Department that you know has the information you need.  Go to the "Chicago Government" orange bar and then click on Department Directory to find a specific Department.  You will find Services within each Department's various "Service Providers" (sub-units of the department).

6. The new website includes Programs & Initiatives and People We Serve pages, allowing people to browse special topics or self-identify as a user community and find customized information that is tailored for them. On these pages, you will find Services, News, Alerts, and Supporting Information from across all departments, about those specific topics.

What are "Online" Services?

As you are browsing the various City Services, you may see a small icon that looks like a computer. This indicates that the Service is an "Online Service." For these, you may complete the entire Service from start-to-finish online.  Just click on the Service page's "Get Started Online" button to get going!

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