I recently made a significant change in my life. I joined Code for America. I’ve actually been a part of Code for America, as an advisor, from its beginning. Actually, Code for America Founder and Executive Director Jennifer Pahlka and I hosted the very first CityCamp in January 2010. A couple of weeks ago IRead… Read more »
As we turn the calendar to the new year, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on what we’ve done here at Civic Commons over the past year, what we’ve learned, and where we’re planning on heading next. It’s been a busy year for us. While the Civic Commons initiative began, slowly, as anRead… Read more »
Not long ago we announced the forthcoming launch of a Seed Accelerator to foster civic focused tech startups. What’s a civic startup? Think TurboTax. An online application that aids millions of americans each April. Though not created by the government it makes doing taxes a whole lot easier. At a press conference this morning, heldRead… Read more »
During the first annual Code for America Summit, a major piece of the event was held for demos — quick, focused presentations of real-world examples of impact. Two Civic Commons team members, Nick Grossman and Jeremy Canfield, took to the stage to demo the CC Marketplace (then in closed beta, now open for business!). IfRead… Read more »
The 2012 Fellows arrive tomorrow (gulp!) and we realize that we haven’t even introduced the new staff that has joined to help them. In the whirlwind of the last couple of months, three new staff have come on, three fantastic people you’ll be hearing about as we share the story of the second Code forRead… Read more »
The Code for America fellows accomplished a lot this year — not just in terms of code or apps for the CfA cities, but also learnings for the program — and we couldn’t be more proud of them. We’re pleased today to present a snapshot of the year: the 2011 CfA Annual Report (embedded below):Read… Read more »
Today, we’re pleased to announce that with the support of Google, Code for America will be growing quite a bit in 2012. The charitable giving team at Google is granting Code for America $1.5M to help us do more with the fellowship, and pilot two new programs designed to help government work better with theRead… Read more »
What sets Chattanooga, Tenn. apart from the rest of the nation? One gigabit-per-second. With the fastest Internet speeds available, our city has now launched a no-nonsense “geek hunt.” We’re offering up to $300,000 in cash and seed capital to students and entrepreneurs who are willing to participate in the Gig Tank. The Gig Tank isRead… Read more »
Last Saturday, CityCamp Honolulu packed the student center at the University of Hawaii. The one-day event brought together nearly 150 locals to discuss and plan for updating the interface for Honolulu’s city services. Forest Frizzell, director of the City’s department of information technology and Burt Lum, a local activist and the man behind ByteMarks Cafe,Read… Read more »
From my research with government technical staff, I discovered that strictly speaking, there are not many issues that are truly “unknown.” Usually, the case is that the issue has at least has been experienced by government staff, but no best practice has clearly emerged. And then, sometimes it is not the issue that is unknown,Read… Read more »