2012 is turning out to be a big year for Code for America.
Earlier this year, we launched two new programs to help bring technology innovation to bear on the challenges facing governments – our Civic Accelerator and Code for America Brigade.
Both of these new programs will play an important role in complementing and supplementing our Fellowship program, which sends small teams of developers and designers to governments across the country.
And judging by the number, diversity, and focus of the applications submitted for our 2013 fellowship cycle, next year is shaping up to be an even bigger year for Code for America.
Leading up to our deadline several weeks ago, we received applications from 29 different cities from across the country – Anchorage, Alaska to New York City.
Small cities like Geneva in New York’s Finger Lake region, to the “Entertainment Capital of the World,” Las Vegas, Nev.
We also see state governments and agencies, like the State of Michigan, and the State of California’s Fair Political Practices Commission, applying to work with our fellows. This shows that it isn’t just cities that are looking for new ways to apply technology to the issues facing the public sector. Governments at all levels are looking for new ideas, new thinking, and new ways to deliver public services and information.
Cities on both coasts near centers of innovation, like San Francisco and Raleigh, N.C., join cities from the heartland like Louisville, Ky. and South Bend, Ind. as Code for America applicants.
In addition, the 2013 application cycle is the first to see a joint application from two separate cities. These cities – Kansas City, Kan. and Kanas City, Mo. – are separated by a state border, but share a common objective: to leverage the talents of our fellows to drive municipal innovation.
We’re thrilled to see one our current partner cities – Honolulu, Hawaii – apply to participate in the fellowship program for a second year. This underscores the value that governments see in bringing our fellowship teams to their cities to work jointly with government officials on innovative solutions.
City and state governments are under enormous pressure to maintain service levels in the face of perennially tight budgets. More and more governments are looking for new ways to deliver services that leverage the power of innovation and the web.
We are ecstatic about the prospect of working with such great cities next year!
Glad to see a picture of Providence’s pretty skyline in your post. RI’s capital is a prime for CFA partnership, with RISD, Brown, and strong tech and entrepreneurial communities right on hand (see Betaspring and Swipely and ProvConnex).
Best of luck.
Awesome, great to see the program being successful and growing.
These are fantastic programs. I commend you for your involvement.