Earlier this year, the National Conference on Citizenship announced the 2013 Civic Data Challenge, a competition for civic groups to turn raw civic data into tools that their communities could use to increase civic participation. And earlier this month, the winners were announced!
We hope you’ll take a moment to join us in recognizing and congratulating the winning groups. The winning teams included:
The Outline Team. Their Balanced State Budget Simulator tool allows citizens to assess public policy with the same understanding of the impacts as an economist. We hope that with an increased awareness of the policymaking process, we’ll see an increase in voting rates. The team is currently working with the commonwealth of Massachusetts to test this tool.
The Manifesto Project Team asks the question: How does Arizona retain its young leaders? Through a series of events, they collect civic health data from young Arizonans and leverage their findings to place these youth in positions of leadership to influence change.
The Texas Connector Team seeks to correct the pervasive absence of accurate data regarding nonprofit service providers and social and demographic community data. Their website application increases access to community data, enabling stakeholders to more accurately assess community needs and respond.
Civic Data Denver partnered with Earth Force to create an interactive visual that empowers youth to take civic action to address social and physical health issues in their community. Civic Data Denver’s website will be used by students and educators where Earth Force programming takes place.
The DC Community Resource Directory Project helps residents find health and social services referral information. It establishes ‘community resource data’ as a commons — cooperatively produced and managed by local stakeholders, and open to an ecosystem of applications and users. They are working with a core set of community anchor institutions, including Bread for the City, Martha’s Table, and Lutheran Social Services, to continue to develop their product and recruit partners.
We encourage you to read more about the competition and the winning projects on the Civic Data Challenge blog. You can also find more information at www.civicdatatchallenge.org.
Congratulations to all the winning teams! We can’t wait to see what your communities do with your work, and we’re looking forward to next year’s challenge!
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