This blog was cross-posted with Huffington Post as a collaboration as part of their JobRaising initiative.
An incredible opportunity exists for local, state, and federal government to tap into the energy of technology startups to work more collaboratively and effectively, and you can get involved!
At Code for America, we’ve been supporting startups focusing on servicing the government sector with mentorship, $25k in seed funding, funder connections and more through our Accelerator program, with advisors from the likes of Tim O’Reilly, Ron Bouganim, Aneesh Chopra, and more. Previously in this series, we discussed about the work of startup Recovers.org and the work they’re doing to help communities and local governments like the Lower East Side in Manhattan during Hurricane Sandy better manage resources before and during a disaster. Shortly, we’ll be accepting new applications for startups, like Recovers, looking to make a difference in how government engages with citizens.
Sign up here to turbo-charge the growth of your civic startup, refer a friend, and/or receive the application when it’s released. You can also help and donate today to Code for America in the JobRaising Challenge to support this effort.
When we support startups, not only do we forward our vision of a more collaborative, transparent government, but we also support an incredible source of jobs and economic stability across the United States, as shared by a recent report by Engine Advocacy. In the case of civic startups, these high-value technology jobs not only pay well, but contribute back to communities through helping better government services.
Creating High-value, High Impact Jobs
Mindmixer, another participant in our inaugural Accelerator class, provides a citizen engagement platform that acts as a “virtual town hall” for citizen participation and feedback. Mindmixer is currently implemented in over 260 cities across the United States and has over $2 million in venture capital investments.
Chief Engagement Officer, Nick Bowden, shares that, “MindMixer is very proud to a growing company in an industry, civic tech, that offers people an opportunity to work on important and meaningful challenges, like improving communication between citizens and government.”
Multi-Regional Tech Job Growth
Not only is Mindmixer creating jobs, but since its inception in March 2011, Mindmixer has increased from the 2 founders to a total of 23 staff in Omaha, Neb.; Los Angeles; Boulder, Colo.; and Kansas City, Mo. Omaha doesn’t exactly come across as a tech startup mecca, and that’s a good thing. As evidenced by the geographic diversity of the startups on our Accelerator, civic startups are creating high-value tech jobs across the country. Wherever there is government, there is a need for tech talent to service that municipality, which can add to the regional growth of a community’s startup sector.
We at Code for America have every confidence that we are at the beginning of an incredible era of job growth in the civic tech space and hope you’ll join us in supporting this budding industry. Together, we can create good jobs with incredible impact in helping our governments work better with the power of the web.
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