Cities apply for free Web projects
Eleven cities and agencies have applied for free Web-project help from Oakland, Calif.-based Code for America, a non-profit organization recently created by the Washington-based Sunlight Foundation to connect Web developers with city officials who want to improve connectivity and transparency. The applicants each proposed up to three projects that the Code for America fellows would build for them if their city is chosen in 2011.
The applicants are: Hartford, Conn.; Boulder, Colo.; Boston; Lansing, Mich.; Little Rock, Ark.; Philadelphia; the District of Columbia; Raleigh, N.C.; Chicago; Seattle; and the Colorado Government Association of Information Technology on behalf of cities in Colorado. The projects they have proposed include: a mobile public safety application that would allow police officers in the field to access crime data in real time and residents to interact with police officers in their neighborhoods; reporting features for 311 data that would allow residents to extract 311 data and analyze that data for their own purposes; a centralized, virtual resource center through which businesses can track all interactions with the city, including licensing, permitting and incentives, in real time; and a civic engagement portal to help community groups post projects, allow citizens to search for volunteer opportunities, and connect planning and city council decisions to neighborhoods.
Code for America will select up to five of the projects that best fit the organization’s goals. The group will work with the applicant cities to refine their projects and select the 2011 Code for America cities in April.
Read more about Code for America.