Coding for Community - Team Urban Grit's team solution. A presentation for Sustainable NJ's civic tech competition to solve local issues.

1. by Team Urban Grit
for 2017 Sustainable Jersey Coding for
Community (CfC) competition

4. A portal to pay taxes, a portal to connect with DWP, a portal for tenants and property maintenance
as well as a portal to rate contractors were removed from the statement of need by the City of East Orange.
What was kept is intended to focus on and complement their Sustainable EO and Economic Development Strategies.
Additionally, the name of the platform was changed to APP East Orange!

7. “An app is a piece of software. It can run on the Internet, on your computer, or on your mobile device.While the
word "app" has gained popularity in the context of mobile devices, it still applies more broadly to programs in
general, and this usage has become more common.”
- Life Wire

8. On the surface APP East Orange! looks like a simple website. It’s not.
APP East Orange! is a crisp portal connecting you to government services and resources, a market place for
local artisans and contractors, and a social network for Green Team members.
Go on. Navigate through the responsive design on your computer, tablet or smart phone by selecting icons and
a drop down menu.
Payments can be made on the Market Place through PayPal. Green Team members can create accounts on the
social media site Sustainable EO.
Found on the domain http://civictech.winstinahughes.com, the portal is set to engage East Orange residents in
the upcoming Master Plan Reexamination and other municipal strategies and actions.

9. Long Term
Departmental consistency in messaging
communicated through an all-in-one platform
Empowers residents and encourages creativity
amongst all skill levels and sectors
“Create local, Shop local” increases income of
residents while inspiring and empowering the arts
locally
Solidifies City’s commitment to
innovation
Short Term
Educates residents on redevelopment, economic
development and land use locally
Solidifies the City of East Orange’s commitment to supporting
local artisans and contractors through a “Create local, Shop
local” initiative
Increases likelihood of buy in of city programs
Technology allows the municipality to craft its messaging
precisely and increase public engagement

10. This solution is custom designed for the City of East Orange.To the best of the team’s knowledge this portal isn’t
used by other municipalities – at least not as a three part cohesive platform.
The solution reflects an understanding of the goals and vision of municipal planning departments.This team has this
understanding due to degrees held in city planning.
It offers government planners the power and capacity to achieve public participation and civic engagement in the
planning process.

11. It is possible for APP East Orange! to be replicated many times over by Urban Grit.The software for the portal is
WordPress with two plugins – BuddyPress and Woo Commerce.
There will be no barrier of entry for using this software. Anyone can use each and alter it for free without paying to
license it.
Just as Slide Share, Nation Builder, SeamlessGov by SeamlessDocs, and more are run on dedicated servers, in order
for this solution to be scalable it will need one as well.
Additionally, a quality web host, top level domains and security tools are needed for this and all software platforms to
ultimately be successful.

12. The portal has been designed as a drop down menu with links requested by the City of East Orange. Some content
for these web pages has not been incorporated because it hasn’t been created yet by the City.
PayPal has not been added to Market Place to take payments.
Payments shouldn't be taken at this time.The items are samples meant to exemplify what can be sold by
residents.The images on Market Place were found on google and are not the property of Urban Grit.They are
not meant to be shared publicly.
Accounts can be created on the Green Team’s platform at this time.
A team member will be actively engaged in the implementation of the project and ensuring the
integrity of the site is maintained through timely security updates.
Workshops will be held to train the Planning Department staff and designated stake holders to
manage the Market Place and the Green Team’s platform. Dialog has started about this process.

13. The portal can be found at http://civictech.winstinahughes.com

14. Single Member Team:Winstina Hughes
UPLOADED TO SLIDESHARE.NET as: Coding for Community – Urban Grit
GitHub Repository: https://github.com/Resgeek/CfC
By Team Urban Grit
for 2017 Sustainable Jersey Coding for Community
(CfC) competition