This document discusses how civic organizations and local governments can partner with technologists and community members on open government and open data projects. It provides examples of successful partnerships in cities like Oakland, Chicago, and New York that have created tools giving citizens greater access to government data and transparency. The document advocates that community foundations get involved in these types of initiatives to help further their missions and drive economic and civic engagement in their cities. It offers suggestions on how organizations can participate and lists additional resources on open government and civic technology.

1. Civic
data
and
open
government:
How
you
and
your
organiza6on
can
get
involved
Susan
Mernit
Community
Engagement:
Digital
Strategies
for
Local
Funders
Workshop
July
2014

2. 3
things
we’ll
talk
about:
How
partnerships
between
technologists
and
city,
county,
state
and
federal
governments
are
providing
greater
transparency
and
accountability,
more
access
to
data
for
ci6zens,
and
cost-­‐saving
new
tools.
Examples
where
community
founda6ons
have
goMen
involved
in
open
government
projects
Resources
to
use
to
get
started
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
2

3. Civic
hacking,
open
data
and
Gov.2
are
happening…
everywhere.

4. • San
Francisco
has
the
first
Chief
InnovaDon
Officer
in
the
country—who
launched
SF
as
an
open
data
city
• Oakland
passed
a
resoluDon
to
support
data
transparency
in
ALL
departments
• Code
for
America,
MapLight
&
GovFresh
all
started
in
the
Bay
area
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
4

5. Open
government
projects
are
happening
all
over
the
country,
with
successful
ones
in
many
places,
including:
• Chicago,
IL
• New
Orleans,
LA
• New
York,
New
York
• Washington,
DC
• Raleigh,
NC
• Gary,
IN
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
5

6. QuesDons
to
check
in
on
before
we
go
farther:
• What
is
open
data
and
open
government
exactly?
• What’s
the
benefit
to
my
organiza:on
&
my
community
to
get
involved?

7. “Transparency
promotes
accountability
and
provides
informa6on
for
ci6zens
about
what
their
Government
is
doing.”
-­‐-­‐White
House
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
7

8. We’re
talking
a
“Open
data
is
data
that
can
be
freely
used,
reused
and
redistributed
by
anyone
–
subject
only,
at
most,
to
the
requirement
to
aMribute
and
sharealike.”-­‐-­‐OpenDefini6on.org
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
8

9. The
US
Government
has
more
than
40,000
datasets
available
at
data.gov,
and
just
about
every
state
has
a
data
repository
now.
Local
coun6es,
big
ci6es
and
even
smaller
ci6es
are
also
ge^ng
involved.

10. Hashtags
to
watch
for:
#opengov,
#opendata,
#gov2.0
Related:
#citycamp
#github
#tbarcamp
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
10

11. Open
government
projects
oVen
pair
city
officials
with
highly
skilled
volunteers
and
other
community
members
to
solve
problems
in
ways
government
could
not
on
their
own.
EXAMPLE
1:
Open
Budget
Oakland
Read
&
understand
the
$1B
Oakland
city
budget
hMp://openbudgetoakland.org
Prototype:
3
days
Full
development:
1
year
Version
2.0
underway
Who
was
involved?
City
of
Oakland,
Code
for
America,
Open
Oakland
brigade
volunteers,
East
Bay
Economic
Development
Associa6on
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
11

12. Example
2:
How’s
Business
Chicago
from
Open
City
Apps
hMp://howsbusinesschicago.org/
This
is
one
of
several
apps
built
by
a
very
skilled
volunteer
team
using
city
data.
OpenCityApps.org
hosts
a
weekly
Open
Gov
hack
night
and
creates
free,
Open
source
projects
that
others
can
implement
elsewhere.
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
12

13. Other
projects
from
Open
City
Apps
include
hMp://opencityapps.org/
Chicago
CouncilmaDc:
Interac6ve
App
showing
what
legisla6on
the
City
Council
has
been
passing
CAPSure:
Alerts
for
community
police
Mee6ngs
2nd
City
Zoning:
Guide
to
your
neighborhood
from
a
planning
perspec6ve
And
many
more!
IMPACT:
HUGE.
High
usage
of
some
apps,
big
press
awareness,
lots
of
momentum.
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
13

14. hMp://www.crimeinchicago.org/
CHICAGO:
“We
wanted
to
illustrate
a
bigger
picture
out
and
visualize
trends
because
crime
is
a
social
phenomenon.
To
understand
it,
you
need
to
observe
how
it
varies
across
the
city
and
changes
over
6me.”

15. hMp://www.donteat.at/
NEW
YORK:
Donteat.at
parses
the
weekly-­‐updated
public
data
in
NYC
data
for
flagged
establishments
and
keeps
an
updated
list
of
violators
users
can
access
on
their
phone.

16. Who’s
riding
and
where
do
they
start?
NYC:
Ci6
Bike
data
and
gender
by
usage
and
start
loca6on—
NYU
grad
student
with
NYC
data
NEW
YORK:
“32%
of
CiD
Bike
riders
are
women
and
68%
are
men.”
“…Women
preferred
the
Brooklyn
residenDal
neighborhoods
of
Fort
Greene
and
Clinton
Hill…men
were
overwhelmingly
represented
in
Manhagan.”
hgp://goo.gl/JqXqC6NEW

17. Other
projects
Civic
organizaDons,
local
government
&
economic
development
orgs
are
partnering
with
techies
&
the
community
to
make
change.

18. Community
FoundaDons
in
some
ciDes
are
very
involved.
Hawaii
Community
FoundaDon
and
Open
Data
Hawaii
worked
together
last
fall
To
encourage
ALL
candidates
running
For
Mayor
to
sign
a
pledge
to
vow
to
make
Honolulu
City
Government
transparent
and
to
follow
the
prac6ces
of
open
government.
The
candidates
all
signed—and
Open
Data
Hawaii
says
they
are
working
with
the
CF
to
“push
these
ini6a6ves
forward,
changing
policy
and
crea6ng
opportuni6es
for
tomorrow’s
ci6zens
and
entrepreneurs.”
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
18

19. In
Oregon,
the
Meyer
Memorial
Trust,
Oregon’s
largest
community
foundaDon,
built
a
new
plalorm
to
connect
engage
ciDzens
with
policy
&
non-­‐profits
For
Oregon
Unlimited,
launched
March
2013,
the
MMT
leased
a
plamorm
that
allows
complete
connec6vity,
community
and
discussion
of
civic
projects.
They
use
it
as
both
an
economic
development
engine
and
a
community
hMps://www.oregonunlimited.org
connector.
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
19

20. Oregon
Unlimited
is
a
follow
up
to
Ideas4Oregon,
a
2010
contest
for
a
“million
dollar”
idea
that
got
more
than
200
entries
and
promised
to
spend
up
to
$1MM
to
bring
the
best
one
to
life.
That
project
was
built
on
top
of
another
commercial
plamorm
called
UserVoice;
they
open
sourced
the
ideas
so
everyone
could
see
them
(just
like
Knight
Founda6on
oqen
does
with
their
compe66ons.)
www.ideas4oregon.org/
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
20

21. hMp://www.tribunebuilding.org/
Building
a
transparent
process
with
local
government
&
community
In
South
Wood
County
MI,
the
local
community
founda6on,
IncourageCF,
purchased
the
now-­‐shuMered
newspaper
building
and
is
conduc6ng
a
community-­‐outreach
process
around
what
to
do
with
it.
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
21

22. “Managing
a
resident-­‐centered,
resident-­‐led
design
process
entrusts
decision-­‐making
to
the
community
and
invites
everyone
to
par6cipate.
It
requires
more
6me,
effort
and
resources
than
unilateral
decision-­‐making.
We’re
asking
community
members
to
determine
its
end
use.
“—InCourageCF
CEO
So,
what’s
the
takeaway?
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
22

23. Discussion
How
could
civic
engagement
processes,
open
data,
open
government
and
your
mission
in
your
city
fit
together?
Who
are
natural
partners?
Where
do
you
see
risks
&
challenges?
How
would
you/will
you
address
them?
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
23

24. Discussion
break:
What
kind
of
apps
would
you
like
to
see
your
community
build
if
you
had
access
to
the
data
and
people
with
the
skills?
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
24

25. How
to
get
involved
(go
ahead,
jump
in!)
Agend
a
civic
engagement
meet-­‐
up,
a
Bar
Camp,
or
a
CFA
Brigade
meeDng
in
your
town
and
meet
folks.
Talk
to
your
city’s
IT
department
and
lead
officials
about
making
data
available
in
usable
forms
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
25

26. The
latest
Knight
Community
InformaDon
Challenge
funded
10
civic
engagement/open
government
projects
that
each
involve
a
CF
CiDes
include
Lexington,
KY,
Chaganooga,
TN,
Gary,
IN,
Boston,
MA,
New
Orleans,
LA,
and
others.
Dreaming
of
local
data……
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
26

27. All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
27
Resources
NATIONAL
Sunlight
FoundaDon,
hMp://sunlighmounda6on.com/
Broadly
focused,
na6onal
non-­‐profit
focused
on
suppor6ng
every
aspect
of
government
transparency.
Code
for
America,
hMp://codeforamerica.org
The
“peace
core”
for
open
government
tech,
having
a
huge
impact
through
fellows’
programs,
support
for
city
government
projects,
and
volunteer
brigades.
Business
case
for
open
data
hMp://project-­‐open-­‐data.github.io/business-­‐case/
City
Camp:
hMp://citycamp.govfresh.com/
How
to
start
a
City
Camp
and
how
to
affiliate.

28. Learning
&
Tools
NaDonal
Network
Indicators
Project,
hMp://www.neighborhoodindicators.org/
Long-­‐established
network
of
data-­‐driven
non-­‐profits
using
local
data
and
analy6cs
for
policy
planning
and
program
development.
Open
Government
stories
on
GitHub,
hMp://government.github.com/
Space
to
share
and
read
stories
about
#opengov
and
#open
data
projects
Civic
Hacking
in
Pursuit
of
Democracy
hMp://goo.gl/vupcnX
Open
government:
Data
of
the
people,
for
the
people
|
McKinsey
&
Company
hMp://bit.ly/1k2COyk
All
rights
reserved.
susanmernit.com
28

29. VIDEO
RESOURCES—FOR
SHARING
Jennifer
Pahlka:
Coding
a
beger
government
hMp://goo.gl/LTHzwB
How
City
of
Chicago
uses
open
standards
and
predicDve
analyDcs
for
innovaDve
urban
management
hMp://bit.ly/UvOWvU
The
open
data
movement
in
California:
hMps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuQVoDpFR84

30. Let
me
know
how
it
goes!
Susan
Mernit,
smernit@gmail.com