The Future of Civic Tech: 8 Localities Showcase Their Initiatives

Gathering at its San Francisco (CA) headquarters June 10, the civic innovation group Code for America (CfA) showcased a lineup of latest apps and efforts for eight localities in 2015. Tagged as its BETA event, the meeting provided a status update on CfA’s popular yearlong Fellowship Program that couples teams of technologists with governments to develop digital tools benefiting citizens. CfA Founder and Executive Director Jennifer Pahlka spearheaded the night with a talk on strategy.

As no mere coincidence, she said the teams took a decidedly targeted approach to their work. Health, economic development, and safety and justice were social impact areas announced at CfA’s Summit last year, and these areas were where most groups dedicated themselves in 2015. “After five years of doing this, we want to go deeper,” Pahlka said. “And what you’ll hear from us over the next couple of years is more and more projects that are pushing that [strategy], trying to generate positive feedback loops and working to prove that a user-centered, data-driven and iterative approach can actually have those outcomes.”