Cities are used to a formal, regimented process of creating an RFP to solve a problem and reaching out to vendors that have a pre-built solution. Code for America brings a group of fellows with a start-up mentality and culture. We demonstrate new techniques and tools to approach future problems differently. When our fellows were in their cities in February, a lot of what they did was build connections between city staff, community groups and local developers. Jeff Friedman [chief of staff for Philadelphia’s Division of Technology] told me that we were like mysterious strangers who came and taught his city’s staff that they had the magic in them all along.
Kim Rice [assistant COO of Boston Public Schools] had said transportation was a huge problem. Parents had to call a hotline to get information about where their child’s bus was. Kids could travel on buses for 30 minutes to get to their schools — and that’s compounded when you have snow. Our fellows were able to get access from three different data sets to build an app for parents to give them real-time information about where their child’s bus is. [This project is still in development, and the city is looking into the feasibility of such an app.]
We build a kind of network for them while we’re in their cities and engaged with the community. Then they remain a part of the Code for America network where they can collaborate and share with our future cities. All cities are beneficiaries of the work we’re doing with these four cities [Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington, D.C.] because the projects will go into Civic Commons to be implemented in any U.S. city.
When we’re viewing them for our program, we ask, “Is this a problem we’ve heard about in other cities?” Because we want the solution that we provide to be reusable so that other cities will benefit.