The Center for American Progress released a report this week about Millennials’ perception of government, calling this generation the “most pro-government.” Interestingly, that belief stemmed not from satisfaction in policy but from confidence in reform: Millennials believe that a robust government can and will be smarter, especially if it embraces new information technology.

“The key lesson embedded in these seemingly paradoxical results is that people would rather improve government performance than reduce its size. They are extremely receptive to a reform agenda that would eliminate inefficient government programs, implement performance-based policy decisions, and adopt modern management methods and information technologies.” (emphasis mine)

This generation wants to keep government at the table, but seated in a desk chair, not a recliner.

This is why I think there’s been such great response to the CfA Fellowship from Millennials. It comes at a time when government needs to change and people believe they can make that happen. It’s a perfect storm. We can catalyze increased volunteerism, modern efficiencies, and renewed confidence, all by connecting the dots between the Millennials’ desire for service and change and politicians’ interest in better government and, well, self-preservation. As the CAP report puts it, Millennials “hold the key to a new era of public confidence in government—if public officials learn to spend taxpayers’ dollars more carefully, and do what works.” In fact, a majority (67%) across generations shared this sentiment. And so in a way, CfA can offer any city the chance to “ask not,” and provide any citizen — young and old — an answer.

Since our May announcement of the five Code for America cites, we have been working to better define the projects that our teams (made up of Fellows and city staff) will develop over the course of 2011. Initially the five cities were chosen because their applications reflected a deep understanding of the power the web as a platform can bring to cities.  Each of these applicants demonstrated not only cutting-edge thinking and a willingness to invest in long-term change, but also a compelling problem they were committed to solving to make their government more efficient, transparent and participatory.

The cities chosen for the first Code for America cycle are:

• Boston, MA
• Boulder, CO
• District of Columbia
• Philadelphia, PA
• Seattle, WA

Part of the promise of CfA is to bring the best thinking from the web industry together with the best thinking from cities, and as part of that agenda we will be planning brainstorm days with each city over the next two months.  We will invite web industry innovators and thought leaders to meet with the key stakeholders inside city hall and further develop the opportunities inherent in the projects they’ve proposed.

Currently, Boston is committed to experimenting with a number of web applications to demonstrate that government can be agile and nimble, but also as a means to ensure users adoption of the application. The team of Fellows assigned to the Boston project will be structured as a mini start-up, where they will be responsible for designing the applications, managing the development process, working with all stakeholders, and eventually marketing it to end users. We anticipate the team will face all the challenges of a real start-up, so that while overcoming the hurdles they will be building a more sustainable and easily adopted application.

Seattle and Philadelphia want to address very similar opportunities in their cities. Both cities have active community groups, however they are often unconnected from one another: by nature this diffuses their collective effectiveness and makes it more difficult for government to engage with them. Seattle’s OurNeighborhood project will enable the city to collaborate with its citizens using effective social networking technology, and empower neighbors to more easily work with each other. Through OurNeighborhood, the public safety infrastructure of Seattle will be complemented by a powerful network of helpful citizens coordinating with the city to keep streets safe. The project will leverage the rich ecosystem of existing services with APIs to connect to citizens’ existing online identities, communities, and information streams.

Much like Seattle, Philadelphia is looking to re-imagine the way citizens communicate within their city. Code for America Fellows will develop a web app that engages individuals and enables them to develop groups and networks that support neighborhood services. Residents will have access to critical information about their neighborhoods, connect with other citizens that are interested in similar issues or services, all while informing and staying connected to government so it can better serve its citizens.

Boulder County is committed to the idea that “Every Door is the Right Door”: when residents need assistance, they should have direct access to vital local governmental services. To realize that public service goal, the county, in collaboration with area municipalities, is partnering with Code for America to build a one-stop interactive hub for citizens to learn about, help improve, and request county and local services.

The District of Columbia is a leader in the local Gov 2.0 space with data feeds, app contests, and commitments to open source and transparency principles. Code for America Fellows will work with DC staff to replicate the success of their city’s Gov 2.0 efforts through the development of a CivicCommons, an open-source repository of programs, policy information, and case studies. This repository will also serve as a place for Code for America applications to be made available to all other cities through an easy-to-use interface with supporting documentation on how to install and implement.

We look forward to iterating on these project concepts over the next five months and will share the progress of our brainstorming sessions with you in a series of blog posts, so stay tuned. We’re just getting started.

Over the past few months, we’ve sat down with both civic and industry leaders to learn more about how technology can be used to make cities work better. In our conversations with Mark Zuckerberg, Aneesh Chopra, and many others, we recognized not only a common desire for change in government, but also a sense of optimism in the CfA Fellowship. They believed in our cause to code government for the 21st century, and they all were eager to know, “What if…?”

Their responses inspired us, so we put this video together to share their inspiration with you:

If you’re ready to see what’ll happen when the talent of the tech industry goes to work innovating city government, join us and apply to be a Code for America Fellow: http://codeforamerica.org/fellows