Everyone at Code for America – fellows, staff, board, supporters – believes that the combination of data and developers can change the world. What’s needed is more catalysts to put that data together with developers, add some inspiration and incentives, and showcase what can happen. Happily, the FCC (which has been making waves recently with its fantastic new site) and the Knight Foundation (one of CfA’s biggest funders) are doing just that, with the Apps for Communities contest they announced yesterday at the Stride Center in my hometown of Oakland, California. Good on them. And good on you, if you start working on an app to enter.
I was honored to be part of the panel making remarks yesterday, and I was struck by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s comments about access in our society. Access to information is critical, and it’s changing. He gave the example of job postings. It used to be that jobs were listed in the newspaper, and then it became common for the more digitally savvy to access them online, giving them an advantage over the paper-reading audience. Now they’re not even available in print. One third of families in the United States are still not hooked up with high-speed internet at home, leaving them largely cut off from the sources of information that make provide access to the basic needs of our society. But many of those PC-less homes have multiple smart phones, providing a potential bridge. Chairman Genachowski, the Knight Foundation’s Damian Thorman and the others behind this initiative are hoping that talented, civic-minded developers can bridge that access gap by making the data people need available both on the web and through mobile devices. These apps will help not only underserved populations, but they’ll help reinvigorate our economy as we stimulate prosperity and engagement among all citizens.
The event was held at the Stride Center in Oakland in order to make a point. The Stride Center is a job training facility to “empower men and women facing barriers to employment to achieve economic self-sufficiency.” At the risk of dangerous generalization, most of the developers who will enter the Apps for Communities contest don’t face the same challenges that the Stride students face, or the challenges of other communities their apps might be targeted at. This is a contest that screams for developers to look through others’ eyes, and particularly for developers to partner with community organizations, non-profits, and others who can help them create apps that will be truly useful. The 2011 Code for America fellows will all tell you how valuable they’ve found their interviews with the community groups in Seattle, Boston and Philadelphia this year, and how critical their input has been and will be throughout the rest of the process.
Entries are due July 11, so you don’t have much time. There’s $100K in prize money at stake here (top prize earns $30K), so it’s worth your investment. Visit the Apps for Communities page for more information, and go for it!
