Introducing the Code for America 2022 Summit Content Committee

At Code for America, we have been excitedly working to bring you the 2022 Summit, which will be the first-ever hybrid (in-person and virtual) Summit, and our first time with a physical presence in the Washington, D.C. area. The past two years have catalyzed an unprecedented awareness of the role that government digital service delivery has in creating equitable outcomes, especially for disproportionately impacted communities. At last year’s Summit, we heard about how the COVID-19 pandemic exposed cracks in our social safety net, how our reckoning around racial injustice has led to major changes in the criminal legal system, and how we can redesign systems that uphold and perpetuate inequality. As the question “How do we rapidly respond to moments of crisis?” evolves into “What’s next?”, it’s only appropriate that our Summit theme for 2022 is “Building the path forward together”. 

Our content committee

The Code for America Summit Content Committee serves a very important purpose: curating the public submission process that determines the breakout sessions democratically and inclusively. We assemble the Content Committee every year, drawing in a variety of leaders and experts from nonprofit and for-profit firms that embody our principles of Human-Centered Government and represent diverse perspectives from across our ecosystem, Network, and Staff. This year’s Content Committee includes:

• Alberto Rodriguez, Senior Program Manager, New Practice Lab & PIT University Network at New America Public Interest Technology group 
• Angelica Quicksey, Service Design Manager / Lead, Nava PBC, Board Member, Technologists for the Public Good 
• Angelica Quirarte, Federal Partnerships Director, Tech Talent Project 
• Florence Brown, Head of Communications, Bloom Works
• Hashim Mteuzi, Program Director, Civic Technology Fellowships and Partnerships, Code for America
• Melanie Mazanec, Associate Director, Human-Centered Government, Code for America 
• Michael Cowden, Director of Solutions Engineering, Code for America
• Mohith Rao, OpenSTL, Code for America Brigade Network National Advisory Committee
• Taylor Campbell, Director of Programs, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation

We are so grateful for the hard, caring, important work done by this body and are excited to share some of what went into the development of the Summit experience.

Process

The annual Call for Proposals ran from January 27 through February 10. We received 225+ submissions from 450+ presenters representing 200+ organizations. The Content Committee read through all submissions, with two reviewers assigned to each submission, evaluating for relevance and alignment to Code for America’s principles of Human-Centered Government and the Summit theme, quality, and excitement/draw potential, then organized the submissions to curate a set of ~40 sessions that logistically fit across both days of Summit, both virtual and in-person, and the following four tracks: 

• Operations + Management
• People Power + Community
• Policy + Administration
• Service Design + Delivery

With so many quality submissions, this was an incredibly difficult process! We wish we could accommodate so many more. This was a deeply iterative process that was largely focused on ensuring that each track (and Summit as a whole) would showcase both the breadth and depth of content that is important for attendees, with an eye towards equity, diversity, and representation true to theme.

Statistics

We believe deeply in equitable representation and hope to move the events industry in government and technology towards better practices on this axis. We hope to model this commitment and hold ourselves accountable as well, and in this spirit are sharing the preliminary statistics of the overall submission set and selected slate of breakout sessions. Please note that these figures are still liable to shift slightly and are accurate as of Friday, April 8.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be sharing more about each track, so stay tuned and prepare to get excited. Please keep an eye on the Summit site, and be sure to explore all the breakout sessions that have been added so far.

And thank you to everyone who submitted a proposal for the 2022 Summit —we appreciate your enthusiasm for our flagship event and your shared commitment to our vision of Human-Centered Government.