Civic Innovations

In late February and early March, a series of civic hacking events will take place as part of the new Code for America Brigade program.

More than a dozen events will take place from Honolulu to Philadelphia and places in between.

One of the primary goals of this new program from Code for America is to galvanize civic hackers across the country to add to a growing collection of applications that will make up a new “Civic Web.” The Brigade program in general, and these events specifically, are a great way for groups of coders and technologists in cities across the country to plug in to what is going on in the larger world of civic hacking.

• How does what your local collective of civic hackers is doing line up with what other hackers are focusing on?
• Have you always wanted to get a civic hacking movement going in your city, but were unsure of how to get started?
• Do you wish your city had an open data catalog like those in other cities that are the centerpiece of far reaching open data efforts?
• Do you just like getting together with other technologists to hack on solutions, and you’d like to try your hand at standing up a civic app to make your neighborhood or city a little better?

Any one of these is a great reason to get involved in the Code for America Brigade program.

If you haven’t signed up to be a part of the Brigade, you should. You can also join the CfA Brigade Google Group and keep up on all that is happening to get ready for the events across the country at the end of the month.

If you live in a city that is planning a Brigade event, you should go. If not, you should consider organizing one – it’s not hard to do, and you’ll get lots of help from the Code for America team.

Join the Brigade and get hacking!