Public Interest Technology is not a luxury for only some universities, Andreen Soley writes. Instead, we need to create a broad-based network of universities to grow a civic technology field that reflects student demographic trends. The demographics of high school graduates are shifting fast. Over the next 10-15 years, Hispanic high school graduates are
What responsibility do universities have in preparing public policy students for a world increasing informed by data and technology? David Eaves, a lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and Ben McGuire, a Kennedy School student delve into this issue. Over the last several years, a fascinating trend has emerged among students applying
Lili Gangas is the Chief Technology Community Officer at the Kapor Center. She advises inclusive tech entrepreneurship projects and many initiatives in Oakland, such as the Oakland Startup Network, TechHire Oakland, and the Kapor Center Innovation Lab. We spoke with her about how to make the field more diverse and inclusive of people from varied
We’ve pulled together a list of places to help those working in government rethink their procurement processes. These are just a starting point. If you have an undiscovered procurement gem, please tweet us @wearecommons and let us know! Getting Started 18F’s guide to Modular Contracting and Agile Delivery provides many resources for those looking
Michael Knapp is the CEO and founder of Green River, a software design and development firm that has worked extensively with local governments. He is passionate about social justice, and his firm’s most prominent recent project has involved working with cities to end homelessness. We spoke with him about his experiences with the government procurement
The city of Seattle, Wash, has been changing the way they deal with homeless populations, and gathering data to drive some evidenced-based solutions. Now, with clear incentives and data collection, employees have a path forward for helping the homeless. But will it work? Journalist Rebecca Gale investigates. Homelessness was on the rise in Seattle. In 2015,
Mariel Reed served as an Innovation Strategist for the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation, where she helped grow Startup in Residence into a national network connecting cities with startups. She recently founded CoProcure to help local governments find, buy, and share high-quality technology products from a more diverse group of vendors via streamlined,
Leonard Hyman is a Program Performance Auditor with the City of San Jose. He has a strong interest in civic innovation, good governance, emerging technology, and digital media. His career has spanned the public, private and nonprofit sectors with an emphasis on technology and public affairs. In June 2014, I lined up outside Fairfax
The city of Austin, TX, has been iterating their tech and innovation hiring practices and has just completed a restructure that moves from a fellowship model to one that will integrate technologists into city positions. We sent The Commons co-editor Sara Hudson to learn more about how they hire and get buy-in from city agencies.
Nigel Jacob is the Co-founder of the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, a civic innovation incubator and R&D Lab within Boston’s City Hall. He is a former Urban Technologist-in-Residence at Living Cities, currently a board member of Code For America and coUrbanize, and is an Executive-in-Residence at Boston University. We spoke with Nigel twice,