Hi I’m Cris Cristina, an experience designer, and this is but one example of why I code for America. About a year ago I got pulled over for having a busted headlight and had to go downtown to pay my ticket. When I walked in to the police administration building, I was utterly dumbfounded. EveryoneRead… Read more »

When I applied to code for America, I was asked what I was passionate about. I wrote about my fascination with people and societies. Broadly, these have been questions that frame my world: What makes us tick? What makes communities work? What common threads can we find and which differences do we need to respect?Read… Read more »

The failure of the federal levee system during Hurricane Katrina changed the way I think about the world around me. I was 20-years-old, but I understood for the first time that our cities are what we make them. They are the culmination of countless human decisions—both personal and social, across the generations. The causes ofRead… Read more »

Meet BizFriend.ly, an online resource where entrepreneurs can find free, easy-to-use tools to help them start, run, and grow their businesses. BizFriend.ly was created as part of a year-long partnership between Kansas City, Mo. and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., and Code for America. Working in close collaboration with representativesRead… Read more »

This post is part of an ongoing series by Code for America mentors. Zachary is a 2013 mentor at Code for America for the startups program. I work with governments because, when operated well, they can improve the lives of so many people. I work with civic startups at the CfA Accelerator because, when operatedRead… Read more »

In many ways, the Code for America Summit is a three-day celebration of the the amazing government officials who make up the CfA Peer Network — and the important, often challenging work they do as public servants to drive civic innovation in their cities and counties. With representatives more than 86 cities attending this year,Read… Read more »

It all started with a tweet: @sf311 GG Park sprinklers on full blast this AM; ground already soaked & mud starting from heavy fog – very wasteful, anything you can do? Earlier this year, in September, CfA’s Cyd Harrell gave a talk at TEDx Sacramento on hacking civic engagement through design. During her talk sheRead… Read more »

This is a guest post by Robert Read, a Presidential Innovation Fellow known for his work on RFP-EZ. Change the game through prototypes, Be a samurai: a loyal hacker, Be fast rather than good, Stand on the shoulders of giants, Scrape, don’t bow, and Be prepared to work outside the system. 1: Change the gameRead… Read more »

Code for America held its annual Summit in San Francisco last week and Joel and I were honored to have been part of the presentation. We’ve both been involved with Code for America for some time, and its amazing to realize all the organization has done in just a few short years. This year’s SummitRead… Read more »

Heather Hudson is the recently-appointed Chief Data Officer for the City of Baltimore. Though Baltimore has long been recognized as a leader in data-driven decision making, having pioneered the Baltimore CitiStat performance management program, the role of Chief Data Officer is new to the Mayor’s Office of Information Technology. In this new role, Heather isRead… Read more »