20 Civic-Minded Technologists Chosen as Code for America Fellows
San Francisco, CA, November 03, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Code for America today announced the 20 civic-minded developers, designers, and researchers selected for the inaugural class of Code for America fellows. In January 2011, these fellows will participate in the service-year program, coming together in San Francisco to build innovative web applications for city governments across the country.
Code for America, a new non-profit loosely based on Teach for America, recruits the top talent from the technology industry to give a year of service helping city governments innovate through social technology. “The program is designed to join the best thinking from the web industry with the best thinking from municipal government,” said Jennifer Pahlka, founder and executive director of Code for America. Through a competitive process, Code for America has chosen cities whose proposals reflected a deep understanding of the power that technology can bring to cities. The 2011 Code for America cities include Philadelphia, PA, Boston, MA, District of Columbia, and Seattle, WA. Details about the specific projects are available online (http://codeforamerica.org/2011-cities-projects/).
Through the summer of 2010, the organization held an open application for the fellowship and received over 360 applications for the inaugural class, resulting in an acceptance rate of 5.5 percent. The fellows were selected through a rigorous process involving interviews, essays, and case problems with the input of a Fellow Selection Committee made up of industry leaders. Members of the selection committee included Irene Au (Google), Lane Becker (GetSatisfaction), Paul Buchheit (Facebook), Anil Dash (Expert Labs), Kelly Goto (Gotomedia), Nick Grossman (Open Plans), Dustin Haisler (City of Manor), Scott Heiferman (Meetup.com), Clay Johnson (InfoVegan.com), Matt Knox (Twitter), Michal Migurski (Stamen), Jay Nath (City of San Francisco), Craig Shapiro (GOOD Inc), and Rashmi Sinha (Slideshare).
The selected fellows will receive not only a living-wage stipend, travel expenses, and healthcare, but also the training and connections to support a leadership role in civic technology, either in the public sector or as an entrepreneur in this emerging market. Part of the program includes the month-long Code for America Institute, developed by author David Eaves, in which experts from technology and government will host training sessions on the vital intersection of politics and technology. Other benefits of participation include guaranteed interviews at multiple internet companies, such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as networking, mentoring, and support from Open Government leaders.
The 2011 program will be based in San Francisco, where fellows will spend the majority of their time in order to share resources across the teams, engage in training and development exercises, and connect with mentors and speakers from the Silicon Valley and San Francisco-based technology community. In the month of February, the fellows will be embedded on-site in their assigned cities, working hands-on with city officials to understand their needs and develop the project. Throughout the 11-month development cycle, the fellows will participate in various public engagement events, including a launch conference in September 2011 in San Francisco. After the projects are completed, all Code for America projects will be made freely available to any other city who can use them.
Biographies of the 2011 Code for America fellows are available here: http://codeforamerica.org/2011-code-for-america-fellows/
About Code for America
Code for America (CfA) connects the talent of the tech industry with local governments to make cities more open, responsive, and efficient. Inspired in part by Teach for America, CfA recruits civic-minded, tech-savvy individuals to work with industry and governmental leaders to develop innovative applications that can be used in cities across the country. http://codeforamerica.org
Contact Information
For media inquiries or more information, please contact:
Abhi Nemani, Code for America
618-322-2220
abhi@codeforamerica.org
###
Code for America, a new non-profit loosely based on Teach for America, recruits the top talent from the technology industry to give a year of service helping city governments innovate through social technology. “The program is designed to join the best thinking from the web industry with the best thinking from municipal government,” said Jennifer Pahlka, founder and executive director of Code for America. Through a competitive process, Code for America has chosen cities whose proposals reflected a deep understanding of the power that technology can bring to cities. The 2011 Code for America cities include Philadelphia, PA, Boston, MA, District of Columbia, and Seattle, WA. Details about the specific projects are available online (http://codeforamerica.org/2011-cities-projects/).
Through the summer of 2010, the organization held an open application for the fellowship and received over 360 applications for the inaugural class, resulting in an acceptance rate of 5.5 percent. The fellows were selected through a rigorous process involving interviews, essays, and case problems with the input of a Fellow Selection Committee made up of industry leaders. Members of the selection committee included Irene Au (Google), Lane Becker (GetSatisfaction), Paul Buchheit (Facebook), Anil Dash (Expert Labs), Kelly Goto (Gotomedia), Nick Grossman (Open Plans), Dustin Haisler (City of Manor), Scott Heiferman (Meetup.com), Clay Johnson (InfoVegan.com), Matt Knox (Twitter), Michal Migurski (Stamen), Jay Nath (City of San Francisco), Craig Shapiro (GOOD Inc), and Rashmi Sinha (Slideshare).
The selected fellows will receive not only a living-wage stipend, travel expenses, and healthcare, but also the training and connections to support a leadership role in civic technology, either in the public sector or as an entrepreneur in this emerging market. Part of the program includes the month-long Code for America Institute, developed by author David Eaves, in which experts from technology and government will host training sessions on the vital intersection of politics and technology. Other benefits of participation include guaranteed interviews at multiple internet companies, such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as networking, mentoring, and support from Open Government leaders.
The 2011 program will be based in San Francisco, where fellows will spend the majority of their time in order to share resources across the teams, engage in training and development exercises, and connect with mentors and speakers from the Silicon Valley and San Francisco-based technology community. In the month of February, the fellows will be embedded on-site in their assigned cities, working hands-on with city officials to understand their needs and develop the project. Throughout the 11-month development cycle, the fellows will participate in various public engagement events, including a launch conference in September 2011 in San Francisco. After the projects are completed, all Code for America projects will be made freely available to any other city who can use them.
Biographies of the 2011 Code for America fellows are available here: http://codeforamerica.org/2011-code-for-america-fellows/
About Code for America
Code for America (CfA) connects the talent of the tech industry with local governments to make cities more open, responsive, and efficient. Inspired in part by Teach for America, CfA recruits civic-minded, tech-savvy individuals to work with industry and governmental leaders to develop innovative applications that can be used in cities across the country. http://codeforamerica.org
Contact Information
For media inquiries or more information, please contact:
Abhi Nemani, Code for America
618-322-2220
abhi@codeforamerica.org
###
Contact
Code for America
Abhi Nemani
6183222220
codeforamerica.org
Abhi Nemani
6183222220
codeforamerica.org
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