AKRON, DETROIT, MACON-BIBB COUNTY, AND MIAMI-DADE COUNTY TO SHOWCASE DIGITAL TOOLS THAT ADDRESS CHALLENGES IN HOUSING, MOBILITY, BUSINESS PERMITTING, AND SEVERE HEAT
The Beeck Center and the Centre For Public Impact host virtual demo day for third cohort of the Opportunity Project For Cities, collaboratively developed tools powered by local data
WASHINGTON, October 20 2023 -- The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University and the Centre for Public Impact will host the third annual The Opportunity Project For Cities Demo Day. The virtual event, on November 2, 2023, from 1:00-3:00 pm ET, will feature local governments and community organizations from Akron, OH; Detroit, MI; Macon-Bibb County, GA; and Miami-Dade County, FL as they present the first iterations of the open-data technology tools developed to solve pressing community challenges. The Opportunity Project for Cities is supported by Knight Foundation and the solutions are built with support from technologists provided by Google.org.
Demo Day presentations will showcase the tools and learnings from the 22-week design sprint during which governments worked with their communities to understand, design, and launch a product that meets residents’ needs.
Participating communities include:
- Akron, OH seeks to address issues related to poor housing conditions and challenges related to housing rights by creating a mobile-friendly website visualizing housing complaints, evictions, and property conditions to improve residents’ decision-making.
- Detroit, MI aims to prevent over-surveying of local residents and lack of access to mobility data by developing a data-driven interactive map and report tool to help government staff and residents access data and trends on mobility.
- Macon-Bibb County, GA aims to address lack of access to and knowledge of business permitting processes by building an online roadmap of the permitting process that provides information to residents looking to obtain or renew business licenses.
- Miami-Dade County, FL plans to address severe heat issues facing commuters by creating a tool to allow residents to report on their experience at bus stops, helping with the county’s climate resiliency planning while ensuring residents are heard.
What do we learn from demo day?
Learn how governments, community organizations, and Google.org technologists co-created solutions to local challenges using the power of open data and community engagement. Join us for Demo Day!
The third cohort of The Opportunity Project for Cities partnered local governments and community organizations with pro bono support from technologists at Google.org to design new digital tools that address resident challenges, powered by local data.
Demo Day Event Details:
November 2, 2023
1:00 - 3:00 pm ET
Virtual event via Zoom
Register here
The Opportunity Project for Cities is a program wherein local governments, community leaders, and pro bono Google technologists (including Product Managers, Software Engineers, UX Researchers, UX Designers, and more) work with residents to identify pressing local issues and prototype digital tools that use open data. The program aims to surface new open data technology solutions to address public challenges and foster cultures of government transparency, accessibility, and responsiveness to strengthen trust with residents and lay the foundation for lasting community-driven innovation.
This is the third cohort of The Opportunity Project for Cities and builds upon the successes and learnings from the 2021 and 2022 sprints in communities including Detroit, MI; Long Beach, CA; Saint Paul, MN; and San José, CA, as well as Macon-Bibb County, GA, and Miami-Dade County, FL.
The program was inspired by the U.S. Census Bureau’s The Opportunity Project and adapted for local contexts by the Centre for Public Impact and the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University. The Opportunity Project for Cities is supported by the Knight Foundation, with pro bono technical support from Google.org.
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About The Opportunity Project for Cities
The Opportunity Project for Cities brings together governments, community leaders, and pro bono tech support to address local challenges through the power of open data and community engagement. During the program, cities and counties create a series of customized digital tools that speak to residents’ most pressing needs. The Opportunity Project for Cities builds a culture of government transparency, accessibility, and responsiveness that strengthens trust with residents and lays the foundation for lasting co-created innovation.
The Opportunity Project for Cities was inspired by the U.S. Census Bureau’s The Opportunity Project and adapted for local contexts by the Centre for Public Impact and the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University. The Opportunity Project for Cities is supported by the Knight Foundation and pro bono technical support from Google.org.
About the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University brings together students, expert practitioners, and extended networks to work on projects that solve societal challenges using data, design, technology, and policy. Our projects test new ways for public and private institutions to leverage data and analytics, digital technologies, and service design to help more people. For more information, please visit beeckcenter.georgetown.edu.
About the Centre for Public Impact
At the Centre for Public Impact, we believe in the potential of government to bring about better outcomes for people. Yet, we have found that the systems, structures, and processes of government today are often not set up to respond to the complex challenges we face as a society. That’s why we have an emerging vision to reimagine government so that it works for everyone.
A global not-for-profit organization founded by the Boston Consulting Group, we act as a learning partner for governments, public servants, and the diverse network of changemakers who are leading the charge to reimagine government. We work with them to hold space to collectively make sense of the complex challenges we face and drive meaningful change through learning and experimentation.
About Knight Foundation
We are social investors who support a more effective democracy by funding free expression and journalism, arts and culture in community, research in areas of media and democracy, and in the success of American cities and towns where the Knight brothers once published newspapers. KF.org
About Google.org
Google.org, Google’s philanthropy, brings the best of Google to help solve some of humanity’s biggest challenges combining funding, innovation, and technical expertise to support underserved communities and provide opportunity for everyone. We engage nonprofits and social enterprises who make a significant impact on the communities they represent, and whose work has the potential to produce meaningful change. We want a better world, faster — and we believe in leveraging technology and applying scalable data-driven innovation to move the needle.
Press Contacts:
Joanna Rosholm
Original Strategies
beeckcenter@originalstrategies.com
Elysa Neumann
Communications Specialist
Centre for Public Impact
elysa@centreforpublicimpact.org
202-630-3383
