Government Innovation

Collaboration between citizens and government leads to innovation.

Members in Code for KC Brigade

Roundtable Meetings with Code for America Fellows and Cities

Community Leaders Reached

Opportunity

A Kansas City-based municipality-to-municipality innovation network can improve local government services by developing open data applications, eliminating duplication of effort, enhancing collaboration and cohesion, and sharing resources. Examples include Internet applications to streamline permitting processes, allow citizens to report maintenance needs and optimize parking in congested areas.

Our goal is to develop a community initiative for citizen and business innovators to work with city halls to devise ways local governments can function and interact with citizens in more efficient, economical and user-friendly ways.

Solutions

Engage citizens in focused discussions to determine what specific services and functions could benefit from high-speed Internet connections and new digital applications.
The two Kansas Cities should collaborate in pursuing corporate and foundation support, as well as state and federal grants, to support government innovation.
Work with MARC and local governments across the region to develop strategies for incorporating technology into improved government services and communications.
Engage citizens in government decision-making processed through technology.
Use technology to enhance customer service and responsiveness.
Implement technology solutions to support enhanced public safety, particularly in high-crime areas.City could change the face of health care across the country.

Projects in action

National Smart Coalitions Partnership

A national cross-sector network to accelerate more
sustainable and resilient cities

MetroLab Network

The MetroLab Network is a consortium of city-university partnerships across the US that fosters collaboration between local governments and academic researchers and practitioners. Faculty and students get access to real-life laboratories to test advanced approaches aimed at addressing city priorities and challenges.

Code for KC

Kansas City’s civic-hacking superhero brigade. Code for KC was established in 2013 as the “leave behind” of the Code for America Fellowship program. It has been a program of KC Digital Drive since 2014, and includes a network of hundreds of active civic hackers working on open-source, open-data projects that benefit the community.

IEEE Smart Cities Initiative

Massive technology trade association IEEE selected Kansas City as one of five core cities to participate in the global Smart Cities Initiative.

Hack Kansas City: The National Day of Civic Hacking

HackKC 2015 was a two-day hackathon co-organized by the Code for KC Brigade and KC Digital Drive and held at the UMKC School of Law. More than 40 hackers advanced 7 projects.

Civic Tech Forum and Apps Showcase

Created for Code for America’s CodeAcross celebration, the Civic Tech Forum and Showcase brought together 29 City Council Candidates and civic app developers for an innovation summit at Union Station.

News

Code for America program increases access to EITC through virtual tax assistance

Every year, households miss out on about $10.5 billion in Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) money. This cash is available to many low-income workers, but not all eligible workers claim this benefit due to the barrier of filing taxes. These benefits are crucial for the financial stability for these people. To help these households claim […]

mySidewalk uses data to tell compelling, human stories that can lead to real, impactful change

Nicolette Wallis, Data Storyteller at mySidewalk, spoke at Code for KC’s Learn Night on October 21, 2019. Nicolette gave attendees a crash course on using data to tell stories that create change. Nicolette began her presentation with a quote from writer and entrepreneur Nancy Duarte that set the tone for the remainder of the night: […]

Unified Government uses design thinking to procure and implement software solutions

Abby Eccher, Performance and Innovation Project Manager at the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas joined Code for KC for a Learn Night on July 15, 2019. Abby discussed the process she uses to procure and implement software solutions and how she is modernizing it. Eccher began by explaining her approach to […]