Month: March 2016

mRelief Launches at Y-Combinator Demo Day

Smart Chicago

Smart Chicago partner mRelief launched a new tool to make public assistance more accessible. See more here on Tech Crunch. Here’s a rundown of the support we’ve provided mReleif over the years:

In November 2014, Smart Chicago provided $15,000 through our CivicWorks Project, which is funded by the Knight Foundation. Here’s a blog post about that and other investments. mRelief has gone on to receive a Knight prototype grantand a Knight News Challenge grant on their own.

Also since November 2014, we’ve hosted text-messaging for three of their programs: Early Learning, RTA Ride Free, andMedicaid, under our Developer Resources program.

In January 2015, we conducted a CUTGroup test for mRelief— see the results here. Rose Afriye of mRelief wrote a guest blog post about the experience: The Civic User Testing Group and Other Listening Strategies.

Smart Chicago partner Purple Binder created their first API in July 2013. Smart Chicago funded this work in order to serve our Smart Health Centers project.  In January 2015, mRelief integrated with this API, which implements the Open Referral standard.

In August 2015, we worked with mRelief to add the Chicago Early Learning Finder into their service and integrate it with our Chicago Early Learning Portal project.

mrelief home page

 

Smart Chicago’s FOIA Fest 2016 Data Crunching Session

Denise Linn

On Saturday, March 12th I participated in the 4th annual FOIA Fest in Chicago. This is how the conference is described on its website:

This daylong conference, featuring more than two dozen journalists and other FOIA experts, kicks off national Sunshine Week, a time to celebrate the importance of access to public information. FOIAFest is made possible by the generous support of the Chicago Headline Club, Loyola University Chicago and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

I led a hands-on session on intermediate Microsoft Excel for researchers and journalists. Using Chicago’s 2012 – 2015 Lobbyist Compensation Data, we walked through analysis tips and tricks and built pivot tables. The goal was simple: let’s walk through how someone might take a dataset and begin to tell a story with it.

You can see all the slides from the session here:

Here is the screencast video from the session:

Announcing the April 1st Connect Chicago Meetup: Arts & Tech Training with Street-Level, Little Black Pearl, After School Matters

Denise Linn

At our next Connect Chicago Meetup, we will discuss arts & tech blended learning programs and best practices. We will hear from Little Black Pearl, Street-Level Youth Media, and the After School Matters Arts & Tech Fair. Lunch will be served.

Come join a cross-sector discussion about Chicago’s STEAM programming. Come meet and network with computer trainers, nonprofit professionals, teaching artists, technologists, and fellow residents who care about digital access & skills in Chicago.

Event: Arts & Tech Training with Street-Level, Little Black Pearl, and After School Matters

Where: The Chicago Community Trust

When: Friday, April 1st from 11am to 1pm

RSVP at this link. 

Special guests include:

  • Armand Morris, Little Black Pearl’s Technology Instructor
  • Daniel Marques, Production Manager for Street-Level Youth Media
  • Dan Godston of the April 9th After School Matters Arts and Tech Fair at Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center

Our first featured program is Little Black Pearl (LBP), a nonprofit serving youth in the Kenwood/Oakland, Woodlawn, and Bronzeville neighborhoods. According to Little Black Pearl’s website:

LBP works diligently to counter the challenges urban youth face by providing a safe environment, positive role models, and rigorous program and skill development activities and opportunities. Our 18-year history has successfully proven that it is possible to marry art and entrepreneurship through real life application of talent, interest and skills.

The second featured program is Street-Level Youth Media. Street-Level offers in-school and after-school electives, mentorship, multi-media workshops, and professional development.  Street-Level’s mission is rooted in the intersection of art, technology, and media:

Street-Level’s programs build critical thinking skills in youth who have been historically neglected by policy-makers and mass media. Using video and audio production, digital arts, and the Internet, Street-Level’s young people address community issues, access advanced communication technology, and gain inclusion in our information-based society.

The April 9th After School Matters Arts and Tech Fair at Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center will highlight programs and organizations across the city including Chicago City of Learning, Spoken Word Academy of Chicago, Smart Chicago, and the Level Up Robotics Team. The fair will also feature teen performances. Dan Godston will give the Connect Chicago Community an overview of the event and its mission.

Members of Chicago’s public computing and digital learning community come together every month to learn, share, and collaborate. Join us! Sign up at Meetup.com.

Arts + tech

 

 

The Case for Expanding Technology Programs in Arts Infusion

Suzy Connor

suzy connor headshotAt the risk of preaching to the choir, here’s the rationale for expanding the Arts Infusion programs to include technology, especially at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center.

Perhaps Van Jones describes it best in this brief video.

The demand for talented tech professionals with skills in coding, web and app development, cyber security, etc. affords unprecedented opportunity for digitally-native teens in a growing field that is also stressing both racial and gender diversity. The Chicago-Cook Workforce Partnership has compiled profiles on five areas of job growth in the information technology sector here.

Based on this and other data, the Mayor and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) set a 5-year goal in 2013 to add computer science as a graduation requirement for all high school students. With the overwhelming support of the tech sector, this goal was attained years ahead of schedule when, on Feb. 24th, the School Board voted to institute the computer science requirement with freshmen entering high school this Fall. This makes Chicago the first major District in the nation to take this step, positioning the region as a potential hub for young people of color in tech.

Local tech companies and nonprofits are playing a key role in this movement by providing equipment, labs, boot camps, hackathons, internships, and incubators for enterprising teens with an interest in coding, gaming, website development, apps, and tech start-ups. Examples of these out-of-school offerings include: Youth-Led Tech, Blue 1647, Black Tech Mecca, and Coding While Black.

The Steering Committee of the Arts Infusion Initiative is committed to ensuring that our young people who are ensnared in the criminal justice system are not left out of this promising trend. Arts Infusion has proven the effectiveness of exposing teens at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center (JTDC) to digital music and other arts instruction that connects them to new skills and interests. The 5-year evaluation by the Urban Institute confirms that a common motivation for participants is the desire to translate their newly-acquired knowledge and networks into a career. Examples of successful Career and Technical Education (CTE) projects are gaining recognition, such as the Chicago Math and Science Academy students who recently launched Rogers Park Creators, a student-run web design and multi-media company. Teens are also eager to apply tech skills to problems they face, such as the two Holy Trinity High School students who won a national contest by creating an app designed to reduce teen suicide.

Inroads are also being made with adults at the Cook County Jail through a pilot project undertaken by Edovo which provides specially-designed tablets to inmates to expand digital learning with funding from the MacArthur Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust.

Connect Chicago Meetup Recap: Chicago Public Library Internet to Go Program

Denise Linn

Members of Chicago’s public computing and digital learning community come together every month to learn, share, and collaborate. Join us! Sign up at Meetup.com.

At the February Meetup the Connect Chicago Community learned about the Chicago Public Library’s Internet to Go Program, a Wi-Fi hotspot lending program that lets Chicagoans take Internet access home with them.

Representatives from the Cara Program, Safer Foundation, LISC Chicago, Instituto Progreso Latino, CompTIA, Microsoft Chicago, Comcast, the Smart Health Centers program, the Benton Foundation, and more gathered together to learn and collaborate. Michelle Frisque, Chief of Technology for the Chicago Public Library was our featured speaker for the Meetup.

The Internet to Go Pilot in Chicago was launched in 2015 and funded by the Knight Foundation and Google. The first three branches to receive Wi-Fi hotspots for lending (100 in each) were the Greater Grand Crossing Chicago Public Library Branch, the Douglass Chicago Public Library Branch, and the Brighton Park Chicago Public Library Branch. All of these pilot branches were in neighborhoods with below average broadband adoption.

Since the initial pilot, the Internet to Go Program has expanded. Here is Phase 2 of the program:

Phase 2 - Connect Chicago Internet to Go

Here is Phase 3:

Phase 3 Connect Chicago Internet to Go

This demand for technology lending speaks to the evolution of Chicagoans’ information needs and the changing role of public libraries in the Digital Age. Pew Internet & American Life has done some surveying on this very topic — highlighting citizens’ changing expectations for services at libraries and low-income Americans’ higher reliance on library resources.

Michelle overviewed the short and long-term goals of the Internet to Go program:

Goals Connect Chicago Internet to Go

Of course, access is only one piece of the puzzle. The Wi-Fi lending program itself is complimented training by other services offered at the Chicago Public Library.  CyberNavigator program, for instance, places digital trainers in branches for walk-in assistance. CyberNavigators provide one-on-one support and class support to patrons. This support ranges from assisting with resume building and job searching to helping with general online navigation.

There is also a website where residents can review the Internet to Go Wi-Fi hotspots. Here are a few samples of resident reviews:

Internet2Go Reviews

Chicago Public Library has tracked the lending data on Internet to Go as well as the Surface kits and Chrome kits available at the libraries:

Circulations Connect Chicago Internet to Go

Perhaps most interesting was the information that Michelle had to share about who used the Internet to Go Wi-Fi Hotspots. The largest portion of users made less than $25,000 per year.

Survey Income Connect Chicago Internet to Go

Thank you to everyone in the Connect Chicago Community – all trainers, program heads, coordinators, and advocates who enriched the discussion on technology access gaps and programming in our city.

Below are the resources from the February Meetup. Share and circulate!

  • The Meetup slides
  • The Chicago Public Library slides
  • Meetup notes including community announcements & call-outs (add your own!)
  • To learn more about the Internet to Go Program, see resident reviews, and or hold a hotspot for check out, go here.