At Chi Hack Night, the Modeling Pension Reform Breakout Group shared their work so far and helped to explain the problem with pensions in Illinois. The breakout group, led by Ben Galewsky, David Melton, Nathan Pinger, Denis Roarty and Tim Sharko, is comprised of volunteers trying…
As part of the CivicWorks Project, we maintain a Textizen instance so that local nonprofits and government agencies can get feedback from residents. Our most recent partnership was with the Chicago Department of Transportation and their placemaking survey. We wanted…
There’s still time left to register for United Cerebral Palsy’s Innovation Lab. Smart Chicago will be co-hosting an event where we hope to bring together designers, makers, manufacturers and assistive product aficionados among others at Innovation Lab for a competitive,…
At Smart Chicago, use social media significantly to help spread the word at our events as well as to share what’s happening at different civic events throughout Chicago. We’re going to go over a few tips and tricks for using social…
Karen Sheley, staff attorney at the American Civic Liberties Union of Illinois, stopped by Chicago’s OpenGov Hack Night to give an overview of the ACLU’s work and describe how they use data to inform their advocacy. The ACLU has a long…
One of the most common pieces of advice I give to civic innovation communities that are just starting up is to start with small wins. Chicago’s civic innovation ecosystem has been up and running for awhile and we’re currently working…
