If you missed last week’s mRelief presentation at OpenGov Hack Night – we’ve got the video below:
Twitter was a big fan of the project! Here’s a sampling of the tweets below
Knight Foundation
Launch of Roll With Me
The Smart Chicago Collaborative is proud to announce the launch of Roll With Me – an app that gives transit directions for the those who use wheelchairs.
mRelief: Mobilizing social service relief in Chicago
Last week marked the launch of mRelief, a site that simplifies the social service qualifying process with an easy-to-use form that can be accessed online and through SMS. Residents can check to see if they’re eligible for a variety of programs including food stamps, medicaid, WIC, and more. Here’s the press release by mRelief creators on day of launch.
mRelief is made by an all-woman team hailing from different backgrounds and walks of life dedicated to making an impact with technology. Smart Chicago has supported mRelief under our CivicWorks Project funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
mRelief is already deployed at the Martin Luther King Jr Community Services Center. The Community Service Centers are run by the City of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services. DFSS Community Service Centers help individuals and families in need access a wide range of resources from shelter, food and clothing to domestic violence assistance, job training/placement and services for the formerly incarcerated. Staff members are using mRelief to help streamline the process of evaluating their eligibility. The mRelief team has also partnered with Purple Binder to refer residents to other useful local resources if they are ineligible for public assistance.
CivicWorks Project Extended
Big update on our CivicWorks Project— it has been extended and we’re getting lots more work done.
The Civic Works Project (formerly known as the Civic Innovation in Chicago project) is program funded by the Knight Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust to spur support civic innovation in Chicago. The program’s original goal was to produce 200 content pieces, 5 apps that solve government problems, and 5 apps that solve community problems. We also ran the Illinois OpenTech Challenge through the grant as well.
Chicago Cultural Center launches Textizen campaign with Smart Chicago
The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs has launched a Textizen campaign to get feedback on their new Public Art Plan. The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is dedicated to enriching Chicago’s artistic vitality and cultural vibrancy.
Textizen is an SMS based survey tool that civic organizations can use to get resident feedback. Organizations can create a survey campaign and then place the survey options on posters, postcards, or on screens during live events. Organizations can then receive real time feedback as people text in their answers.
Chicago Cultural Center
Smart Chicago Collaborative is a local service provider for Textizen under our CivicWorks Project. Smart Chicago will work with you to design a campaign, signage advertising your survey, and help manage the campaign.
There is no cost to organization for this service, but organizations will be responsible for their own printing.
You can get more information about our Textizen program here.
Civic Innovation Toolkit: How to run a civic hackathon
The Smart Chicago Collaborative has helped to run several civic hackathons including last year’s National Day of Civic Hacking events in Chicago. To help with this year’s National Day of Civic Hacking, we wanted to post how we organize and set up these events. We also wanted to go over tips and hazards to look out for when organizing these events.
Safer Communities Hackathon at Google Chicago
