“Test City, USA” is how David All likes to think of Columbus. The nickname refers to the city’s well-known reputation as a test market for major corporations, but to All, Columbus is also the perfect test market for community empowerment.
“I’d like people to see the Columbus that I’m seeing,” said All.
The Columbus he sees is a city with a unique culture of collaboration that provides the best proving ground for structural change. That’s why All founded CivicHacks, a group dedicated to jump-starting commercial innovation for community benefit; creating “the Google that will end homelessness.
All and CivicHacks will participate in this year’s National Day of Civic Hacking on May 31 through June 1. The national event, supported by President Barack Obama’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, brings together engineers, software developers and other tech-minded innovators with one goal in mind: improving their communities.
More than 11,000 people took part in the first National Day of Civic Hacking last spring. Civic hacking events were held in 83 cities across the country, but Columbus was not one of them. All wants to change that by bringing civic hacking to his hometown in 2014.
On May 31, CivicHacks will present six challenges facing Columbus: unemployment, homelessness, education, food access, transportation and public art. Following a discussion of the challenges and idea pitches, teams will form and spend the next 24 hours coming up with inventions and innovations that will solve these problems. On June 1, a panel of judges will choose a winning team for each challenge.
Once the six winners have been chosen, “that’s when the real work starts.”
Each winning team will receive a grant, funded by donations and tickets sold by CivicHacks, as well as other resources including office space and branding. CivicHacks hopes that with those resources, the winning teams will be able to form companies that will not only empower this community, but spread to others across the nation. All likens these companies to “civic guinea pigs.”
“If we can do it here,” said All, “it can just replicate because of technology.”
Columbus has what All calls an “organic culture,” something he considers essential for innovation. To All, the city is full of civic hackers, some of whom he has interviewed for the CivicHacks.org blog. As for what it takes to be a civic hacker, All lists three criteria; “civic-minded, wildly curious and fun.”
With those three traits, “the rest will all come together.”