User:Aliblack007/Draft article on Civic Innovation

Overview
Civic Innovation has been defined by Tina Lee as a "new idea or method that improves the lives of citizens, the functions of cities, the practice of citizenship, or the state of community affairs” The concept is an umbrella for various types of projects such as: open data, participatory urbanism, budgeting, hackathons, crowdsourcing, placemaking, ... Civic innovation suggests that government act less as the producer of solutions and more as a facilitator who empowers others to be producers of solutions. Civic innovation occurs at all levels of government: city, state, and federal and across cities around the world.

A Brief History
2009
 * Todd Park
 * Jay Nath and Alissa Black launch the nation's first city-wide Open Data program with an Executive Directive from then Mayor Gavin Newsome
 * Code for America is launched by Jen Pahlka

2010
 * Nigel Jacobs and Chris Odgood launch Mayor Menino's Office of New Urban Mechanics in Boston

2011
 * SF.CITI is launched in San Francisco

2012
 * Jay Nath and Shannon Spanhake co-found Mayor Lee's Office of Civic Innovation in San Francisco
 * Jeff Friedman and Story Bellows co-found and launch Mayor Nutter's Office of New Urban Mechanics in Philadelphia

2014
 * California College of Arts creates a Civic Innovation focus within their Design MBA program. Not enough people applied to continue the Civic Innovation focus.


 * other cities??


 * PIF program created??

Supporting Institutions/Organizations/Groups

 * Bloomberg Philanthropies
 * Omidiyar Network
 * Knight Foundation
 * Code for America
 * Daughters of the Internet Revolution

Civic Innovation Companies

 * Textizen
 * LocalData
 * MindMixer
 * Socrata

Civic Innovation People

 * Shannon Spanhake, former Deputy Innovation Officer of San Francisco Mayor's Office of Civic Innovation
 * lets all add our names!!

Books/References

 * If Mayors Ruled the World
 * Civic Innovation as the 4th Sector
 * Citizens and Civic Problem Solving
 * City of San Francisco: A Startup Called Government

Civic innovation is a term often used to describe projects, policies, and technologies that enhance the relationship between residents and governments. The term is also used to describe community-led activity that positively impacts communities and neighborhoods.

Civic innovation, as a term, has generally been adopted by researchers, technologists, non-profit leaders, and foundation professionals. But at present it is not a term that has been widely adopted by two groups critical to the success of civic innovation projects - ordinary residents and government staffers that serve the public.