User:Lavarball13/sandbox

Article Evaluation
Article: Code for America - Code for America (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_for_America)


 * Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
 * Everything in the article is very relevant to the article topic. However, I think the biggest topic missing in the article is how Code for America is relevant today and what projects they are currently working on. In the article, the author really only goes in depth on past accomplishments and projects
 * Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? / Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * The article is neutral and unbiased. However, something to note is that the article only highlights the accomplishments of Code for America. Perhaps there are not any controversies that gave them a bad reputation, but it is important to note that this article was positively neutral.
 * Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
 * Yes, all the links work and support the claims in the article.


 * Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
 * Yes, each fact in the article is referenced to sources all the way up to the present year 2022. Most of the information comes from a primary source in Code for America's actual website (codeforamerica.org). These sources potentially may be biased as Code for America could be feeding biased information that would present their company in their favor.
 * Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * The types of suggestions that other users left on the Talk page of this article are similar to the points I have made above. For example, a user stated that the article was in fact written in neutral pose, but only provided information that was in favor of the company. Another user stated that more detail should be added into the article.
 * Talk:Code for America

Choose Possible Topics

 * 1) Code for America
 * 2) I think I could improve this article by validating sources, adding more details in the current article, and go more in depth into the current state of the company Code for America. Also, I could try to make this article less 'biased" by trying to highlight more general facts rather than facts that portray the company in a positive manner. I could also add a lot more graphics to the article to make it more presentable and informative to readers.
 * 3) Open Government Partnership
 * 4) Similar to the article above, I could improve this article by 'updating' it in a sense. In this article, there is a lot of information regarding the history of the organization and what its purpose is, yet it there is somewhat outdated information regarding how the OGP is relevant today. Again, this article lacks in a visual sense, so I could incorporate many graphics.
 * 5) Knight Foundation
 * 6) I think I could improve this article for the same reasons of the 2 articles listed above. Additionally, this article is interesting and has a lot of potential, but can not be shown as the article is quite short. I think with more research from secondary and tertiary sources, I could level up this article to be far more informative and complete.

Finalize your topic/Find your sources

 * Code for America Code for America
 * I can add many components to this article. For one, this article lacks a lot of information and details regarding current statuses of the company. Also, just by adding objective facts, I can try to shift this article's tone from trying to highlight and sweet-talk the company to one that is strictly informative and neutral. I would also like to add many graphics to this article, whether it be images related to Code for America or more informative graphics that contain statistics to better immerse the audience into the article.

Potential Sources:


 * 1) https://skoll.org/organization/code-for-america/
 * 2) https://www.audaciousproject.org/grantees/code-for-america
 * 3) https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/code-for-america-launches-new-initiative-to-expand-its-work-with-state-governments-and-transform-americas-social-safety-net-301415556.html
 * 4) https://codeforamerica.org/
 * 5) https://luminategroup.com/investee/code-for-america

Start Drafting Contributions to Existing Article
Components to add to Code for America article


 * 1) Information and details regarding the current status of the company
 * 2) Tweak the tone, diction
 * 3) Graphics

About Code for America
'We are people-centered problem solvers showing that it's possible.' Code for America is essentially the bridge between useful government systems and citizens in dire need of help, but can not access them. A large population of American citizens in poverty are not connected and exposed to these government resources that they are eligible for-- almost $60,000,000,000 worth of potential benefits for these people in need remain unclaimed every year, while Code for America has raised nearly $16,000,000. Additionally, just 1 in 6 homes report a lack of sufficient food for children. Thus, Code for America strives to tear down the barriers of poor communication, long application processes, and low accessibility to ensure that these resources are being put to optimal use for those who need them the most.

Today, Code for America has 3 branches of program areas: health, criminal justice, and workforce development.

Team Code for America
Amanda Renteria - CEO

Arlene Corbin Lewis - Chief Communications and Marketing Officer

Emily Tracy- Chief Revenue Officer

Leslie Campbell- Chief of People, Equity, and Operations

Lou Moore - Chief Technology Officer

Ryan Ko - Chief of Staff

Yasmin Fodil - Deputy Chief of Staff

Recent and Successful Code for America Events

 * Successful Remote and Distributed Work in Uncertain Times
 * Just days after the world shut down and logged online because of COVID-19, Code for America held a virtual event to educate citizens on how to safely interact with the government and stay proactive and successful during the pandemic.
 * Code for America hosted guest speakers and volunteers from organizations such as:
 * 18F
 * U.S. Digital Service
 * Nava Public Benefit Corporation
 * Truss
 * Together, meetings consisted of ways to
 * Hold meetings productively online
 * How to collaborate with other groups
 * Receive advice for managers, managing vendors
 * Stay mentally and physically healthy
 * The virtual event was recorded and is accessible on https://codeforamerica.org/events/successful-remote-and-distributed-work-in-uncertain-times/


 * Reimagining 911 (9th Annual National Day of Civic Hacking)
 * Code for America states that as the 911 government emergency response line is one of the most interactive between citizens and the U.S. government, it is essential that the response team sends appropriate help, as they state that a response team is never 'one-size-fits-all.' The goal of Code for America's event, in collaboration with Transform 911, was to garner thousands of volunteers to evaluate years of data from the 911 emergency response team to create various types of projects to reach their goal of making emergency response 'truly human-centered.'
 * At this event in September of 2021, Code for America began by holding a panel of board members of Tucson Police, Transform 911, and Code for America to discuss the importance and accessibility of the nationwide emergency response hotline, and how it strives to be completely 'human-centered.' Then, over 1,000 volunteers and committee leaders split into groups to conduct several case studies, data analysis, and prototype projects.
 * Code for America Summit 2022
 * Code for America Summit 2022 was an in-person and online event with a theme of 'building the path forward together.' Their 4 pillars of change were:
 * Service Design + Delivery Policy + Administration  Operations + Management  People Power + Community
 * That is, Code For America strives for change and improvement in government systems with these annual summit events. As Code for America recognizes the plans for change to be more equitable and efficient laid out by the government, the yearly summit seeks to make these plans a reality. Through guest speakers, breakout and networking sessions, keynotes during this two-day conference, Code for America was able to network changemakers from all around the world.

Respond to peer review
You did an excellent job of adding new and important information to the already existing article. The tone is for the most part neutral but I believe to eliminate any bias it would be best to remove language that highlights Code For America. For example, when you state "Just days after the world shut down and logged online because of COVID-19". Perhaps you could remove the "Just days" section as it persuades us in believing how fast and efficient they were. Additionally, I would try to use a greater variety of sources as the majority originate from Code For America's website. But overall the content added is great and up to date! Gobears18 (talk) 03:18, 18 October 2022 (UTC)


 * First off, I really appreciate you taking time to review my article. One thing I did struggle with was to try to keep the tone un-biased, so I appreciate the advice for that. And I agree, I do need to diversify my sources better. Thank you

Great job on this article, adding new and relevant information. My best suggestion would be to start inserting hyperlinks for topics which have Wikipedia articles. I also agree with the above comment regarding wording, but every else is neutral in my eyes. I may be wrong, but I don't think it's recommended to use the website of the article you're working on, as a source -- so maybe try to find other outside articles which mention the same things and use those as sources instead of citations 7-10, also, you can remove duplicate citations 8 and 10 if you'd like. Really good work! SeenaBerkeley (talk) 04:01, 18 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Again, thank you so much for reviewing my article. I agree, I think hyperlinks would be really beneficial as some of my terms/people are not familiar with the audience. And yes, like I said above as well, I'm going to work on the diction. Finally, I am going to try my best to find more sources. Thank you!

Begin moving your work to Wikipedia
In addition to adding more information, hyperlinks, citations, and images to the sections above, here are some more pieces of information I want to incorporate into the article:

Code for America Partnerships (in addition to the existing "partnerships" section)

Code for America and the city of Austin, Texas joined forces in 2012 to tackle common city problems.

Code for America State Partnerships (in addition to the existing "partnerships" section)

15 states have claimed and planned to partner with Code for America in hopes of fulfilling their goals. In May of 2022, Code for America announced their first collaboration with 4 states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana) through the "Safety Net Innovation Lab." This first cohort of states was funded over $100,000,000 by The Audacious Project and Blue Meridian Partners. These investments are in efforts to create public benefits more accessible to all and provide a "social safety net" for every and all Americans. Their goal was to unlock $30,000,000,000 worth of benefits for citizens. Each state had its own baseline / theme for improvement:


 * California:
 * In collaboration with the California Department of Social Services, Code for America promotes the 'SNAP' outreach method for public benefits, aimed specifically at those without knowledge and/or literal access to them.
 * Colorado:
 * In collaboration with the state of Colorado, Code for America seeks to simplify online applications and ways that citizens can access basic needs such as childcare, healthcare, food, and cash assistance.
 * For example, after research, it was concluded that the main source for information for housing for Colorado residents is the website HousingBoulder.net. As the website was presented as overwhelming and intimidating for a majority of users, Code for America worked to revamp the page to make it far more straightforward and engaging for citizens to use and seek public benefits that they may have missed out on.
 * Connecticut:
 * In collaboration with the Connecticut Department of Social Services, Code for America networks out to these citizens who can not access public benefits and gathers feedback on what they are experiencing. Then, the two will re-evaluate and improve ways to hear from Connecticut residents. For this partnership, the main area of improvement is food assistance.
 * Louisiana:
 * In collaboration with the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, Code for America plans to improve promotion of 'SNAP' outreach for citizens. Similar to Colorado, they will seek to simplify application processes. And similar to Connecticut, the main area of improvement is food assistance.

Continue improving your article
I will be adding a section called 'Achievements' highlighting statistics on how their work improved the well-being of Americans and what they've done to reach their mission statement.

MNbenefits

MNbenefits is a specific initiative branch of Code for America that to help citizens specifically of the state of Minnesota. Throughout the duration of MNbenefits, Code for America, in parternship with the Minnesota government, has achieved an 80% reduction in the time taken to apply for the governmental benefits in Minnesota, processing a total of 25,000 applications. Users report that it took them a mere 12 minutes to complete an application versus an hour prior to the renovation. Their main 'safety net benefits' were food assistance, cash programs (Diversionary Work Program, General Assistance, MN Family Investment Program, MN Supplemental Aid, Refugee Cash Assistance) emergency assistance, housing support, and child care.

GetCalFresh

GetCalFresh is another specific initiative branch of Code for America that unlocks benefits for California citizens in every single county in California. It is the bridge between these underrepresented citizens and the governmental program CalFresh, California's version of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The main purpose of GetCalFresh is for California citizens to receive monthly benefits and funding to help people buy food. As of the year 2019, GetCalFresh was able to help more than 6,000,000 receive the benefits they were missing out on.

Polish your work
I will be expanding on multiple sections reorganizing the article to be more cohesive and chronological. Also, I will be adding images and linking my article to others.