2000115-Strengthening-Communities-with-Neighborhood-Data

Progress in Data and Technology 107
of data in local public and social enterprises. DataKind, an organization
founded in 2011, brings together leading data scientists with community
organizations to provide help with data collection, display, and analysis
for “positive action through data in the service of humanity.” The organization’s
work ranges from short-term weekend “DataDives” to up to six
months’ placement of a technical staff person in the nonprofit. This type
of community training and technical assistance has also been delivered
by local actors. Chapter 5 discusses the evolution of the use of data in
community development efforts in Chicago in Testing the Model and the
collective impact perspective of the role of data in initiatives such as Strive.
Even with the new technological environment, state and local governments
still grapple with legacy computer systems programmed in
antiquated languages. In these cases, accessing the data remains timeconsuming
and cumbersome, sometimes controlled by a limited number
of gatekeepers. The systems prevent either government agency staff
or residents from accessing the data for improving operations or setting
public priorities. Code for America was founded in 2009 to leverage
private-sector energy and innovation to help address this issue. Code
for America seeks to introduce advanced skills and technology into local
government by pairing top technologists with local governments for
one year to complete an open source civic technology project. Examples
include a system in Detroit for collecting data from observational
surveys and a website in New Orleans, Louisiana, to allow residents to
view the city status of blighted properties. The time-limited effort has
the potential to result in broader impact in three ways. First, Code for
America leaders report that their one-year program often catalyzes new
thinking in local government partners that extends to other technology
decisions. Second, the products in many cases are being spun off to
independent companies in hopes of spreading the innovation to other
cities. Third, the Code for America efforts have tried to shift innovative
technologists’ image of government as a stagnant, hopeless bureaucracy
to an important institution that provides vital services and is worthy of
their professional time.
Finally, nonprofits and governments have a responsibility to recognize
and mitigate the differential access to the new wealth of data and technology.
In some ways the digital divide has narrowed. As documented
by a Pew Research Center report, about 70 percent of African Americans
used the Internet in 2011, double the share in 2000. Latinos showed a
similar pattern of increase, with 68 percent accessing the Internet. These