City of Austin

City representatives officially welcomed Code for America to Austin today, Feb. 15, touting its visit as an opportunity to improve government efficiency and public access through web-based technology.

The City of Austin is one of only eight cities to be selected to participate in this year’s Code for America Fellowship Program.  Three Code for America Fellows are spending a month in residence talking to City staff and the community about programs, processes and potential web-based solutions.

The City of Austin was selected for its commitment to engaging a motivated community and forward-thinking approach to openness and government transparency.  Other selected cities include Chicago; Detroit; Honolulu; Macon, Ga.; New Orleans; Philadelphia; and Santa Cruz, Calif.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for not only the City of Austin organization, but especially the residents we serve and the vibrant technology community we support,” Mayor Lee Leffingwell said.  “I’m excited for our staff to work together with Code for America to help us better engage our community.”

The intent of the fellowship program is to help local governments keep pace with the community they serve by creating and implementing new applications and by demonstrating new ways of resolving local challenges.  The program provides a new form of public service giving tech-savvy individuals an opportunity to utilize their knowledge of technology to give back by assisting local governments in becoming more open, efficient and better service providers for their residents.

“As a government organization, it’s important that the service we provide aligns with Austin's innovative spirit and world-class technology sector,” said Council Member Laura Morrison, Chair of the Council’s Emerging Technology and Telecommunications Committee.  “This partnership will certainly move us further in that direction.”

The program provides each selected city a team that is assigned to develop innovative, web-based solutions to challenges that face local government.  After a competitive selection process, fellows are chosen and represent the country’s most talented Web developers and designers.  Twenty-six were selected nationwide out of the more than 550 applicants.

The Austin team arrived two weeks ago and will be here throughout February.  The fellows will then return to Code for America headquarters in San Francisco to develop their ideas for implementation later this year.

The Austin team includes:

• Joe Merante, an Internet lawyer, policy analyst, entrepreneur, musician and Web developer.  He co-founded a business networking company and worked at a music publishing agency before attending law school.  During his research fellowship at the Institute for Information Law and Policy, he contributed to Peer to Patent and open government research and completed legal internships at Creative Commons and eMusic.  Since passing the New York bar exam, he has built websites for healthcare practitioners and nonprofits.  He’s earned a bachelor of art’s degree from Berklee College of Music and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from New York Law School.
• Emily Wright Moore, a designer and graphic artist focused on usability and visual storytelling. Moore has worked for several Bay Area groups including Banned by the Bay, Red Ink Studios and Intersection for the Arts, where she researched and co-designed Golden Rules as part of the Prison Project.  In 2006, she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration at the California College of Arts.
• Aurelio Tinio, a Web developer with more than 10 years of experience.  Besides the fellowship, Tinio works as the Lead Software Engineer at The Bay Citizen.  He received his computer science degree at UCLA while working at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  After continuing his interest in the space industry at the X PRIZE Foundation, he decided to move to San Francisco to explore opportunities.  He previously has worked at Tippit Inc. as a Senior Software Engineer, designing, implementing and managing Focus.com’s property.

The Austin Code for America team is encouraging participation in the Code for America National Day of Civic Innovation Feb. 25.  Web developers will able to get involved in projects suggested for Austin by utilizing information on data.austintexas.gov.

The Feb. 25 event in Austin, known as “Code Across America ATX: A Civic Innovation Codeathon,” will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Conjunctured, a co-working space at 1309 E. Seventh St. For more information, visit the Code for America Austin team's website.

"We couldn't have arrived at a better time to help the City of Austin pursue its commitment to a more open, participatory government," Merante said.

Code for America team member Wright Moore, a native Texan, agreed.

"I'm excited to be back in my home state of Texas, working within City Hall,” she said.  “This month we are trying to meet and talk with as many people in the community as possible.

“We want to fully understand the current challenges the City of Austin is facing,” Wright Moore said.  “We are working together with the City and the community to harness technology to make it easier for citizens to engage with the city, as well as appreciate and maintain its charm."

About Code for America

Code for America helps governments work better for everyone with the people and the power of the Web. Founded in 2009, Code for America’s Fellowship Program connects developers and designers with city governments to work together to innovate.  In 2012, Code for America is connecting 26 fellows and eight cities. The Code for America Accelerator, launching in late 2012, will support “disruptive” civic startups.  The CFA Brigade organizes civic-minded developers, designers, data scientists and community leaders to address community problems and projects.