Use Your Coding Skills to Solve Civic Problems in Code for America
If you have programming or design skills, you can use this talent to help improve communities by working on projects for city officials.
Code for America has been around for several years, creating open source software aimed at improving government services – applications such as a public school search engine for parents in Boston and a streamlined small business permit application site for entrepreneurs in Santa Cruz.
A nonprofit organization provides citizens with the opportunity to become more actively involved in the work of their government. If you have an hour, you can use the Civic Tech Issue Finder to find open projects, or if you have a free night, you can head to Brigade, regular hacking evenings in certain cities. Code for America also has a one-year scholarship (but applications for 2016 are closed), which is similar to the Geek’s Peace Corps.
Unlike the previously mentioned Free Code Camp , which teaches you coding and helps nonprofits , Code for America is for seasoned technologists, but if that’s you, it’s worth a look if you’re interested in “civilian hacking.”