Martin O'Malley Mingles With Tech Startup Founders - Only 'Digital Native in the Election'
from HuffPo:
To former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, "civic tech" refers to websites, apps, and social media that "connect caring human beings to one another and the problems that we face as a people."
...O'Malley shared that perspective with The Huffington Post last night at the Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where he and a panel of judges heard pitches from civic tech startups focused on a variety of societal challenges.
To give you an idea of the kinds of ideas presented there: The winner of the night's pitch contest was the cleanly designed smartphone app Propel, which impressed the judges with its efforts to make applying for food stamps easier. Propel founder Jimmy Chen told HuffPost that the startup is focused on helping 10 million Americans who qualify for supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) benefits but aren't enrolled to get them -- and to make a profit by helping grocery chains tap into the $11 billion dollars in SNAP benefits that go unclaimed.
Kushaan Shah ?@kushaanshah Oct 21
Incredible speech by @MartinOMalley at his #CivicTech on the power of youth, big ideas, and potential.
His talk, which focused on his record in office and alignment on issues like climate change and student loan debt, was generally well-received at the event, where D.C. politicos in suits and technologists in jeans mixed and mingled enthusiastically.
This is the second such event the presidential candidate has attended, following a civic tech pitch contest and panel in San Francisco, where O'Malley flirted with tech startups and their founders...
A former mayor of Baltimore as well as a governor, O'Malley became nationally known for a more data-driven approach to governing, pioneering programs like CitiStat and StateStat, which tried to make performance measurement part of governance, and opening up more government data, much as the Obama administration has over the past 7 years...
When I caught up with O'Malley after the D.C. forum and asked how he defines the idea of civic tech, O'Malley called it "the use of modern technology for crowdsourced problem solving."
Here's video of our conversation:
Speaking about his favorite examples of civic tech, O'Malley pointed to the creation of the 911 emergency calling system or cities' 311 numbers for reporting non-emergency issues, from potholes to downed trees. Today, city 311 systems increasingly feature reports from local residents using smartphone apps like SeeClickFix, complemented by the occasional tweeting pothole.
"It's just a use of the Internet and common platforms to do what we used to do in the old days with sending off an envelope or calling an 800 number," O'Malley went on to describe civic tech. "Now we can do it instantaneously."
@t_doyle19 and I hanging out with @MartinOMalley earlier. Coolest Presidential candidate. #civictech pic.twitter.com/JLxSTfdYNf
— Walter Deleon (@WalterDeleonDC) October 22, 2015
Here's the part of his address from earlier in the night where he focuses on the potential of young people:
Tyler Gray ?@tylergray Oct 21
@MartinOMalley is the only 'Digital native in the election... Our generation needs someone who gets technology'
Martin O'Malley ?@MartinOMalley Oct 21
I’m hosting a civic tech pitch competition tonight in DC. Join us! http://omly.us/1NnJNN6 @TechCocktail
= new reply since forum marked as read
Here's what that is all about: https://twitter.com/EasyFoodStamps
and why it is so needed:
Navigating a Bureaucratic Maze to Renew Food Stamp Benefits
by Winnie Hu of the NYT (July 23, 2015)
At first, he thought that his $180 a month allotment from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly called SNAP or food stamps, was just late. But as one week turned into another, Mr. Shorter, 78, who lives in a fifth-floor walk-up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, grew more anxious, and hungrier. He stockpiled canned foods from a church food pantry, borrowed $60 from his home health aide and turned to a senior center to help get his food stamps back.
“It’s very hard,” he said. “If I knew it was really going to come, I would not have to worry about the next meal.”
Even as New York City has embarked on a campaign to increase access to food stamps in recent months, Mr. Shorter’s plight illustrates the barriers that remain for those who are already enrolled. Many people who rely on the benefits say they have had to navigate a frustrating and overly bureaucratic process whenever there is a question or issue with their benefits, or when they are required to renew their eligibility. In the confusion, some lose the benefits.
Whole article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/24/nyregion/navigating-a-bureaucratic-maze-to-renew-food-stamp-benefits.html?smid=tw-share
Kudos to O'Malley for highlighting this important cause.
