National Day of Civic Hacking to improve government-resident partnerships

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the "Hack Tahoe" Code for America Brigade are partnering to enhance the effectiveness of government through the use of technology.

This new partnership brings community members together through Code for America, a non-profit organization on a mission to make government services simple, effective, and easy to use. Code for America has launched more than 2,300 projects with 100 government partners. Local Code for America chapters are called brigades and are organized by local volunteers.

"Collaborating with strong government partners is key to building an effective brigade, which is why I'm absolutely thrilled to announce TRPA as our first government partner," said Ben Damman, lead organizer of the Hack Tahoe Brigade.

Government partners bring subject matter expertise, outreach skills, public administration, and valuable experience around solving the toughest problems in our cities. Brigades support local governments by working together on events and civic technology projects.

"TRPA is committed to delivering better services to the public through innovation and new technology. We will work directly with the community to create the improvements they want to see," said Joanne Marchetta, Executive Director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. "By working with Hack Tahoe we will be better equipped to use technology to address our area's environmental, economic, and societal needs."

A National Day of Civic Hacking event is taking place June 4 and 5 at the new Mountain Lab building in South Lake Tahoe. National Day of Civic Hacking is a nationwide day of action where developers, government employees, designers, journalists, data scientists, non-profit employees, UX designers, and residents who care about their communities come together to host civic tech events leveraging their skills to help their community.

"Hosting a Code for America event at the Mountain Lab leverages the amazing engagement the members of our community are known for," said Jamie Orr, CEO of Mountain Lab.

Hack Tahoe welcomes all community members who wish to support their cause - regardless of their level of technology expertise.

Visit http://tinyurl.com/hacktahoe to RSVP. More information about the Hack Tahoe Brigade is available at http://hack.tahoe.coop. Information about Code for America can be found at http://www.codeforamerica.org.