Civic Tech in Practice

If you are interested in technology for social change, and want to learn examples of solutions that really work, join an inspiring meeting with Marnie Webb - the CEO of Caravan Studios, a division of TechSoup, organised by TechSoup Europe and Koduj dla Polski THIS TUESDAY.

Caravan Studios build apps that help communities organize, access, and apply local resources to their most pressing problems. These are Community Developed Solutions.

Marnie will share how Caravan Studios engages the community in defining problems and developing solutions. It is this method of working with people that is the basis of the success and usability of the solutions created at Caravan Studios.

Safe Shelter Collaborative (https://www.safeshelteronline.org) is an example. It’s a free collaboration platform for shelters, victim assistance specialists, funders, and community members - who want to help survivors find safe secure shelter when they need it most. The Safe Shelter Collaborative also helps these placements happen more quickly, reducing the average amount of time to find appropriate shelter from hours or days, to minutes. Moreover, it's an example of a great commitment to protecting the privacy of clients and institutions restraining themselves from collecting data that is not absolutely necessary.

Marnie was named one of the Top 10 Silicon Valley Influencers by San Jose Mercury News, she is a sought after writer and speaker on innovation, community, and the social web. She won NTEN “Person of the Year” award and was included in to the Nonprofit Times’ list of the 50 most influential leaders in the U.S. nonprofit sector and is the initiator of the NPTech tagging experiment.

On Tuesday you have the unique opportunity to talk to Marnie about Caravan Studios' working methods, what worked and what not, what they are still learning. It's also a meeting of the Code for Poland community #122 hacknight of Koduj dla Polski