Code for America helps cities share resources with townships

The non-profit Code for America is offering cities a unique opportunity to have five highly skilled computer programmers develop resources for them for a base fee of $250,000, which is much less than these programs would otherwise cost. This is great for the cities involved, but also great for other cities and townships like Baldwin because when the programs are finished, they will be released to the public for free.

In 2011, Code for America fellows plan to create a program for the city of Boston to help students engage in their education by interacting on the web, a how-to-manual for the District of Columbia to help other cities create programs similar to their Apps for Democracy contest (which challenges citizen developers to create useful web applications for the city), an open-source mechanism for Philadelphia that will help residents collaborate on neighborhood service activities, and a program to help communities work with one another in Seattle to create safer neighborhoods.

Some of these programs may be aimed at big cities, but Philadelphia's neighborhood collaboration program and Seattle's community-sharing public safety program could be useful to Baldwin.

Baldwin often looks to neighboring townships for examples of possible ordinances and other ideas to help it run better, but this Code for America project opens up a new world. What far away cities or townships might be sharing information that could help improve life in Baldwin?

And how does Baldwin find these ideas?

• Annandale watches special session for broadband help
• DNR pushes ahead with its groundwater planning
• Broadband providers seek $44 million from state fund
• Shifting rain could be lowering groundwater