Your vote matters! 🗳️
Code for San José November 2020 Newsletter on voter FAQ and community project updates
👋 Welcome
Hello friends! We’re only 2 months from the end of this year, but there is still time to be engaged in San José and the Bay Area! Today (Tuesday November 3rd) is Election Day!
🗳️ Your Vote matters!
This General Election, there’s a lot on the ballot with the potential to affect community services: local measures, local races, statewide ballot propositions, statewide races, Congressional races, and the Presidential race!
Where to drop off my ballot?
- Ballots returned at a secure ballot drop box or a voting location must be deposited by 8:00 p.m. tonight November 3, 2020.
- Find official ballot drop-off locations in the Bay Area and in California.
Missed the October 19th deadline to register to vote?
- Eligible voters may go to the Registrar of Voters Office or any vote center on Election Day to conditionally register to vote.
Voting in person
- Voting in person? Wear a mask, save lives.
- In-person voting ends tonight November 3rd at 8pm PST.
Where to track my ballot?
- Track your ballot to ensure it gets accepted and counted.
For all of your voting needs and questions, visit the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters site.
✏️ Code for America Updates
Code for America is taking a census of Brigade volunteers so that we can learn more about who makes up our awesome community. Please take 5 minutes to respond to the Brigade Network Census.
“Enfranchisement and representation are critical to a democracy that can serve all people — including the most marginalized — through policies that impact our ability to live our lives freely.”
Code for America registered more than 7,000 new voters through GetCalFresh. Read more.
💡Brigade Congress Highlights
From October 13–18, we participated in virtual Brigade Congress, hosted by Code for Pawnee. It was an inspiring week, learning and connecting with brigade members across the US!
We learned that state contractors — who received portion of the money from each application they process — took advantage of safety net clients by kicking people off safety net programs. Learn more by watching Keynote: Poverty is not a tech problem with Amy Jo Hutchison and Rene Joy.
We learned how brigades are growing a Team during COVID-19. We also participated in the BIPOC listening session with Amanda. You may also want to check out recordings for Ka Maka ʻĪnana — Towards Placed-based, human centered and Indigenous design, Police Reform and Racial Justice with People Budgeting, and Qualitative Research and Healing Justice.
View all Brigade Congress recordings and notes on Discourse.
🎉 Code for San José Project Highlights
We hosted three civic hack meetups in October. 44 volunteers met to work on eight projects.
- BayAreaCommunity.org added ballot drop off locations data and updated school meal sites to their website.
- Virtual services for inmates team drafted guidelines for a secure tech-based curriculum. We are collaborating with SJSU Record Clearance Project. We are looking for a partner to test the approach.
- Since September, we conducted 35 design audits of state benefit applications of California, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and North Dakota! Our design audits will be added to Code for America’s 50 States Assessment.
- SMS helpline for tenants beta version is live!
For more project updates, view our civic hack night slide deck.
🍁 Leadership Changes
We recently restructured our Executive Team. Thank you to our outgoing leadership teammates Erika, Emily, Sunny, Lorin, Michelle, Kate, César, and Minh.
We welcome the new team: Annie & Yan-Yin: Executive Directors, Dane: Director of Member Engagement, Lena: Director of Data Analytics, Darren: Director of Backend Engineering, Diane: Director of Design & Usability, Karen: Assistant Director of Design & Usability, Diana: Director of Project Management, Joey: Director of Frontend Engineering, Ryan: Director of Fundraising, Trace: Assistant Director of Backend Engineering, and Marketing committee members Namrata and Hattie.
Open positions: Director of Recruitment, Director of Marketing, and Newsletter Producer. Interested? Reach out to Annie and Yan-Yin on our Slack workspace.
⏲️ Census 2020 Wrap-Up
Great job, San José! Santa Clara County as a whole exceeded its response rates from 2010. Thank you for responding to the Census to ensure our community receives the resources we need for the next decade. The countdown for Census 2030 starts now!
ℹ️ Local COVID-19 Resources
- Get tested for COVID-19 in Santa Clara County for free.
- Find out what’s open in your county.
- Visit BayAreaCommunity.org to find food, legal, health, and cash assistance.
- For local updates, visit the Santa Clara County Department of Public Health’s website.
🐰 That’s all, folks!
Join us for our virtual meetups on November 12 and November 19!
Until next month, take care, and let’s keep up the good work!
Yan-Yin and Lena,
Code for San José Executive Team
This newsletter was originally published on Mailchimp.
