DistrictBuilder Wins 2nd Place in Open Data for Good Challenge

We are thrilled to announce that DistrictBuilder won 2nd place in the Open Data for Good Grand Challenge. The Open Data for Good Challenge sought to reward the most creative and high-impact uses of open data in digital tools that solve problems for the public. The challenge was inspired by The Opportunity Project (TOP) which is a program at the U.S. Census Bureau that is used by federal agencies to catalyze digital tools with open data. TOP brings together government, communities, and technologists to create data-driven tools that address our nation’s greatest challenges using federal open data.

The goals of TOP and the Open Data for Good Challenge spoke directly to DistrictBuilder’s mission. DistrictBuilder is an open-source software solution and public engagement tool that uses census data in order to put the power of drawing electoral maps in the hands of the citizens to support a fair and equitable redistricting process. DistrictBuilder is a tool that was created in an effort to bring together community members, fair redistricting advocates, and members of the government to promote a more transparent redistricting process.

So- what will we do with our prize money? Funny you ask! The DistrictBuilder team has been interested in building out competition features for quite some time. We’d like to use the prize to start working on these features. But we need your help! We need map drawers and DistrictBuilder users like you to submit feedback and suggestions. We want to ensure that we are building the best tool for our users and are confident that your input will best inform these new features.

Here you will find a brief survey regarding feedback for potential new features. This survey is for any DistrictBuilder user- whether you are a redistricting advocate, work in government to collect plans from the public, someone who has participated in a competition, or simply a redistricting nerd. Click here to access the survey.

If you’d like to contact us directly, please don’t hesitate to email us at districtbuilder@azavea.com. We look forward to your suggestions. Subscribe to our newsletter for more updates on new features and training webinars!