Why We Invested: Civic Hall and Civic Hall Labs
The civic tech sector is growing. We’re seeing a significant growth of civic tech oriented Meetups spread across the country, more innovation offices in cities than ever before, and new funds accelerating the civic tech ecosystem. This is exciting because now it is more important than ever to better connect citizens, and government to ensure citizen voices can be heard, and local government services can be effective, efficient and responsive to the needs of residents. At Omidyar Network we will continue to invest, provide support, and pursue learning opportunities to advance enhanced government service delivery and public participation, in order to ensure that people receive services they need and hold government accountable.
Since opening its doors in New York City in 2015, Civic Hall has become a hub for the fast growing civic tech ecosystem, with a diverse membership of more than 100 organizations including many civic tech startups, big tech companies, government agencies, foundations, media, think tanks, and community groups coming together regularly to network and create solutions to serve the public. In this time, it has brought more than 25,000 people together at over 500 hundred events including forums, workshops, hackathons, and demos. Leading members of the Civic Hall community have strengthened their organizations with tangible results including winning legislative victories, finding critical early-stage capital, winning prestigious and competitive placements in incubators, and launching new civic tech platforms like CivicGraph.io and Councilmatic.
At Omidyar Network we believe that creating the right spaces for these diverse groups to convene, collaborate, ideate, and experiment is essential to growing the civic tech sector. That is why we have invested $4 million to support the continued growth of Civic Hall, and the launch of Civic Hall Labs. Civic Hall Labs is a nonprofit research and development arm of Civic Hall that designs and develops pilots that leverage 21st century digital tools to create measurable impact with the ability to grow and scale in areas such as social justice and public health.
We are particularly excited about Civic Hall Lab’s Motherboard program, an initiative dedicated to the study and advancement of civic tech, and a critical investment in maturing the sector. Termed the “Motherboard Project” for the way in which it will serve as a circuit board that enables information sharing across the industry, this will be the civic tech sector’s first and only full-time knowledge and development center. It will be dedicated to regularly updated reporting, analyzing what is working, establishing consistent analytical standards, and promoting the access and adoption of this resource as the core processor for the field.
In addition to Civic Hall providing a physical space for community members to come together around public interest technology, Civicist is a clear voice from Civic Hall sharing news and perspectives on the intersection of civic technology, policy, and democracy.
These investments will help Civic Hall and Civic Hall Labs grow their diverse network of multidisciplinary problem solvers within New York City and beyond, and better define the value and impact of the whole civic tech field.
