?? Transform your city with The Opportunity Project

Hello Friend,

Are you curious about how local governments are utilizing open data and human-centered design to spur digital equity? To grow urban tree forests? To support small businesses?

If so, you’ll be excited to learn about The Opportunity Project for Cities (TOPC) in our latest?report?and?toolkit, launched this week! The 2022 program led four teams through a 22-week design sprint to create digital tools that address residents’ most pressing needs. This program was executed in partnership with The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University, Knight Foundation, and Google.org.

• The?report?is a great resource for local governments seeking to apply best practices from the TOPC approach. It includes four case studies, five key lessons, and a program analysis sharing successes and opportunities.
• Our?toolkit?can help local governments chart a path to transform public data into digital tools that address pressing local challenges while building participants’ skills for tech, design, and data use.

Communities involved in TOPC second annual sprint included:?

• Detroit, Michigan?who aimed to accelerate its digital equity initiatives by improving residents’ experiences with prolonged internet outages.
• Long Beach, California?who looked to strengthen the community’s climate resilience by expanding urban forest coverage.
• Macon-Bibb County, Georgia?who sought to support thriving neighborhoods and local residents by removing neighborhood blight.?
• Miami-Dade County, Florida?who planned to support local entrepreneurs and small business owners by lowering the barriers to starting a business.?

Together, the?report?and?toolkit?provide strategies and lessons on how human-centered design can influence technological initiatives, while also identifying new ways to collaborate with community partners and technologists.

We hope your curiosity leads you to check out these resources!

Best wishes,

Brian

???Connect with Brian on LinkedIn

??? See TOPC participants in action

What else we've been talking about

• ????Convening conversations in complexity: Join us in this 3-day online programme exploring theories and practices that support convening conversations in complexity, and how to adapt them to your work.
• ???? ?? ?????Collective imagination practice community: Be part of a network of imagination practitioners, learning together and drawing on a fund to evolve the practice of collective imagination.
• ???Youth4Climate Solutions: The UNDP Rome Centre are looking for young people with bold climate ideas! Submit your proposal by 31st March for a chance to win monetary support and an invitation to the 2023 Youth4Climate event.

???Click here to receive The Public Impact Soundbite in your inbox weekly