/strategic-plan-2015

CFB Goals for 2015

Code for Birmingham Community Impact Plan, 2015

Who We Are

Group Description

This is who we are as a group.

Core Leadership Team

Here is our team:

  1. Captain(s):
  1. Storyteller:
  • Kathleen Hamrick
  1. Community Organizer:
  • Scott Wehby
  • -Erika Bazo
  1. Delivery Lead:
  • David Grieser
  • Matthew Leeds
  1. Municipal Partner:
  1. Data Wrangler:
  • Alexander Grüneberg

What We Want to Do This Year

What does your Brigade want to get done this year? If you're seeking support as an Official Brigade Chapter, your strategy needs to map to one or more of the Code for America Principles for 21st Century Governments.

  1. Inclusivity Promote ourselves as a civic organization, not a tech organization. Reach for optimal community participation. (Principle 2)
  2. Open Data Pass an Open Data policy and aggregate public resource data among other nonprofits in Birmingham, hopefully using OhanaAPI. (Principles 3 and 4)
  3. Cross Collaboration Plan projects with cross-participation in mind. Work closely with other organizations in Birmingham. Spend less time identifying problems, and more time working to fix problems that others have already identified and are already working on. Be more receptive to the community already working on problems, and identify ways technology can help them. (Principles 3 and 7)
  4. Workshop Start a workshop initiative; collaborate with other tech organizations to teach code once a month. (Principle 2)
  5. Buy In Demonstrate how open data can be used. Sell the community of Birmingham on the importance of civic tech. (Principles 7, 5, and 2)
  6. Organization Improve communication and a sense of team among organizers. Ensure a sense of ownership among organizers.

Strategy & Tactics

What strategy and tactics will you use to execute on your goals for the year? A timeline can be a useful way to demonstrate this.

Inclusivity

  1. Host events where people can reach them.
  2. Maintain a consistent presence on social media. Market ourselves as civic here.
  3. Avoid any situations that elevate us above the community.
  4. Make transparency the first priority of any project we engage in.
  5. Sustain and promote our brigade meetings. (still at the end of every month)

Open Data

  1. Pass our proposal and suggestions over to council for deliberation (January 2015).
  2. Ensure we've closely tracked the success and failures of open data in other cities.
  3. Maintain a living document as the bill is being drafted, in Google Docs.
  4. Maintain a healthy relationship with government, enough allies are already convinced that open data is good for everyone in Birmingham.

Cross Collaboration

  1. Use OhanaAPI as an identified stepping stone, a trial run for how we can work closely with other organizations.
  2. Utilize our organizer team to ensure that contact is maintained between these organizations.
  3. Utilize tools (Hangouts) to ensure that organizations have a way to communicate quickly amongst each other.
  4. Become a nonprofit member of Tech Birmingham.
  5. All organizers should seek to participate in at least one other organization's events. Make a point of identifying where Code for Birmingham could collaborate with them, and be responsible for that relationship. (Stay in contact with leadership of another organization, at least through email) Most organizers already do at least half of this.

Workshops

  1. There is already a tech-education effort being organized, so let's work with them (Shirley, Red Mountain Makers) and expand that to include other tech-groups (BOSS, Tech Birmingham?).
  2. Maintain a panel between these organizations. Ensure we have a location and theme for the workshop each month.
  3. Rotate the members/organizers who will be teaching at the workshops.

Buy In

  1. Consistently finish projects such as OpenDisclosure. Plan projects in advance to ensure they are finishable. Maintain a timeline for projects before, during, and after. Project leaders should keep track of this. Every project should:
  • be well researched and understood by whoever is leading the project.
  • have a GitHub repo.
  • if code-heavy, plan API/backend decisions prior to hack night.
  • have a timeline.
  • have a Waffle-board.
  1. Optimize hack nights. See point 1 about organizing projects. The more organized and clear the project is, the easier it is for members to get onboard with them.
  2. We have a great relationship with AL.com. If we make civic tech that is newsworthy, it will gain attention. In that respect having successful civic tech projects helps us in every goal.

Organization

  1. Identify a time where we can meet monthly and discuss things, in an informal atmosphere. Make organizer time and Code for Birmingham seem less like a chore, and more rewarding. A piece of the budget can go towards this.
  2. Find a form of communication we can all check and use regularly. Facebook group isn't cutting it.
  3. Ensure a positive feedback loop exists amongst us.

Using our time

Marcus and Myself will spend 10-15 hours a month on Code for Birmingham.

All other organizers should be able to spend 2-5 hours on Code for Birmingham each month, outside of active participation in scheduled meetings. Let's ensure that those hours feel meaningful and fun, and not like an extra chore. How you spend that time will vary from role to role, but some common things that apply to that time include:

  • Code for America webinars
  • planning a project
  • working on a project
  • meeting with community or government leaders
  • posting to our Twitter or Facebook
  • posting in Google Group
  • community outreach
  • conversing with other brigade leaders or CFA folks
  • making SWAG
  • additional meeting time between organizers
  • small-group hack nights
  • policy research
  • user-testing
  • teaching at a workshop
  • planning an event
  • promoting an event
  • tracking attendance

Within our leadership, we have people who bring different strengths to the table. It's up to everyone to decide how to spend their hours each month, but keep track of it if necessary. Everyone should enjoy doing something on that list, and feel free to switch it up each month.

We all get busy, that's what the 2 hour months are for. =]

Between all of us: 2x(10 to 15) + 8x(2 to 5) = anywhere from 36 to 70 hours of work put into Code for Birmingham each month. THAT'S how we maintain an awesome brigade!

We're ALL volunteering, so in order to make CFB time feel meaningful, always ask yourself, why? Spend time contributing to the brigade in a way that feels rewarding. Ownership of the brigade begins and ends with each of us. We're all accountable for making this brigade and our city the best it can be.

Outcomes

What are the outcomes you’ll see if you’re successful?

  1. Making civic tech an achievable and sustainable effort in Birmingham.
  2. Tight, close knit, well-organized brigade.
  3. Stable hack nights with consistent turnout and consistent input and output.
  4. Gradual increase in Brigade participation among Birminghamians.
  5. Open Data policy, and civic/public datasets we can tap into for projects.
  6. A diverse brigade that closely works with the community of Birmingham.
  7. More organization amongst nonprofits.

Draft Budget(for groups seeking support as an Official Brigade Chapter)

For 2015, Code for America anticipates it can offer Official Brigade Chapters a budget of $5,500 in support. Note: this amount will be pro-rated throughout the year based on when a group joins.

Please draft a budget for how your group will spend this $5,500.

Areas where Brigades often spend money include:

  • regular events, like weekly hack nights and Meetups
    • food, beverage, space, material supplies, etc.
  • large events, like CodeAcross, National Day of Civic Hacking, or CityCamp
    • food, beverage, space, material supplies, speakers, prizes, etc.
  • development and launch of app/projects
    • hosting, marketing materials, etc.

Calendar of Events 2015

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
14 HN 11 HN 11 HN 8 HN 13 HN 10 HN 8 HN 12 HN 9 HN 14 HN 9 HN
28 BM 22 CA 25 BM 22 BM ?? NDOCH 24 BM 22 BM 26 BM 23 BM 28 BM
?? Summit

Not yet listed: monthly organizer meetings, any additional events (CFA Summit, Innovation Week 2015?)

Legend

  • HN: hack night
  • BM brigade meetings
  • CA: CodeAcross
  • NDOCH: National Day of Civic Hacking

Budget for 2015

TOTAL FUNDS from CFA: $5,500

SWAG: $400 Hosting and APIs: $500 Food and refreshments: $100 per hack night, $50 per brigade meeting, $300 for NDOCH and $300 for CA - (rollover extra drinks, utensils, etc) = $2000 Tech Birmingham Membership: $500

CodeAcross: $100 prize. Venue* food* swag* National Day of Civic Hacking: $100 prize. Venue* food* SWAG*

*** Venue could be discount or free. Food and SWAG costs covered above.

Additional Events: ~$1,000 Organizer meetings: $70 per month = $840

TOTAL: $5440