High School Students Going Online to Propose Fixes to City Laws, Learn Civics and Engage with Their Aldermen and Clerk
Last night, The OpenGov Foundation’s Executive Director Seamus Kraft and Chicago Clerk Susana Mendoza went on WGN-TV’s Politics Tonight to discuss Envision Chicago, a new online civic engagement initiative where city high schools students propose improvements to their city laws, compete to earn $1,000 scholarships for the best solutions, and work together with their elected officials to build a better city.
To watch their appearance on Politics Tonight, click here.
“Technology is the critical infrastructure of our daily lives, of our work lives, but why not our civic lives?” said Kraft. “No one understands that better than students who live their lives on their smart phones. And if government isn’t meeting the next generation of our leaders where they are, on the internet, they’re not going to know what to do when they’re in charge.”
When asked about why The OpenGov Foundation picked Chicago, Kraft immediately responded, “Chicago is one of the most engineered, community focused places on earth. What better place to plant a flag for better government and for future government than this?” Earlier in the day, Kraft and Clerk Mendoza visited Marine Leadership Academy at Ames with Ward 26th Alderman Roberto Maldonado and Lake View High School in Ward 47.
Commenting on the classroom visits, Clerk Susana Mendoza said, “You should’ve been at those schools with us today, those kids were so pumped up, they were totally excited. It was just food for my soul, frankly. We know that given the opportunity to tell students that we actually care about their ideas, that they, themselves, can help make Chicago a better city everyday by just communicating with us.”
During the show, Kraft explained the larger goal of The OpenGov Foundation’s dedication to the city of Chicago, “The whole point of what we’ve done with the Clerk and with Envision Chicago is to lower the barrier between high school students or any citizens and the city’s most important information: it’s laws and it’s legislation. That is the core dataset for the city of Chicago!” Clerk Mendoza understands the stakes and explained her stance from the Office of the City Clerk, “The laws belong to you! They don’t belong to me. We keep the records, but they should be free and open to the public.”
Last Friday, Envision Chicago kicked off with close friends, partners, sponsors and students learning how the initiative will open this critical dataset to ideas from the city’s future leaders. When speaking to students, Clerk Mendoza explained that Envision Chicago is “going to give you the ability to once again feel proud about your city. Because you, yourself, can make a difference by sharing those ideas with us about what you would do differently if you were in my shoes.”
This first round of Envision Chicago includes Marine Leadership Academy at Ames in the 26th Ward, Chicago Excel Academy of Roseland in the 34th Ward, Taft High School in the 41st Ward and Lake View High School in the 47th Ward. We hope to bring this incredible online civic engagement opportunity to all 50 wards by the end of 2016.
The best student solution in each ward wins the student(s) who proposed it a $1,000 scholarship. The scholarships and Envision Chicago are made possible by the generous support of Microsoft Chicago, The Smart Chicago Collaborative, Haymarket, ComEd and Comcast. In supporting Envision Chicago, the Commissioner of the Chicago Public Library, Brian Bannon, said, “We look forward to seeing students’ great ideas for improving our community, and continuing to work with Clerk Mendoza, the City Council and The OpenGov Foundation to share Envision with the future leaders of Chicago in all 50 wards.” Lisa Kim, the Youth Commission Director at Mikva Challenge, discussed the reasons for her support of Envision Chicago by saying, “The face of civic participation is changing—there are growing opportunities for us to reshape how citizens interact with their government. By ensuring equitable access to these channels, civic tech may unleash a new way for under-heard voices to be co-authors in the policy-making process itself.”
Learn all about the Envision Chicago project at ChicagoCode.org/Envision.
The post ICYMI: WGN-TV’s “Politics Tonight” on Envision Chicago Featuring Chicago Clerk Mendoza & OpenGov Foundation’s Seamus Kraft appeared first on The OpenGov Foundation.