If after reading this article you would like to find out more about the Humboldt Park Smart Communities Program or how to power your community work, please feel freet o contact me at esalgado@bickerdike.org

Faced with countless urgent demands, working in neighborhoods that typically have few technology resources, shackled by budget constraints, community organizations and nonprofit partners don’t often have the time or money to bring in anything beyond the most basic IT support.

And the tech world, focused on e-commerce and the endless next big thing, hasn’t had a consistent interest in low- and moderate-income communities. That doesn’t have to be the case, however. At a session at a recent information technology conference in Chicago, a panel of presenters offered a clinic to interested techies on how to get involved with local community issues. It was quickly apparent that community development IT can be a lot more than simply a sharp website for the local community development corporation. “This is an opportunity to work with people who are at a job where every single day they’re in a neighborhood making change. It’s an incredibly exciting opportunity,” said Justin Massa, the data services project director at Metro Chicago Information Center. Massa was one of the three presenters of the workshop, “Civic Hacking,” along with Rishi Desai, the program manager for Humboldt Park’s Smart Communities program (with Bickerdike Redevelopment Corp.), and Demond Drummer, a technology advocate who has extensive experience in community organizing.

Read the entire story at:

http://www.lisc-chicago.org/Our-programs/Smart-Communities/How-Can-Tech-Power-Community-Development.html