DC faces a serious challenge: it’s hard to find information about the health, human, and social services that are available to people in need.
There are many such resources in our community, but there isn’t any one way that information about them is produced and shared. Instead, many organizations make their own directories of services. This costs a lot of time and energy, and only results in a bunch of redundant, fragmented silos.
As a result, many people never discover services that could help improve their lives. Service providers spend precious time verifying data rather than helping people. And without easy access to this information, it’s hard for decision-makers to evaluate community health and program effectiveness.
DC’s safety net is in disarray. To fix it, we have to fix this first.
What are we going to do?
Through a partnership with Bread for the City, the DC Department of Human Services, Code for America and Google.org, the DC Open211 project is undertaking an innovative new approach to solving this problem.
We’re helping service agencies in DC speak the same (data) language, so that they can share the same directory information. [Read more about our plan in DC.]
When we succeed, it will be easier for people in need to find services that will help them, easier for service providers to connect people with better care, and easier to understand how resources are being allocated and used in our community.
The technology we need to accomplish this already exists. It just needs to be implemented! [Read more about the technology here.]
In partnership with other pilot projects (like San Francisco), DC Open211 can break a path that other cities across the country can follow.
How can I help?
We have already secured a pledge of $25,000 from a private donor for our DC lead organizer. This pledge is a matching challenge: we must secure another $25,000 by the end of August. This will fund the DC initiative for our first year.
You can help us fix DC’s safety net. Please make a donation to Bread for the City (our fiscal sponsor) here, or in the window at the top right of this page.
Thank you for your support!
In partnership with:
