Author: Greg Bloom
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Joining Up Data Standards: the U.S. Data Federation and beyond
We’re pleased to announce that Open Referral is one of the first seven initiatives to be featured by the U.S. Data Federation, a new initiative from the federal General Services Administration, in association with Data.Gov, to promote the effective use of civic data through interoperability. As the GSA explains in its introduction of the new…
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The Civic Imagination Fellowship with Civic Hall Labs [UPDATED with video]
I’m excited to share that I’ve been invited to join Civic Hall Labs as part of their inaugural cohort of Civic Imagination Fellows. Civic Hall is a community center civic innovators located in the Flatiron District of New York City. It was started by the proprietors of the Personal Democracy Forum, which is a conference and…
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The 2016 AIRS style guide: newly open sourced!
The Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (www.airs.org) is the trade association for ‘information and referral’ providers across North America — such as 2-1-1s, Area Agencies on Aging, and other organizations that help people connect to services that can meet their needs. The AIRS Style Guide puts forth a formal set of recommended practices for collecting,…
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New Philanthropy Capital: Joining the Dots
Last October, I had the opportunity to visit London and spend some time learning about the UK social sector, at events such as the excellent NPC Ignites conference. On this trip, I was impressed by people’s sense of pride in the country’s long history of public service provision. But I also heard clear notes of…
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Annual Review wrap-up: the path ahead
In 2014, we formed a table and conducted research. In 2015, we initiated action. In 2016, we’ll put these ideas to the test, and learn from our work. Based on your feedback so far, here’s what that might look like… (This note is far from a final word on the matter — please share your…
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2015 in Review: who’s doing what, where and why
In the last blog post, we discussed the different technological products that have emerged through Open Referral. [See our entire 2015 Year in Review here.] In this post, we’ll discuss the different projects in which people are using these tools to find new ways to share and use information about the health, human, and social services available…
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2015 in Review: the building blocks of an open ecosystem
A world in which information about community resources is easy for anyone to find, trust, and effectively use — in whatever way works best for them. This is Open Referral’s hopeful vision of the future. In 2015, we saw the first glimmers of such a world. Let’s take a look: Continue reading →
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2015 In Review: Much Progress and Many Thanks
As we wrap up 2015, I’ve taken a moment to review our progress over the course of the year. It’s been a long journey with lots of moving pieces, and I’m so inspired by the many people who are playing roles of all kinds in this collective effort to reimagine a safety net for the…
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Data for Good Exchange: a new paper with an old concept
In late September I had the privilege to discuss our work at the Data for Good Exchange, a symposium hosted by Bloomberg. As part of the event, I presented a paper which you can read here. Much of the paper recaps the thinking and work behind the Open Referral initiative to date…. Then, taking into…