The past few decades have seen staggering advances in technology, but government has been left behind, saddled with outdated and inefficient software, while costs have exploded into the hundreds of billions. That means there’s both the imperative and the market for new, disruptive startups.
The Code for America Accelerator "turbo-charges" select civic startups by providing them an opportunity to amplify market awareness of their product, to access a wealth of business training and advice, and to be introduced to a broad network of potential investors and civic leaders.
Applications for the 2013 class of the Accelerator are open until May 31st. Apply Now.
The four month program focuses on civic startups, providing them the network and training needed to grow their businesses. Every month, the startup teams are brought together in CfA’s San Francisco offices for an intensive week-long curriculum led by industry experts, coupled with networking events with investors. Throughout the program, the startups have access to hands-on mentorship, administrative support, and office space. Companies also receive the opportunity to meet government officials through our network and our annual CfA Summit, which draws civic technology leaders from around the country.
A $25K grant to help you grow the business; no strings attached. We're not asking for any equity — we just want to help.
A place to work in San Francisco if you want it — with desks, wifi, snacks, and (at least a few) cool people.
Access to and support from a rockstar set of industry, VC, and civic leaders — all committed to your success.
Direct connections to the folks you're trying to work with: tech-savvy government decision-makers.
A big (and growing) stage for the world to become aware of your company, team, and product.
Trainings from the industry's best on how to build a business, generate revenue, market, and scale.
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Aunt Bertha simplifies the search and application process for social services. We collect information on federal, state, county, city, neighborhood and nonprofit programs and put it all in one place. In just a few seconds, users can enter basic information and find programs relevant to their needs. |
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Captricity offers a completely self-serve data entry service for digitizing paper forms. We can get data off of paper and into a digital spreadsheet quickly and cheaply, providing human-quality data entry that works on hand-writing — but at a fraction of what manual data entry costs. |
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LearnSprout brings interoperability and accessibility to school data. We build tools to access school data currently silo-ed away in legacy student information systems used across US K12. We’re creating a web API service that allows developers to build classroom apps that leverage this data, without the expensive enterprise-like vendor integration process. |
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Measured Voice (MV) is a web-based social media management system (SMMS) designed to help government organizations create, publish, and measure social media content. Measured Voice helps users manage multiple social media accounts, enact publishing workflow, delineate team roles, and measure results and team performance through a simple interface. |
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MindMixer is an engagement tool that activates community contributors. Ideas, voices, and perspectives are shared to facilitate deeper conversations that yield actionable insights. The tool has helped create a network of contributors in more than 250 organizations around the country. |
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We’re building a toolkit for community powered disaster recovery. Our disaster response platform at [townname].recovers.org incorporates searchable databases, social media aggregation, and mobile tools, allowing grassroots organizers to efficiently marshal resources in their area. |
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Revelstone is a performance metrics and social networking company for the public sector. We are building an online virtual community that enables local government leaders to measure, compare and discuss operational performance results with their peers in order to learn from each other to improve. |
Got questions? Good. Here are some answers, and we'll keep adding to the list over time. Still not sure about something? No problem. Drop us a line (email or @codeforamerica), and we'll get you squared away.
The CfA Accelerator is an early stage seed startup accelerator focused on the civic space – that is, government, community, and the interaction between the two. Increasingly the way in which we engage with government is channeled through technology, which means there's a tremendous opportunity for entrepreneurs to build new, successful, and profitable startups that make the experience more like the consumer web. The CfA Accelerator aims to help early-stage civic startups get the financial, strategic, and operational support they need to succeed.
Good question. We see three models for startups that would fall within the civic space: 1) they provide services on top of open government data; 2) they bring modern web technologies directly to governments; 3) they change the way citizens request or receive services from government.
Applicants should fit our definition of what it means to be a civic startup. Preference will be given to applicants that:
Founded by Jennifer Pahlka in 2009, Code for America is a non-profit that's trying to make government work more like the Internet: more open, more efficient, and more collaborative. Code for America launched with the CfA Fellowship, an annual program, which pairs passionate technologists with innovative city governments to build new solutions to civic problems. (To learn more about the broader context of CfA's work, see Jen's recent TED Talk.)
The CfA Accelerator is an outgrowth of our learnings from the fellowship; primarily a realization that while change from the inside of government is necessary, it must come from the outside as well.
