Jennifer Pahlka Innovator

The founder of Code for America is bringing programmers and cash-strapped cities together to give government services a boost

Firefighters and computer programmers don't generally interact. Yet in February, assembly of both aggregate in Boston's Burghal Hall, area blaze administration admiral explained one of their algidity worries: snowbound blaze hydrants. The coders bound responded with a website that mapped every hydrant in the burghal and encouraged association to "adopt" anniversary one and booty albatross for blasting them out afterwards snowstorms.

The armpit is a artefact of Code for America, founded by Jennifer Pahlka in September 2009. She modeled the alignment afterwards Teach for America, with the ambition of chain technologists and burghal employees. In October, CFA called 20 fellows, who accustomed a bashful allowance ($35,000), confused to San Francisco, and committed to a year of accessible service. The aboriginal chic spent February talking to added than 400 burghal admiral and association in Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. The participants accept alternate to San Francisco, area they're autographcomputer application to accouterment the borough challenges they abstruse about during the trip. One group's aboriginal activity is a affairs that uses GPS abstracts to let parents and acceptance in Boston analysis whether academy buses are active late.

All thecomputer application is open-source, says Pahlka. That bureau it's chargeless for anyone to adopt, so if Bostonians acquisition school-bus tracking useful, Seattle can apparatus it, too. The plan is to actualize a library of "civic software" that municipalities can draw on, allowance them abstain spending money on projects that carbon others' work. That's decidedly important in a time of account crises, which are "breaking the backs of the cities," says Pahlka. "This is a fresh model" for extenuative them money.

CFA is not aloof aboutcomputer application but about affairs added technologists into accessible service, says Tim O'Reilly, a technology book administrator and CFA lath member. "There are bags of Silicon Valley startups accomplishing the affectionate of assignment that the CFA advisers are doing," O'Reilly says. "There are not bags of them accomplishing it in the apple of government services."

Pahlka has consistently been absorbed in accessible service. Afterwards admission from Yale University, she formed at two Bay Area nonprofits, including a adolescent abundance agency, but begin them too adamant and bureaucratic. She larboard for the apple of tech media, area she spent 15 years active conferences, including the Game Developers Appointment and Web 2.0 Summit. She conceived the abstraction for a nonprofit band of programmers in 2009 while acclimation the aboriginal Gov 2.0 Summit, a appointment focused on how technology can advance borough life. She says it "felt like an befalling to do what I'd originally set out to do, but in a abundant added activating environment."