Check out: http://bit.ly/engagetechwebinar Report: http://bit.ly/engagetechreport Join PlaceMatters for a webinar on Engagement Tech for All. Date: June 26, 2014 Time: 3:30 pm - 5 pm EASTERN Webinar details: “Civic Technologies” are gaining increasing interest as a way to engage hard-to-reach populations in community planning and decision-making. Low income people, as well as people of color, immigrants, people with limited English proficiency, and youth are often un- or underrepresented in these processes. Reasons for this lack of engagement include limited city budgets and staff capacity, absence of awareness of opportunities to engage, limited language skills and reading comprehension, and previous negative experiences resulting in mistrust or hostility towards government. While not a panacea, civic technologies can enhance the toolkit available to planners and decision-makers who want to broaden public engagement. PlaceMatters recently released a report - http://bit.ly/engagetechreport -, funded by the Ford Foundation, on best practices in the use of civic technologies to reach underrepresented populations. The webinar will feature findings from the report, as well as case studies from communities that have effectively leveraged the widespread use of mobile phones, social media, and other technologies to engage a broad audience. Join this webinar to learn more about the latest innovations in the field of civic technology, and the potential for these technologies to advance transformational change in communities, particularly around the lives of low-income people. Speakers: * Jill Locantore, Program Director, PlaceMatters * Frank Hebbert, Director, OpenPlans * Tamir Novotny, Senior Associate, Public Sector Innovation, Living Cities * Holly St. Clair, Director of Data Services, Metropolitan Area Planning Council This webinar session is provided through the Sustainable Communities Learning Network. The primary audience is members of the network, but anyone who is interested may participate. E-Democracy Note: We have significant resources in this space available that bolster this report. The time for open gov and civic tech to raise _new voices_ is here! 1. New Voices Workshop On-Demand - http://bit.ly/newvoicesvideo 2. Proposed New Voices Working Group - http://e-democracy.org/newvoices 3. Digital Inclusion Network online group - http://e-democracy.org/di 4. More lessons and reports - http://e-democracy.org/learn 5. And the report of our previous Ford funded work in this space which is cited by the Engagement Tech report: http://e-democracy.org/evaluation 6. June 20 live workshop in St. Paul: http://bit.ly/june20workshop 7. White House blog post: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/08/14/open-communities-and-new-voices-le... 8. Civic Tech Inclusion "Numbers" Analysis - http://bit.ly/pewcivic 9. Inclusive Community Engagement Update: http://bit.ly/edemknight 10. New Open Government and Civic Tech Facebook Group: http://facebook.com/groups/opengovgroup Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/democracy Tel/Text: +1.612.234.7072