The Civic Hacker Network exists to create and empower a global community of people who are using data and technology to create positive social change. We seek to develop leaders that will fill opportunity and influence gaps in the civic tech, tech-for-good, and data-for-good spaces, and to diversify participation in these fields both geographically and demographically. 

We support organizations/projects that focus on issues around equity (e.g., equitable treatment in the criminal justice system or education), access (e.g., identifying food deserts, access to benefits or tax credits), and government accountability/transparency (e.g., open data releases, tracking government officials’ voting records). 

Founded in 2017, the Civic Hacker Network was created to support and grow the community that came together at the first annual Civic Hacker Summit. The feedback received from summit participants was (and continues to be) that they want to connect their often siloed efforts with the work of others engaging in similar projects, anywhere in the world. 

Civic Hacker Network has 3 primary activities: 

1. Communities of Practice - through digital spaces like Slack, online film screenings, and other virtual gatherings we create opportunities for our members to connect, learn, and collaborate. 

2. The Civic Hacker Summit - This signature online event is our community’s annual celebration of the accomplishments of rising leaders in this space, and an opportunity to learn about the various innovations, practices, and successes that we can bring into their individual communities. 

3. Supportive Programs and Resources - We develop capacity building and educational outreach programs, webinars, virtual workshops, videos, toolkits and guides to help emergent local leaders in civic tech and data-centric social good projects make their essential contributions to the field and sustain their efforts toward the change they want to see in their communities.
 

Our work to more broadly support civic hackers, especially those located outside of major metros, and leaders who are underrepresented in their vertical is aligned with SDGs 10 and 16.