Anderson@Large

A Phresh Start in Philly

I would like to wish you a happy and healthy new year.

I plan a fresh start in 2013 with Philly Phresh Start, a project to promote science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) among African American youth. I will apply the lessons learned from my year as a civic innovator to connect STEM to students’ day-to-day realities and interests.

The project will use pop-up hackerspaces, interactive video and social media to empower young people to imagine a better future.

This mural in West Philly, “Reach for Your Star,” captures what Philly Phresh Start is about.

The mural is not too far from Overbrook High School whose graduates include actor Will Smith and Guy Bluford, the first African American astronaut. Both Smith and Bluford reached for their star.

The Philly Phresh Start Project will launch in March 2013. To receive notice of the launch, sign up here. If you would like to get involved with the project, send me an email.

Social Media and Political Engagement

Coding is Cool

My Year as a Civic Innovator

I’m a policy wonk and doer. This time last year, I didn’t have a clue what happened at a hackathon. I associated hackers with bad guys who stole identities and broke into websites. So you can imagine my delight to be introduced to a community of civic-minded hackers. Hackathons provide a platform for problem-solvers and do-gooders to collaborate and create interesting things.

My first hackathon was Random Hacks of Kindness in December 2011 at Drexel University. There, my team developed a prototype for the Cost of Freedom App to help users navigate their state’s voter ID application process. The app was reengineered by a hacker who works for Google at the Voting Information Project (VIP) Hackathon.

To date, I have participated in eight hackathons.

My teams addressed a wide range of issues, including LGBT rights, international election monitoring and crowdfunding. In six of the eight events, my team either won or placed second or third.

A lot of awesome prototypes are developed at hackathons. But to have an impact, the project must be sustained beyond the weekend. Like romance, a prototype without finance doesn’t stand a chance. So the team should include an evangelist who is passionate about the project. Someone who is willing to spend the time and energy it will take to get resources to build out the app. I was chief evangelist for the Cost of Freedom Project and Yo! Philly Votes.

If you build it, they will come. Right? Maybe. You have to market to your target audience. I partnered with national and local nonprofits to engage their members. I also used social networks and mainstream media to raise awareness of the civic apps.

A year later, I’m going back to where it all began -- Random Hacks of Kindness, which will be held at Drexel’s new ExCITe Center. I’m, well, excited to give an update on Yo! Philly Votes and perhaps pitch a project.

I’m also excited about how the hackathon platform and collaborative mindset can bridge the gap in teacher training and spark interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). While a lot of serious coding takes place during hackathons, it’s not all work. They’re actually fun. Folks play games and banter back and forth.

Hackathons or hackerspaces can help underrepresented minorities, particularly young black males, imagine a better future. They would be introduced to professionals who can connect STEM to their day-to-day realities and interests. Given the shifting demographics, it is an economic imperative that we inculcate interest in STEM subjects among black and Latino students.

Voter Protection 2.0

I am in New York City for Personal Democracy Forum, an annual conference that focuses on the intersection of technology, civic engagement, politics and government. I’m attending as one of nine Tumblr Fellows.

As the chief evangelist for the Cost of Freedom Project, a citizen-led initiative that’s powered by we the people, I’m particularly interested in the “We Government” breakout track. Speakers will present ideas and tips on “the variety of ways the people and their governments are using data to make civic life smarter and more responsive to public needs.”

With the voter suppression schemes in place across the country, voting rights advocates must work harder and smarter to remove barriers to the ballot box and ensure all votes are counted.

During a recent broadcast of “Hour of Power,” Al Sharpton said:

This is not a normal election. We don’t know what we’re dealing with.

That’s true. But we do know that True the Vote will be out in force challenging voters’ eligibility and causing confusion at the polls. They’re crowdsourcing voter suppression; we must crowdsource voter protection.

Yo! Philly Votes will aggregate, visualize and contextualize multiple sources of real-time Election Day incident reports so that problems can be addressed and corrected in real time. We’re leveraging the power of Web 2.0 to fight Voter Suppression 2.0.

Cost of Freedom App Demo Day

On Valentine's Day, I participated in a panel discussion on how advocacy groups, civil rights organizations and ordinary citizens are using social media to protect the right to vote.

I did a demo of the Cost of Freedom web app.

And a live demo of the text app.

In the coming weeks, I will chronicle the Cost of Freedom Project as we prepare to launch on April 4. In the meantime, I want to share an excerpt from a post written by Brittany Papalia, an intern with the National Women’s Law Center:

Faye Anderson stole the attention of the attendees with colorful commentary and excitement on how she was going to keep these laws from passing, saying “I don’t like to fight, but I don’t like to back down from a fight either.”

That's true. Or as I like to say, if you don't want no mess, don't start no mess.

Papalia notes that strict voter ID requirements have a disparate impact on women:

So how do these new laws affect women? Well, if 34% of women lack proof of citizenship, then that may make attaining a photo ID more difficult since most DMV’s require some sort of proof, typically a birth certificate. Not to mention women who get married and change their last name and address! If their state is following a stricter system, then they will be unable to change their address at the poll without proof of their new address. As Faye Anderson joked, “she finally put a ring on it, but she can’t find the damn license!”

While voter ID is no joke, to motivate citizens to get in the arena, voting rights advocates must move beyond studying and talking about the problem.

To get involved with the Cost of Freedom Project, powered by We the People, please visit us at Facebook.com/CostofFreedom.