Code for America Raises $160,000 at Seattle Event

Online, July 20, 2010 (Newswire.com) - San Francisco, CA-- Last weekend, over 100 of Seattle's technology elite attended an event to raise funds and awareness for Code for America, which brings cutting-edge web technology to city government.

Attendees pledged over $160,000 towards Code for America's Seattle project and its supporting Fellows. Seattle is one of five cities selected to participate in the first round of projects to make city governments more open, efficient, and responsive.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and CIO Bill Schier were present to discuss the proposed

project that would make neighborhoods safer and more connected.

Joanne Harrell, Director of e-government programs for Microsoft Corporation was present

to announce a pledge of $50,000 for the organization.

"Microsoft supports Code for America's mission, and we believe that city governments and the citizens they serve, can realize great benefits from their initiative," said Daniel Kasun, Senior Director of Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelism for the Public Sector. In addition to financial support, "Microsoft is committed to providing readiness to the Code for America Fellows, as well as technical and architectural guidance for the planned solutions in the target cities."

Natalie Smith, Regional Manager of ESRI, announced a pledge of $50,000. Also in attendance were Stephen Gillette, Chief Information Officer of Starbucks, United States Senator Maria Cantwell, and Oren Michels, Co-Founder and CEO of Mashery.com.

Jennifer Pahlka, executive director and founder of CFA, shared, "It was inspiring to be in a room full of technology leaders and experience such excitement and support for what we're trying to do."

Code for America is now accepting applications for its 2011 Fellowship. Web developers, designers, and product managers are invited to apply to build the next generation of Gov 2.0 apps for city governments. The deadline for applications is August 15: http://codeforamerica.org/fellows

About Code for America

Code for America (CfA) connects the talent of the tech industry with local governments to make cities more open, responsive, and efficient. Inspired in part by Teach for America, CfA recruits civic-minded, tech-savvy individuals to work with industry and governmental leaders to develop innovative applications that can be used in cities across the country. http://codeforamerica.org

For more information contact:

Ashley Rodwick
Fund Development
Code for America
(415) 336-2301
[email protected]

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