The Opportunity Project for Cities

Detroit, Long Beach, Macon-Bibb, and Miami-Dade

showcase solutions designed with community and local data

Georgetown Beeck Center and the Centre for Public Impact host The Opportunity Project for Cities virtual Demo Day 2022

On November 15, 2022, 1-3 pm ET, the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University and the Centre for Public Impact will host the second annual The Opportunity Project for Cities (TOPC) Demo Day. This virtual event will showcase TOPC local governments and community organizations that co-designed new tools, powered by local data, with pro bono support from Google.org. 

Demo Day presentations will showcase the tools and learnings from the TOPC 22-week design sprint during which governments worked with their communities to understand, design, and launch a product that meets residents’ needs, including:

• Detroit, MI: A platform that crowdsources and reports data on internet outages, enabling residents to make more informed decisions about internet service providers and advocate for equitable internet service.

• Long Beach, CA: An interactive open tree map/tool that will identify vulnerable trees needing care and maintenance. This tool will be paired with the concept of neighborhood stewards tasked with data management and community engagement. 

• Macon-Bibb County, GA: A transparent digital application that shows the public where blighted properties are and the status of current actions for each property. The tool will enable residents to report blight in their communities through the self-reporting platform. 

• Miami-Dade County, FL: A user-friendly platform that provides residents personalized information to understand the steps, licenses, and approvals needed to start and operate businesses.

The Opportunity Project for Cities is a program wherein local governments, community leaders, and Google employees - engineers, UX designers, program managers and more -work with residents to prototype digital tools that use open data to address local challenges.

In the long term, The Opportunity Project for Cities encourages a culture shift to a more transparent and responsive government better equipped to positively impact the community. The Opportunity Project for Cities builds a culture of government transparency, accessibility, and responsiveness that strengthens trust with residents and lays the foundation for lasting community-driven innovation.

This is the second cohort of The Opportunity Project for Cities and builds on the successes and learnings from the 2021 sprint in San José, CA, and Saint Paul, MN, where partners created tools to address local housing issues. The program was inspired by the U.S. Census Bureau’s The Opportunity Project and adapted for local contexts by the Centre for Public Impact and the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University. The Opportunity Project for Cities is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and pro bono technical support from Google.org.

Event Details: November 15, 2022

1:00 - 3:00 pm ET

[virtual only]

Free Registration: HERE

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About the Centre for Public Impact

At the Centre for Public Impact, we believe in the potential of government to bring about better outcomes for people. Yet, we have found that the systems, structures, and processes of government today are often not set up to respond to the complex challenges we face as a society. That’s why we have an emerging vision to reimagine government so that it works for everyone.

A global not-for-profit organisation founded by the Boston Consulting Group, we act as a learning partner for governments, public servants, and the diverse network of changemakers who are leading the charge to reimagine government. We work with them to hold space to collectively make sense of the complex challenges we face and drive meaningful change through learning and experimentation.

About the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University

The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University brings together students, expert practitioners, and extended networks to work on projects that solve societal challenges using data, design, technology, and policy. Our projects test new ways for public and private institutions to leverage data and analytics, digital technologies, and service design to help more people. Learn more at www.beeckcenter.georgetown.edu.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

As social investors, the Knight Foundation supports democracy by funding free expression and journalism, arts and culture in community, research in areas of media and democracy, and in the success of American cities and towns where the Knight brothers once published newspapers. Learn more at kf.org and follow @knightfdn on social media.

About Google.org

Google.org, Google's philanthropy, supports nonprofits that address humanitarian issues and apply scalable, data-driven innovation to solving the world's biggest challenges. We accelerate their progress by connecting them with a unique blend of support that includes funding, products, and technical expertise from Google volunteers. We engage with these believers-turned-doers who make a significant impact on the communities they represent, and whose work has the potential to produce meaningful change. We want a world that works for everyone—and we believe technology and innovation can move the needle.

Join us for an urgent discussion on Increasing Security and Equity in Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) on February 15th at 12:00pm ET. Headlines across the country demonstrate there has been exponential growth in benefits theft by criminals who are “cloning and skimming” EBT cards, leaving thousands of families with drained accounts and limited recourse in getting back their benefits. Thankfully Congress included short-term reimbursement for EBT theft victims in the most recent omnibus package. State SNAP agencies now face a pressing deadline to submit plans to the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) by the end of February outlining how they will process theft claims, track data, and adopt future security measures. 

Join our panel of experts to discuss:

• What’s happening on the ground with benefits theft

• What states can do right now to improve EBT security

• How states can use data to analyze theft patterns 

• How EBT payment technology needs to evolve to ensure efficiency, security, and dignity for beneficiaries

• Cybersecurity trends in consumer banking technology 

There will also be plenty of time for a lively discussion with the broader Digital Benefits community, so come ready with your thoughts and questions!

Meet the Panelists

• Ashley Burnside, Senior Policy Analyst, Income and Work Supports, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

• Invited: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 

• Invited: State Human Services CIO

More speakers to be announced soon.

For more information or questions contact us at digitalbenefits@georgetown.edu. 

Join the UI Technology Coordinating Coalition, part of the Digital Benefits Network at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University to discuss recent developments in unemployment insurance (UI) modernization efforts on April 13, 2023 at noon (ET). Members of the team from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of UI Modernization (OUIM) will join us to describe their work with states to help them improve timeliness, increase equity, and prevent fraud. We will also be joined by a senior official from the Illinois Department of Labor to talk about how states are working with OUIM.

This is an opportunity to learn:
— How the American Rescue Plan Act’s $2 billion appropriation to improve timeliness, increase equity, and prevent fraud in the UI system is being deployed.

— How a new office (OUIM) is spearheading change within DOL and with state labor agencies, including through ​​technology and policy guidance to improve service delivery, specialty teams called “Tiger Teams,” and equity grants.

— How a state has been using these resources to transform the experience for UI claimants.


Meet the panelists:
— Andrew Stettner, Deputy Director for Policy, Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization, U.S. Department of Labor

— Laurence Bafundo, Deputy Director for Technology, Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization, U.S. Department of Labor

— Jennifer L. Phillips, Assistant Deputy Director, Service Delivery, Illinois Department of Employment Security

— Moderated by Adam Bobrow and Marcus Courtney, co-conveners of the UI Tech Coordinating Coalition, Digital Benefits Network, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University

In late May 2023, the DBN released a new open dataset documenting authentication and identity proofing practices in online applications across public benefits programs. We are publishing this data openly and publicly both to share knowledge and to solicit feedback and engagement. We hope that people who visit the dataset will help ensure the accuracy of the data, fill in gaps, conduct their own analysis, and share ideas for future extensions of this work. We’re eager to hear from many voices on this project, so we invite you to share this data with your networks!