From November of 2013 to May of 2014 an informal subcommittee of OpenOakland members conducted informational interviews with nonprofits, foundations, businesses, and city staff that were all working on economic issues in Oakland, CA. The purpose of the interviews was to get a sense of how different actors were working to increase economic activity in Oakland in a way that is sensitive to gentrification and benefits all Oakland residents. We hoped that these interviews would help OpenOakland identify a need within the topic of Economic Development that we could bring our unique civic-tech skills to and fill a need. On May 13, the subcommittee shared our findings with the broader OpenOakland group and asked for input on which project to select based.
5. Our History and Process
• Focus on economic development was shared by
folks who met at City Camp in Nov 2013
• Identified a preliminary list of stakeholders for
outreach around Dec ‘13/Jan ‘14.
• Set up a fairly open definition for goals and
outcomes, that we evolved over time
6. Our Shared Resources
Whom To Reach Out To
• Outreach List - Targets and Tracking
• Script
Who We Are
• Internal Skills Inventory
• Form
• Spreadsheet
• Presentation about Open Oakland
Outcomes
• Copious Notes (on Google Drive)
• Final Project List
7. Who We Talked To
• Kami Griffiths - Community Technology Network
• Sarah Filley - PopUp Hood
• Max Cadji - Phat Beets
• Susan Montauk - Oakland Parks Commission
• Eleanor Hollander - Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce
• Reverend Daniel Buford - Allen Temple Baptist Church
• Susan Mernit - Live Work Oakland
• Mario Lugay and Tiffany Price - Kapor Center
• Dennis Rojas - East Bay Job Developers
• Steve Snider - Downtown Oakland Association
• Anne Price and Gabriela Sandoval - Insight Center for Community
Economic Development
• Kelley Kahn, Aliza Gallo, and Rachel Flynn - City of Oakland’s
Economic Development and Planning Departments
• Jay Standish - Open Door Development
• Angela Hadwin - Hope Collaborative of East Oakland
• Julian McQueen - Green for All
8. What We Heard:
Skill Development
• Automate the updating of Insight Center for
Community Economic Development’s Elder and
Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard tools
• An alternative to the CalJobs site
• Mentors/tech tutors
9. What We Heard:
Mapping Resources,
Needs, & Opportunities
• Mapping digital access points
• Connect Chicago Get Connected Oakland
• Create a See Click Fix-style tool for reporting
neighborhood crime
• Map showing availability of fresh food from un-
traditional sources in East Oakland
• Falling Fruit Concrete Jungle
• Forage City Forage Oakland
• Analyzing data on commercial property vacancies
• Identifying and sharing what the community wants in
vacant spaces
• Spot Mojo Neighborland
10. What We Heard:
Improving City Processes
• A new system to track and expedite buildings and
permits
• CivicInsight OpenCounter
• BizFriend.ly Development FastPass
• A better system to connect potential volunteers with
Park & Rec project needs
11. We have an opportunity to work with the HOPE Collaborative to
increase civic participation in Deep East Oakland.
12. Next Steps
We’d like to pick a project that is informed by what we’
ve heard. Do we...
• Retrofit an existing tool?
• Create something new?
• Start a project that is not focused on a tool (i.e.
mentoring)?
• Something else?
Help us decide!
13. Next Steps (alternate)
● How can we determine what’s a good project for OO
to work on?
○ Something that retrofits an existing tool vs
creates something new?
○ How about projects not focused on building a tool
(i.e. mentoring)?
○ Should city data necessarily be involved?
● How should we loop back with the “requesters”?
● What is the timeline we can realistically commit to?
Help us decide!
