Kyla Williams Co-Presents Today at Philanthropy Ohio’s Annual Conference

Today, Leon Wilson, CIO of the Cleveland Foundation, and I will co-present at the Philanthropy Ohio’s annual conference with a theme this year of “Philanthropy Forward” and a concentrated discussion on Digital Civic Engagement & Community-Centered Design. Philanthropy Forward ’17 is set to inform practices, strategies and goals and connect peers in the field of philanthropy. The conference will also focus on the future of philanthropy with insight into the current state of the sector – fueled by recent research – addressing transitions, change and the leadership pipeline. With several networking and roundtable discussions, attendees will discover how to shift failures to successes, effectively fund advocacy and civic engagement and hear from  exceptional leaders across the state and country.

Leon and I also presented in April 2017 at the Council on Foundations Annual Conference “Leading Together” as part of a panel discussion with: Aaron Deacon, Managing Director, Kansas City Digital Drive; Elizabeth Reynoso, Assistant Director of Public Sector Innovation, Living Cities; and Lilly Weinberg, Program Director/Community Foundations, John S. & James L. Knight Foundation on “Supporting Civic Engagement through Technology and Community-Centered Design”. After finishing that presentation we decided more collaborative sharing between cities was necessary and lead to this opportunity at Philanthropy Ohio.

Community building in the digital era requires providing a space for the public sector and local communities to interact. Building solutions with peoplenot just for them – by using community-centered design can have profound social impact. This has been central to Smart Chicago’s work and has lead to the building of processes, products, services, and other lightweight tech solutions that have been helpful.

Our presentation today has the learning objectives:

  • To introduce different models developed in communities to address civic engagement digitally
  • To encourage the consideration of embedding support for digital civic engagement into existing grantmaking & advancement efforts

You can follow the happenings of the conference on Twitter @PhilanthropyOH and @SmartChgoKyla or by using the hashtag #PhilFWD17.

SMART CHICAGO IS MOVING!!!

Good News!!! The Smart Chicago team is moving and now will be co-located with the City Digital Team at UI Labs. As such, our individual emails will be changing to:

Kyla Williams           

Sonja Marziano       

Denise Linn               

Leslie Durr               

Our new mailing address is 1415 N. Cherry Avenue Chicago, IL 60642 and general phone number is 312.281.6900.

Please check our website at smartchicagocollaborative.org or follow us on twitter @smartchicago for more updates.

We appreciate your patience during this time of transition.

Join Maptime Chicago & ADA 25 this Friday!

ADA25logoPlease join us on May 22nd to discuss opportunities to improve public and open accessibility data in our community.

In particular, we would like to identify ways in which OpenStreetMap, the free, open, and community-built map of the world, can better capture characteristics of the built environment that impact how people with disabilities move throughout the city.

This is being done in partnership with ADA25 Chicago. ADA 25 Chicago will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 2015 and leverage this milestone to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities—often considered the last frontier of civil rights. The Chicago Community Trust is the lead funder of this initiative.

Maptime Chicago is the local chapter of Maptime – whose mission is to open the doors of cartographic possibility to anyone interested by creating a time and space for collaborative learning, exploration, and map creation using mapping tools and technologies.

Maptime Chicago and Smart Chicago are working to both improve the data in OpenStreetMap and empower community members to contribute to and benefit from the map. We need your insight and feedback to ensure this work reaches the right members of the community and is primed to create lasting impact. We look forward to meeting with you.

The outcomes of this meeting will help Maptime Chicago and Smart Chicago plan a future Maptime event centered around adding and maintaining accessibility data in OpenStreetMap.

You can register for the event here!

Meeting Details

  • When: Friday, May 22nd, 12-1:30pm. Lunch will be provided.
  • Where: Chicago Community Trust (map) – 225 North Michigan Avenue, #2200. Hosted by Smart Chicago.
  • Contact: or [email protected].

Still time to register for UCP’s Innovation Lab Designathon!

Trans_LogoThere’s still time left to register for United Cerebral Palsy’s Innovation Lab.

Smart Chicago will be co-hosting an event where we hope to bring together designers, makers, manufacturers and assistive product aficionados among others at Innovation Lab for a competitive, collaborative and undeniably unique experience!
Hear from leading makers and hackers and people with and without disabilities about the principles of Universal Design actually prototype new products that are more accessible, attractive and easier to use for people with all levels of ability.
This intense event will focus on accessibility and usability in product design and rapid prototyping with lightning talks from notable speakers, coaching and mentoring from the experts, teamwork and product demonstrations and finally, prizes for the top ideas!

You can register for the event here!

Smart Chicago Co-Hosts 2015 Innovation Lab With United Cerebral Palsy’s Life Lab

ucp_logo_taglineSmart Chicago is partnering with United Cerebral Palsy’s Life Labs to host their 2015 Innovation Labs on May 19 & 20 at the Microsoft Technology Center here in Chicago. United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) educates, advocates and provides support services to ensure a life without limits for people with a spectrum of disabilities. Here’s how UCP describes the event:

Join together with designers, makers, manufacturers and assistive product aficionados among others at Innovation Lab for a competitive, collaborative and undeniably unique experience!

Hear from leading makers and hackers and people with and without disabilities about the principles of Universal Design actually prototype new products that are more accessible, attractive and easier to use for people with all levels of ability.

This intense event will focus on accessibility and usability in product design and rapid prototyping with lightning talks from notable speakers, coaching and mentoring from the experts, teamwork and product demonstrations and finally, prizes for the top ideas!

Smart Chicago is co-hosting this event as part of our commitment to ADA 25 Chicago, an effort to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 2015. We work for access to technology for all, and the accessibility movement has been one of the most powerful forces for inclusion.

Register now and follow along with the planning on Twitter.