At one point or another, every city faces a time in it's growth where it must face some difficult challenges. The decisions made and action taken during these times will forever shape the future of that city. These decisions are made not just by the government and elected officials, but also by the citizens. Every person who calls that city home will have a direct impact on it's path forward.
When a city can embrace this notion of including all people in the conversation about how to move their home forward, an alignment occurs that allows true growth and progress to occur.
In the heart of the midwest, there is a city facing one of it's most challenging points in history. Wichita, KS is a place that has long called itself the "air capital of the world". Though, with a well-defined but incredibly sobering list of economic and social challenges, it's clear that a new path must be forged forward, and it's going to take every person in the city to help make it happen.
One of Wichita's biggest exports is talent. The city lost 11,148 people between 2010 and 2014. Comparable cities such as Omaha, Des Moines and Oklahoma City have all seen gains. There has been a 12-point drop in median household income compared to the national average since 1980. The numbers are telling us one thing: we need to mobilize.
In the Summer of 2014, Wichita's local civic hacking community and Code For America brigade formed under the name Open Wichita. Wichita has had a long history of civic pride and involvement, and with the growing community around the technology industry, it seemed ripe to embrace this sort of civic engagement.
Open Wichita became my nights and weekends effort to mobilize the community to face our challenges head on. Other cities around the world were doing very similar work that involves effort from both citizens and government. I was quickly awed at the number of individuals getting involved from all walks of life as well as the amount of support received from government and community organizations.
The excitement quickly generated around the civic hacking movement was astonishing. In the words of OpenGov Foundation Executive Director Seamus Kraft, we weren't just civic hackers, we were "civic superheroes".
When I began my work with OpenGov Foundation I saw it as an opportunity to bring a new model of governance to Wichita. Seeing other cities using Madison to engage the public in a conversation around policy creation convinced me that this was something greatly needed here.
I've been enough of a first-hand witness to the work being done in communities across the world to know that every city needs this. If we were going to make change that mattered in this city, it was going to take involvement from every level. We needed tools to facilitate that collaboration and conversation.
Open Wichita was showing to be a huge success. We also received immediate support from the city through City Manager Robert Layton and Chief Information Officer Mike Mayta who were both very familiar with the civic technology and open data movement.
The momentum generated by Open Wichita lead to us collaborating with the city to launch Wichita's instance of Madison at drafts.wichita.gov. City officials were eager to begin work on drafting our open data policy, and they committed to doing it in an open and collaborative manner by using this tool.
The city had also applied to be one of the selected cities for the What Works Cities program. This was further evidence of their commitment to embracing technology and open data. We quickly began work on on the policy in preparation for the next steps towards a more effective local government.
Although this is a very new process and workflow for the city, they did not hesitate at the challenge of embracing something new. Instead, they saw an opportunity to better themselves by including more voices in the conversation about how to move our city forward.
Wichita is still in the very early stages of a massive transformation. There is much more change to come and many more challenges to be faced. It's important, though, that a base set of values be established as we go into these challenges together. Among the most important of those values is collaboration, a value that the city has shown it's dedication to by including citizens in the conversation as we move forward.
This type of change is happening on a national level for the purpose of addressing local needs. I am personally very excited to see what kind of impact is had when more policy is created in this way. We've only scratched the surface, but the city is ready to dive further into this new way of governing.
Soon we will be receiving more support from the What Works Cities program to learn to utilize data and evidence to deliver better results for residents. We're honored to be a part of this program and excited to see the results it can bring.
The conditions are just right in Wichita for us to start embracing this national movement. The willingness to take on these new ideas with open arms gives me hope that we will come out of our individual challenges stronger than ever.
These are just a few of the many reasons I am proud to call Wichita, KS my home.