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The latest news from Code for Canada, and updates on the country's growing civic tech movement. 
Table of Contents

CODE FOR CANADA Code for Canada is hiring!
CODE FOR CANADA The Ontario fellowship team explains their user research journey
CODE FOR CANADA It’s now easier for federal departments to partner with C4C

CIVIC TECH NEWS Canada’s Open City Champions Finalists have been announced
CIVIC TECH NEWS Happy birthday to the Ontario Digital Service!

CODE FOR CANADA Gabe Sawhney named to the Smart Cities Challenge jury
CIVIC TECH NEWS Some light civic tech reading
GET INVOLVED How you can help
CODE FOR CANADA
Code for Canada is hiring!
We’re hiring two new roles to help recruit, onboard and support the next cohort of Code for Canada fellows! The positions are ideal for someone who’s excited about building great teams and  improving public services, and who wants to learn more about talent acquisition and inclusive hiring in tech.

We’ll be reviewing applications on a rolling basis until May 9, 2018, so apply today!

 
Join the Code for Canada team!
CODE FOR CANADA
From user research to MVP: The Ontario fellowship team explains their UX journey
The Ontario fellowship team -- Christine, Sophie and Santiago -- are working alongside staff at the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development to help adult learners discover and enrol in the educational programs that match their goals. 

Over the winter, the team conducted user research and focus groups with adult learners across Ontario. They built simple prototypes and got them in front of users. Now, the team is taking what they learned and using it to develop and test a minimal viable product that will address learners’ needs. 

Learn more about the process, and how the fellows are “elevating the voice of the user” in their latest blog post.
CODE FOR CANADA
It’s now easier for federal departments to partner with C4C
Our colleagues and partners at the Canadian Digital Service (CDS) have written an excellent guide on how to bring external digital talent into government through the Code for Canada fellowship program.

CDS collaborated with staff at the federal Treasury Board Secretariat and the office of Canada’s CIO, Alex Benay, to make it simple and easy for federal departments to bring on a team of fellows to tackle their digital challenges. 

We’d like to thank CDS for all their work, and we’re thrilled that the fellowship is already helping their team build digital capacity. In the words of CDS’ John Millons: “Dan, Raluca and Leon have each brought unique expertise and perspectives to CDS that are integral to designing and delivering user-centered services!”
CIVIC TECH NEWS
Canada’s Open City Champions Finalists have been announced
We’d like to congratulate all of the finalists for Canada’s Open City Champions award! The short list, nominated by Canadians and selected by Public Sector Digest, is chock full of government innovators and civic tech champions from across the country, including many that we’ve had the privilege of meeting and working with since we launched Code for Canada. 

You can find the full list here, and the winners will be announced as part of Open Government Week on May 11, 2018. 
CIVIC TECH NEWS
Happy birthday to the Ontario Digital Service!
“What we’re trying to do is bigger than simply creating useful websites. We’re trying to get program and policy owners across ministries to think differently about how they approach their services, using the tools and practices of the internet-era to respond to people’s raised expectations.”

Those are the words of Ontario’s Chief Digital Officer, Hillary Hartley, reflecting on the first full year of the Ontario Digital Service. The department’s accomplishments thus far are pretty stellar: developing the province’s new Digital Service Standard, opening a lab focused on user research and service design in Kitchener-Waterloo, making it easier for residents to renew drivers licenses and health cards online, partnering with the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development to bring on a team of Code for Canada fellows, and a lot more! 

Congratulations and happy birthday to everyone at the ODS from all of us here at Code for Canada! 🎂
CODE FOR CANADA
Gabe Sawhney named to the Smart Cities Challenge jury
We're thrilled to announce that Code for Canada's Executive Director, Gabe Sawhney, has been named to the Smart Cities Canada Challenge jury!

Gabe joins a diverse group of accomplished professionals from fields related to smart cities, including urban planning, architecture, and policy innovation. Together, they'll assess smart cities project pitches from communities across Canada.

 
Read our latest blog post on smart cities research!
CIVIC TECH NEWS
Some light civic tech reading
  • The team at the Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship have published an accessible guide to adopting AI in the public sector, including a reminder that while AI could exacerbate issues of inequality and bias, it can also help address them: “AI systems open the door to embed definitions of fairness and codified policies such as anti-discrimination requirements in them, and can report on or even optimize constituent outcomes within such requirements.”
     
  • New Zealand is fast developing a reputation as a leader in digital government. One of its latest initiatives is an effort to make the “rules” of government, including eligibility requirements for different services, machine consumable. It may not sound glamorous, but the move is a big step towards creating a single, integrated public service portal where residents can discover which benefits they’re eligible for across siloes/departments. 
     
  • The U.S. Digital Service continues its series outlining their work to help Veterans Affairs adopt a “modern, cloud-based IT infrastructure.” It’s a crunchy article, but worth the read if you’re interested in -- or engaged in -- IT transformation in the public service. 
GET INVOLVED
How you can help
 
We're working hard to ensure governments across our great country keep pace with technology and deliver the best services possible for their residents. But we can't do it alone. Here's how you can lend a hand.
1. Help spread the word! Follow Code for Canada on social media, and share our efforts to grow the civic tech movement!
Follow us on Twitter
Like our Facebook page
Follow our blog on Medium
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
2. Share your stories! Are you a government innovator or civic tech practitioner with a success story to tell? Let us know, and we can share it with our audience of engaged residents, public servants, community advocates and technologists! You can get in touch at hello@codefor.ca!

3. Join your local civic tech group! You can find the one nearest you on our website. If there’s not one near you, Code for Canada’s Civic Tech Toolkit can help you start one! 

 
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