On Saturday, Mayor Marty Walsh will hold session for the inaugural Civic Academies class, hoping to mold the minds of eager young innovators across the city as well as benefit from their insight. Fittingly, the first class will take place in the middle of the Innovation District at District Hall from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Back in June the mayor put out the call to all Boston neighborhoods and communities, asking local influencers what kind of items they’d like to see incorporated in the curriculum. To gather this knowledge, Mayor Walsh opened up an online survey so that he could better gauge public interest in the most direct fashion. The survey is still open for those looking to share their thoughts.
“I want residents from every corner of Boston to share a sense of ownership and civic engagement,” said Mayor Walsh. “We’re setting up these Civic Academies in hopes of coming together to learn more about ways to interact effectively with local government.”
Mayor Walsh and his office of Neighborhood Services conceived the idea for the Civic Academies program with three overriding goals in mind: To provide an outlet for all residents to collaborate with local government; to develop a better understanding of how to serve Boston residents; and to create learning opportunities that support civic engagement and community service.
The first session will be led by Lindsay Crudele, the City of Boston’s community and social technology strategist, and Charles McEnerney, Principal at Layers Marketing.
Much like Mayor Walsh did at BostInno’s State of Innovation, Crudele and McEnerney will be outlining best practices for people to get digitally involved in municipal government and tips for staying engaged with all of Boston’s various social media platforms.
As Crudele told BostInno back in April, the City of Boston’s digital strategy delves much deeper that Twitter handles and Facebook pages. It’s about creating apps like Citizens Connect and StreetBump so that branches of government, like the Public Works Department, for example, can improve the city by using data feedback from residents. It’s about crowdsourcing projects that will not only benefit small businesses and other likeminded organizations, but Bostonians as a whole. It’s about a whole lot more than 140-characters and Instagram filters.
Image via District Hall Facebook
