FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TEXT IF YOU’RE HAPPY OR NOT SAYS TECH VOLUNTEER GROUP

Civic Hackers Help Communities by Developing Technology for Good

San Francisco, June 1, 2015 - Code for San Francisco volunteer hackers today launch the Happiness Survey to better understand the Bay Area state of mind. Any resident can take the two-minute survey now through June 3 to add their voice to National Day of Civic Hacking, a weekend dedicated to social and civic change using technology.

The survey is at codeforSanFrancisco.org/happiness or by texting “happiness” to (650)249-9400. Results will be made available on June 9, 2015 at codeforSanFrancisco.org, and at Code for San Francisco’s weekly Hack Night presentation on June 10, 2015.

The third annual National Day of Civic Hacking, from June 5 to 7, 2015, will draw thousands of people from across the U.S. to build new solutions for communities and government. Passionate neighbors, urbanists, civic hackers, developers, designers, government staff, and community organizers will unite around building tools for their common cause. Last year, civic hackers developed an app to alert Boston commuters about transit delays, and an app to share information about adoptable pets in Palo Alto.

“How you feel about where you are right now is important. This single, small text message, grouped with many others has the potential to change the conversation around neighborhoods, housing, and transportation,” says Jesse Biroscak, Brigade Captain for Code for San Francisco, “Join your neighbors and tell us how you’re feeling!”

National Day of Civic Hacking is organized by Code for America with coordination from NASA and SecondMuse, and additional support from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and other Federal, state, and local agencies.

Anyone with ideas can participate in local events, which include hackathons, unconferences, meetups, block parties and more throughout the weekend, and sometimes beyond. More information is at CodeForSanFrancisco.org/hackforchange/