About the author: Jase Wilson is a CityCampKC organizer and co-founder of KC-based civic startup Neighbor.ly.
CityCampKC is Saturday, May 31, at the Kauffman Foundation. Buy your ticket here.
CityCampKC began at OfficePort in Spring 2012, when about 120 civic-minded folks gathered to share perspectives and discuss what it means to be a city. Held as an unconference, CCKC12 invited folks to share what they were working on, and collectively imagine the city they wanted.
But Kansas City’s rise from cowtown to tech epicenter was already well under way. So the event also unexpectedly served for some attendees as a moment of realization: it became abundantly clear that their city was entering a new era, that change was already precipitating all around them.
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The following year, CityCampKC was hosted at Kauffman Foundation. It focused on diversity in the city. Held again as an unconference, CCKC13 brought together civic makers, hackers and doers from throughout the region to share their perspectives, and invited attendees to take a collective look at matters of inclusivity: What roles do circumstances such as race, class and gender play today in KC? What roles should those circumstances play in the KC we want? The conversations had and the connections forged that day continue to have small but observable ripple effects throughout the metro.
Here we are
Now in its third year, CityCampKC again is held as an unconference at the Kauffman Foundation. This year, the focus is perfectly suited to the venue: Startups & The City. How can startups and the cities they inhabit help each other prosper?
The focus is deliberately broad, since both cities and the startups that call them home are the product of innumerable forces: education, available resources, quality of life, culture and disposition all play integral roles in the evolution of startups and their cities. The focus is so broad, that many of the topics people have submitted so far might seem completely unrelated to both. And yet we’ll almost certainly be amazed by how intertwined they are.
For example, what does reusing old brick and timber buildings—rather than tearing them down for parking—have to do with startups? Quite a lot: those old buildings and the neighborhoods where they are densely clustered become the hotbeds of innovation where startups flourish, if they’re allowed to do so. There are dozens of talks already lined up on subjects ranging from the maker movement to the rise of women in technology.
Help others help themselves
But #CCKC14 isn’t just talk. For those who prefer to do over discuss, there is plenty to be done. This year, we’re partnering with Google Fiber, Code for America Brigade and Connecting for Good to help increase digital literacy throughout the KC region.
As digital wizards, it’s sometimes easy to take for granted the skills we’ve built up over years spent working with digital tools. But not everyone has access to the skills needed to participate in the digital world. Imagine not knowing what a browser is, or how to create a social media account. That is the reality for thousands of Kansas Citians. So this year we’re helping Connecting for Good by creating short, simple digital literacy lessons they can use in their training sessions. From turning on a computer to finding a bus schedule online, we’ll be sharing our knowledge so that even more people can be a part of KC’s ascension into the global tech epicenter it seems destined to become.
If you’d like to get involved with this digital literacy effort, we’ll be hosting it at CCKC on Saturday, and also Sunday. This effort is Kansas City’s involvement in the annual National Day of Civic Hacking.
Who’s this for?
Anyone. Everyone. You! If you have something you’d like to share with your city—an idea about how to make it better, or a desire to discuss an issue on your mind—please, by all means, join us. Even if you don’t want to present a topic but still want to be a part of the conversation about tomorrow’s KC, you are welcome here.
Thank you all
This year, we are thrilled to have Silicon Prairie News as the official media partner. As the voice of the Midwest’s flourishing tech industry, the day’s event will be greatly enhanced by SPN’s uniquely regional perspective.
We’re also fortunate in Kansas City to have a supportive community of foundations and companies who see the value in investing in KC. We’d like to thank Kauffman Foundation for their continued support of the event, it wouldn’t be possible without them. Google Fiber, thank you for continuing to show your commitment to Kansas City. Fresh Eggs, you’re amazing. Mindmixer, thank you for your support and welcome home to Kansas City.
Hundreds of hours go into the making of CityCampKC each year. The organizing team is an incredible group of civic-minded folks: I am joined by Rachel Scott and Emily Elmore of Singlewing, Paul Barham from Code for America Brigade KC and Sean Connolly from Neighbor.ly. We do this out of love for KC and its people. As a way to help create the place that we collectively wish to inhabit, and as a way to help others do the same. We hope you’ll be a part of it.
Silicon Prairie News is a media sponsor for CityCampKC 2014
