About us

Founded in 2019, Civic Exchange is a collaborative effort of civic startup and non-profit founders from Block Club, BrightHive, The Center for Tech and Civic Life, Chalkbeat Chicago, Change Illinois, DataMade, Hearken and mRelief. Working across journalism, government, education and social services, these organizations are helping democratic institutions evolve to better serve the public.

How and Why We Came Together

Chicago has enjoyed a unique global impact due to its geography. Sitting at the crossroads of vital bodies of water, highways and rail systems, in 1865 the city became the home to the Union Stockyard, enabling the exchange of livestock to help nourish a growing America. Less than two decades later, the Chicago Stock Exchange was founded, transforming the country’s commerce and trade. As the global economy has shifted from physical goods to prizing the exchange of data and information, we see the next defining dimension of value generation. Chicago is again poised to contribute locally, regionally and globally.

We know from experience that change and innovation happen more quickly and more powerfully when people with a similar mission intentionally collide, collaborate and learn from each other. This is why Silicon Valley became what it is. And we believe Chicago has the DNA to become something else - the hotbed of civic innovation, process and practice.

In late 2018, the founders of Civic Exchange Chicago, Derek Eder (DataMade / Chi Hack Night) and Jennifer Brandel (Hearken / Zebras Unite), started looking to find like-minded organizations that were interested in sharing space, supporting each other and creating something bigger for the Chicago community. They heard from dozens of founders of civic organizations, and worked over the course of many months to align timelines, budgets and needs. In March 2019, the initial cohort of 8 organizations moved into a beautiful space in the Illinois Center at 233 N Michigan Ave.

Member Organizations

Featured

Block Club

Block Club Chicago is a nonprofit, nonpartisan neighborhood news site that delivers exclusive stories about Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods. With neighborhood-specific newsletters and reporters embedded across the city, Block Club covers Chicago from the ground up.

BrightHive

BrightHive helps organizations, networks and communities securely and responsibly link their data to enhance their impact, empower individual and collective decision making, and increase equity of opportunity.

Center for Technology and Civic Life

Center for Tech and Civic Life connects Americans with the information they need to become and remain civically engaged, and ensures that our elections are more professional, inclusive, and secure.

Chalkbeat

Chalkbeat Chicago is a nonprofit news organization telling the story of public education in American cities. To date, we report from and about seven locations: Chicago, Colorado, Detroit, Indiana, Newark, New York, and Tennessee.

CHANGE Illinois

CHANGE Illinois is a coalition leading the charge for more ethical and efficient governments in Illinois. CHANGE (the Coalition for Honest and New Government Ethics) includes a diverse group of civic, business, labor, professional, non-profit, and philanthropic organizations committed to a better future for Illinois. We educate and engage residents in joining us to advocate for a state with fair maps and vibrant elections and governments.

DataMade

DataMade is a data and web consultancy for civil society. We support our partners in working toward democracy, justice, and equity. We understand that data can be easy to come by, but difficult to make sense of. At DataMade we transform complex data into clear, appealing, and actionable websites.

Hearken

Hearken means listen. We help institutions better listen and respond to those they serve through training, techniques and technology. We work with newsrooms, schools, museums and more across nearly 20 countries and as many languages.

mRelief

mRelief is the first-ever, end-to-end enrollment platform for SNAP benefits in the US. We have built an easy-to-use tool on web, text, and voice for people to sign up for SNAP and keep it. The collective work of mRelief has connected more than 469,000 people to social services and unlocked more than $100 million SNAP benefits across the US.