Announcing Civic Exchange Chicago
Can startups help our civil society? Announcing Chicago’s first co-working hub dedicated to democracy and freedom
CHICAGO, Sept. 17, 2019: Eight unique Chicago startups and nonprofits have joined together to launch Civic Exchange, a co-working office and ideas hub with a purpose: to improve the use of news, information and technology for democracy and freedom.
Leveraging their expertise across media, tech, government, advocacy, and social services, the group has opened a Loop co-working office and events space from which they soon will launch a civic ideas series.
Founded in 2019, the group includes nonpartisan media organizations working toward improving access to information (Block Club Chicago and Chalkbeat Chicago), tech companies operating at the intersection of open data and government (Bright Hive, DataMade, and the Center for Technology and Civic Life), plus the government ethics advocate CHANGE Illinois, social service startup mRelief, and the public engagement experts at Hearken.
“Together, our group of innovative and scrappy Chicago organizations have banded together in the same office to support and grow with each other. It's thrilling to come to work every day with such sharp and passionate people who are really making a difference in the world.” says Derek Eder, Co-Founder of Civic Exchange, and founder of DataMade and Chi Hack Night.
“Being in proximity to one another helps us not only share ideas and resources, but also inspires collaborations. It’s a beautiful thing as a small company to feel part of this larger network that’s making change, while discovering ways to grow companies according to new playbooks,” says Jennifer Brandel, Co-Founder of Civic Exchange, Zebras Unite, and CEO of Hearken.
Civic Exchange recently has secured funding from the McCormick Foundation to hire a Program Manager to grow and expand their event programming and capacity.
“Civic Exchange is a great example of democratic community-building,” said David Hiller, President and CEO of the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. “We are thrilled to be a part of it.”
The Civic Exchange co-working office now is open for tours and event rental. The public ideas exchange will launch later this fall.
For more information about Civic Exchange and to take a photo tour, please visit our website: civicexchangechicago.com/.
About the Civic Exchange members:
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 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.
The 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 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 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 political maps and vibrant elections and governments.
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 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 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.
Media contacts:
Cassie Walker Burke, Chalkbeat Chicago, cburke@chalkbeat.org
Derek Eder, DataMade, derek.eder@datamade.us
Jennifer Brandel, Hearken, jennifer.brandel@wearehearken.com
