This morning, the White House honored 15 leaders and organizations from around the country as open government and civic hacking “Champions of Change.” As entrepreneurs, innovators, organizers, and community leaders, these “Champions of Change” have made a tremendous positive impact by building high-tech tools to help health workers and disaster-response crews better serve communities; piloting innovative programs to involve traditionally disengaged communities in local governance; using new technologies to enhance government transparency and collaboration; and more, the White House said.
The honoree from South Florida:
Robert Davis, co-founder of RadSocial, Cooper City: Robert Davis is a recent marketing graduate from Nova Southeastern University in Davie. His day job consists of managing a social media consultancy for small to medium sized businesses, and at night one can find him at the local maker and hacker spaces around Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Robert is a Code for America intern alumni ('12) and an avid supporter of creating civic tools with open data for the public good. Along with fellow Floridian Cristina Solana, the two created the Florida Bill Tracker, forked from the MinnPost and redeployed to easily track controversial Florida legislation (Robert is pictured below pitching at Hack for Change Miami in June). Robert is also an avid traveler and surfer, and hopes to inspire others to change their world regardless of age or expertise.
Read about other honorees here: Download Open Gov Civ Hacking Champs Release
The White House Champions of Change program was created as part of President Obama’s Winning the Future Initiative. Through this program, the White House highlights individuals, businesses, and organizations whose extraordinary stories and accomplishments positively impact our communities. Last year, Susan Amat, founder of Venture Hive and co-founder of The Launch Pad, was named a Champion of Change for outstanding leadership in entrepreneurial mentoring, counseling, and training.
To learn more about the White House Champions of Change program and nominate a Champion, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/champions