Op-Ed: More Technology Experts Are Needed for Government and Nonprofit Jobs. Philanthropy Can Help.
Published in The Chronicle Of Philanthropy
By Jenny Toomey
Something remarkable happened earlier this year when millions of people signed up to receive free Covid-19 test kits from the federal government. The process worked. The government website was simple to use. Signing up took seconds. And most people received their test kits within weeks.
Compare that with the problem-plagued rollout of healthcare.gov in 2013 or the tortuous phone queues for vaccination appointments a year ago.
What changed? Experts in the emerging field of public-interest technology had a seat at the table from the start. The result: 18 people from two government agencies — the U.S. Digital Service, formed in the aftermath of the Affordable Care Act website debacle, and the U.S. Postal Service — built an online portal in three weeks that handled 68 million visitors in its first week alone.
The Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an independent organization working to address inequality and build a future grounded in justice. For more than 85 years, it has supported visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Today, with an endowment of $16 billion, the foundation has headquarters in New York and 10 regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
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