BDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV
1
What Brigade are you reporting from?What is your role in the Brigade?Did you hold your event on September 21?How many attendees did you have at your event?Did you partner with a National Expungement Week (NEW) clinic?If there was a NEW event in your location, how was your experience attempting to partner with the organizers?What actions did you participate in?Is your work updated into the shared drive? If not, please do so now: Did you upload pictures from your event? If not, please do so now:Was the 2019 NDoCH toolkit helpful?Was the swag box you received helpful for your event?Tell us one thing that went well at your event:Tell us what you'd like to see changed for next year:What's one thing Code for America could do to help your event for next year?
2
BetaNYCBrigade Core TeamYes120NoBetaNYC developped 8 mobility equity challenges with NYC departments, agencies and community oganizations and organized teams of civic tech talent to address. YesYesN/AYesEveryone worked hard throughout the day and all 8 challenge organizers reported back results. The theme was selected after we had started planning our event. So, I didn't feel too aligned with CfA's NDoCH activities. I recall someone else proposing the topic of mobility equity at Bridgade Day at summit, and it was exciting to me that someone else was considering it. It would have been nice to connect with other Brigades working on the same topic throughout the planning process. See above.
3
Code for AnchorageBrigade CaptainYes3NoAlaska doesn't have expungement. We looked at ways to make an argument for expungement by costs and analyzing 6 million Alaska cases. YesYesYesYesThe University of Alaska, Anchorage justice department let us know about a very large data set (6 million records) of Alaska cases that we worked to analyze. More options for states that don't have the theme in their state.More options for states that don't have the theme in their state.
4
Code for AtlantaBrigade CaptainYes10YesIt was okay. There was some miscommunication around exactly when our hackathon portion would be, but it was all resolved day-of.Journey Mapping, Know Your Rights SiteYesYesYes, very helpfulYesMade great partnerships with other organizations and government offices thanks to holding it at the N.E.W. event.The swag box could have been half-portioned for our event. I feel like we wasted the post cards and stickers.Not that we particularly needed it, but some monetary funding is always helpful
5
Code for BostonBrigade Captain, Brigade Core Team, NDoCH LeadYes50NoMixed. They seemed very focused on their own events (they are running 4 in MA). That said, the organizer of the event in Quincy came to NDoCH and participated in journey mapping. We'll be attending a clinic next weekend to do user testing on expungema.org.Journey Mapping, Usability Scorecard, Know Your Rights Site, - A usability review of expungema.org (built by one of our partners, Citizens for Juvenile Justice) - A Twilio chatbot that mimics the logic of CFJJs expungement self-eligiblity checker - A crime-incident dashboard for the Suffolk DAs office (Rachel Rollins) - Manual data extraction of criminal court case filings from a protected Tableau dashboard - A data investigation of the schools-to-prison pipeline via CFJJ - A tool to evaluate the practical impact of a new criminal justice bill that CFJJ is advocating forYesYesModeratelyYesContent and partnerships all came together well, albeit at the last moment.More, and more varied, types of project suggestions from Code for America. More notice if CfA is going to send a representative.Better connections to national content partners. Fundraising support locally. Press support with more notice.
6
Code for BTVBrigade CaptainYes16NoJourney MappingYesYesSort of.YesGetting important expungement related persons together in one room that should have met a long time ago ... i.e., VT Legal Aid + Judiciary IT + State's Attorney + Local Attorneys ... Too much to describe here. Don't take that the wrong way - there was a lot that was good, but we need to have a serious post mortem and not just a one liner in a form.It depends on the event and how it shapes up. The promotional material and press release was helpful... but for us, probably the biggest value would be to do it a different time of year. I know everyone has different thoughts on this and the NDoCH has moved a number of times. I can just say that autumn in Vermont is a really really really bad time to add another indoor tech event. We already have 3 or 4 local ones, and they're also competing with the weather and desire by locals to squeeze the last bit warm outdoorsy stuff into the summer. I liked the start of June. I could also see November. November is a crappy outdoor month here... not enough snow, but too cold to want to just be outside... and really dark. But, every State is different.
7
Code for BuffaloBrigade CaptainYes6NoProject work for police stop data collection app; overview and project work for affordable water Fellowship projectYesYesYes, but our brigade didn't end up doing an expungement related event specificallyYesSince attendees were having a good time at the event, we got the okay from our space host to stay 2.5 hours longer than we planned.Not sureNot sure
8
Code for DCBrigade Core TeamYes40YesGood! I think. Honestly, one of the other leadership team members was the one who did most of the coordination with them.Know Your Rights Site, Expungement project; Intro to GitHub, Intro to civic techYesYesI think soYesWe didn't run out of food! 🍕Be clear about whether it's called the National Day of Civic Hacking or the National Day of Action. Also, I'm not sure about the email volume; there were so many emails that it sometimes felt overwhelming, but I also understand that some things get emailed multiple times because you really want to make sure people see them.Make NDoCH stickers maybe? (Were there some and I missed it?)
9
Code for DenverBrigade Captain, Co-CaptainYes21NoWe got connected a little bit late which didn't help, and though we had a nice intro call - we didn't see much crossover mainly because of the action orientation of their event (providing expungement services) and our research oriented event.

I would also say that our NEW rep wasn't the most responsive so while trying to find a space we going to partner with them in theirs but they didn't let us know they moved in a different direction until 2.5 weeks before the event and we had to scramble. I totally get it, we're all community organizers, but it definitely made a little wrench into our plans and when a later request for a sign up form came across our email it felt a bit tone deaf considering they left us scrambling a bit.

But 		Journey Mapping, We did more of a process map than journey mapYesYesThe first version was a 7/10, the one post-workshop call was 10/10. So helpful. We used resources from it in our resource packet, social media posts, and a whole lot of the text. YesTwo of our groups collaborated early in the event and made a stellar process map we are so excited about.A lot more preparation so we could have exactly what we needed and who we needed at the event.Earlier theme voting, earlier activity voting, more workshops/Q&A's, more flexible resources!
10
Code for FresnoBrigade CaptainYes12NoN/AUsability Scorecard, Know Your Rights SiteYesYesYes! Very much so.YesI learned how not to run a hackathon, and there was a project that I think we'll be able to build on!The day was really well prepped for by CfA Staff and Brigade Leaders. Perhaps next year's action would somehow incorporate seeing contributions made by brigades in real time? Not sure if possible, but could be cool.One on one's to learn about each event a couple weeks before? It sounds like a lot of work for staff/brigade leaders though. Don't want to overburden you.
11
Code for GreensboroBrigade CaptainYes12NoJourney Mapping, Working on new brigade websiteYesYesThere was good information. But it would have been nice if the information was given to us sooner and if we got notified when there were updates to the documentNoGood connections and community buildingThe swag box should arrive 2+ weeks before the eventUnsure
12
Code for HawaiiNDoCH LeadYes7YesJourney Mapping, Usability Scorecard, Know Your Rights SiteYesYesYesYesGot decent turn out given size of tech community and given that 2 other hackathons were happening at the same timeEarlier notice about event topicWe had more than sufficient support from CfA
13
Code for MilwaukeeBrigade Core Team, NDoCH LeadYes24YesOnce initial communication was made, it was easy to get our NEW partner involved.Journey Mapping, Political AdvocacyYesYesThe toolkit contained plenty of ideas that were helpful that we could use to assist with ideas development.YesThe engagement from our speakers and crowd was amazing. The NEW organizer, in particular, was awesome at explaining expungement and our local needs. The issues are relevant to our community and tie into so many other engagements.We had issues with other events for National Expungement Week competing with ours on that same day, since it was a Saturday and not many events were held during the business week. In addition, people told us they were looking to stay home to relax. We would rather have had the event at night on a week day.Marketing could have started earlier for events, and I wish we knew which supplies CfA was going to give us beforehand so we would have a better idea of what to order.
14
Code for OrlandoBrigade Core Team, NDoCH LeadYes21NoJourney Mapping, Usability ScorecardYesYesExtremely helpful and informative. Major kudos to those who put it together.YesParticipants did not immediately jump into building or development, which is a first... at least for the collective actions. They paused and considered approaching the problem from the audience's perspective with insight from a legal professional.It'll likely require coordination ahead of time, but perhaps having a masterlist of streamed panels brigades are hosting. We've also had several members express interest in participating in some way for NDOCH, but remotely. Not sure how that would work, but it'd be cool to see remote contributions from members. And figuring out things in advance on our part is a given. We did not expect our first town hall and a hurricane to get in the way of NDOCH prep.Having someone from Code for America greet participants and chime in on the day of NDOCH, whether in person or remotely, to help support and connect our local efforts to a larger scale. When we talk about about Code for America, some members may see the organization as a lingering presence. It'd be helpful to try to put faces to the organization. Very few get a chance to interact with Code for America or other brigade chapters despite encouragement to join specific Slack workspaces, newsletters or discourse discussions.
15
Code for OrlandoBrigade CaptainYes25NoWe didn't have NEW in our areaJourney Mapping, Usability ScorecardYesYesThe signs were usefulNoWe all stayed focused and accomplished a lot in the dayIt would be nice if CfA provided Tshirts as swag for the attendees I think they did a great job providing resources this year
16
Code For SacramentoBrigade CaptainYes20NoAlternate courts redirection, enhancing the decision-making processYesYesyesYesGreat collaboration with new members who *want* to work on the project continuingmore marketing for the desired project (e.g. help us get info about national expungement out sooner faster?)Maybe... some marketing text for attracting people to the event. More "Come help your brigade" text....
17
Code for SacramentoBrigade CaptainYes25NoSpecialized court classification for Yolo County, Analyzing Caltrans Open DataYesYesYes, it helped a ton! Though the size of it was a little intimidating -- maybe it would have been good to have an overview doc and then a few more specific docs.YesYolo County DA engagement was great. Our members dived right into the challenge and had some great conversations.This was my first time hosting/organizing NDOCH and I think it went really well. Next year I'd like to put some more time into preparation and marketing for the event. I also didn't feel comfortable leading some of the activities like Journey Mapping since I've never done it before and didn't have time to prepare for it.The Swag box was great! Keep those coming!
18
Code for TulsaBrigade CaptainYes25NoJourney Mapping, Know Your Rights Site, Reporting on progress with Courtbot project. Discussion about importance of record clearance, and Q&A with local domain experts.YesYesVery helpful, yes.YesWe made some great connections with local officials as well as nonprofits who are working in the criminal justice space. They were able to educate us about the projects we're working on so that we can make improvements and serve clients better.The imagery used was highly offensive and disturbing to one of our participants. I'd like for the graphic design team next year to carefully take cultural / historical context into account. More details will be sent directly to Jen Pahlka, Tom Dooner, Veronica Young, and Chris Whittaker.I said yes to uploading photos and materials to the shared drive; that's a lie. We haven't had time to process images and materials from the event, yet, as it's the weekend (and this survey was due in less than 24 hours; I haven't even physically recovered from the event yet). Give us more time to debrief, process, and then share our findings and materials.
19
Code for TulsaStaffYes22NoJourney MappingYesYesYesYesEverythingPerhaps some training on how to conduct designated actions.Perhaps some training on how to conduct designated actions.
20
CodeForPHXBrigade CaptainYes24YesDonnell was amazing. He had also coordinated with some local legal help that was actually doing Rights Restoration DURING THE HACKATHON! (10 total)I was just organizingYesYesAbsolutely. Thank you for providing stickers and posters as well as a theme for the event that was going on nationwide. It made it feel like we were part of a larger movement (instead of just working on Phoenix-specific tech).YesHaving Legal representatives there that the tech folks could clarify requirements with in real-time.If we do Rights Restoration, I'd like to hold the event in a more commuter friendly location. Marketing? Maybe help getting Volunteers to show up? They are all tough problems.
21
devICT in Wichita, KSBrigade Core TeamYes4Noworking on VoteICT a voter information appYesYesyesYesPeople worked hard. The github issue list being set up ahead of time was a great help.I'd like more volunteers helping us plan. The theme needs to be announced way earlier. It was much too hard to find and build relationships with partner organizations doing criminal justice reform necessary for an event like this in the small amount of time we had. Criminal justice and human rights reformers are busy people. This is why we weren't on theme. Also the theme dealt with state laws. It would have been nice to have an easy way to find and collaborate other groups in the same state working within the same parameters.
22
Hack for LABrigade Core Team, NDoCH LeadYes25YesPretty good. NDICA was a little confused by CfA, she didn't realize she was dealing with three independent groups (2 brigades and HQ).Journey Mapping, Know Your Rights SiteYesYesYes, for the most part.YesAttendees really bought into the importance and scale of record clearance.About CfA picking the topic... GOOD: CfA's using NDoCH to get brigades on the same page, the same topic, was on the one hand really powerful. I think it was a great experiment to try, and CfA should feel good about the spirit of the brigades all on one page together. But now that I can see everything holistically, I feel like CA brigades could have been more productive with some different preparation and planning, with CfA's help.
1) There's a missed opportunity on partnership between CA brigades and Clear My Record. I look at what LA and Oakland were able to learn on NDoCH, and it seems like we probably didn't bring anything new to the table for the CMR team. Did I miss an offer of expertise? (e.g., SMEs from Clear My Record)... I think it is an opportunity missed, that HfLA didn't stand on CMR's shoulders. Maybe we contributed at the margins, particularly about expungement in our counties; but I really don't know. And that feels a little bad.
2) Rights basically come from the state level. Yet the fact that multiple brigades in a given state would be doing overlapping work was an issue we had to figure out on our own, and we were slow to realize that. (We only realized as we began research the week of the event.) It's a specific case where CfA/CMR could have helped us anticipate this challenge.
• The toolkit also caused some confusion. It said pretty strongly that KYR MVPs should be for a single national-level site design. Yet the brigades are waaaay too separate to coordinate that. Even among CA brigades it’s hard to coordinate. We’re still trying to figure out what other brigades did and how we can work together or avoid redundant websites...
(If this is unclear, feel free to Slack me)
If we're going to again take on a topic across the brigades, think through 1) how CfA domain expertise can help the brigades start from a stronger position, and 2) how to help brigades with overlapping jurisdictions understand the need for coordination.
23
Kansas CityBrigade CaptainYes22NoEducational workshop for Legislators, Prosecutors, Attorneys, and Community LeadersYesYesWe did not use it for this event but will use it for future projects and eventsYesThe workshop provided an opportunity for policymakers, coders, expungement attorneys, and community leaders to collaborate. The different players were able to exchange ideas in an environment that fostered deep listening. The legislators have asked for information presented in the workshop to inform their work in creating legislative improvements to streamline the expungement process. We are good.Code for America could support greater participation by individuals with coding experience with policy discussions. While policy discussions may seem removed from the development of software, they are critical in ensuring access to data.
24
Open Twin CitiesBrigade CaptainYes50NoI dropped the ball on an early communication to us by someone interested in putting together a NEW event. Subsequent attempts to contact this person were unsuccessful.Usability ScorecardYesYesYes, very! Civic tech canvas was used by all groups and was greatYesFocus on education, research and ideas rather than working softwareMore videos with impact statements, etc. for national focusWe were grateful to have Veronica Young attend our event this year! We'd love to host Veronica or another person from CfA again next year.
25
Open Twin CitiesBrigade CaptainYes80NoUsability ScorecardYesYesA bit--I feel like, when I first glanced at it, it seemed like it was written with the idea that we'd be hosting an event to help people impacted by the justice system to come to an event to fill out forms and move through the steps to clear their records. We weren't quite ready to scope that kind of commitment and engage the right kind of volunteers for that kind of event, so I sort of didn't look at the document after that. It's possible I misunderstood or overlooked something, though.YesOur venue was new this year, and it work out great--lots of niches where people could gather, one giant full-group room, and a kitchen countertop in the middle for food. We also had great turnout! We even had a local art professor bring a group of his freshmen seminar students to the event, and they managed to break out of their initial shyness and engage pretty well during the brainstorming activities. We charged $10 this year to try to get people to commit more seriously when signing up, and so we could get a better estimate for purchasing food, and that seemed to work out fine. (We also offered fee waivers for people who needed some support to make it possible to attend.)I'm hoping we can get a slightly larger panel conversation pulled together next year. I'd also love to encourage our groups to go out into our community and do more on-the-ground user research and/or data collection during the event. (We hold the event in a walkable downtown area, so that should hopefully make people pretty accessible.) I'd also love to keep encouraging projects that involve more "research/analyze data on a policy or problem", rather than simply "build an app". Research/data/policy analysis projects can sometimes fit a bit better into the scope of a weekend, and everyone leaves having learned something, and with some new information for being an informed citizen. I love the opportunity of continuing to have a nation-wide structure like the "clear my record" activities that we can plug into. It's really helpful when there's already an established set of low-to-medium commitment activities that are relatively structured that we can channel people into. We had two people tackle the "clear my record" usability scoring activity, and I thought it was informative for event participants to hear their findings in the report-out at the end of our event. (We heard some astounded "wows" from the audience when hearing about some of Minnesota's policies.) It would be great to have 1-2 new topics next year, each with 1-2 corresponding "low barrier to entry" activities and a nation-wide report-back structure. We could be more deliberate about channeling people towards those next year, if we know they'll be available.
26
OpenOaklandBrigade Core Team, NDoCH LeadYes45NoWe had sort of a frustrating experience at first, where the organizer of the event that was supposed to be in Oakland was suddenly no longer the organizer of the event and the event was no longer in Oakland (but we didn't hear about this until very close to the date of our event). Once we were connected with the right folks for the event taking place in San Francisco, they were very responsive and knowledgable, but by that point, we had both planned independent, overlapping events and we weren't able to partner beyond "I'll share that your event is happening on the same day".Usability Scorecard, Know Your Rights SiteYesYesYes!YesThe number of folks who showed up! We were pleasantly surprised at the interest in this event.Generating more interest in the event planning process at an earlier stage with our brigade volunteers. I felt supported by CfA through the process and the Toolkit for the event was invaluable. The email reminders laying out "this is what you should have done/be doing this week" were very helpful as a gauge for our planning process. Having CfA staff attend the events was pretty awesome as well!
27
San JoseBrigade CaptainYes30YesQuite nice but difficult with communication at timesJourney Mapping, Reimagining design, mock ups, requirementsYesYesyesYesthings surprising went according to plan for oncemore variety of themes instead of just one for other brigades to participate moredunno everything went well
28
Code for AshevilleBrigade CaptainYes5YesUpdated "Expunction Eligibility Diagram" and build prototype Jotform using conditional logic to ask right questions at right time. If prototype is acceptable, will continue to work with Pisgah Legal to build on-line assistant.YesYesYesYesOnly 5 folks, but we broke into two teams and actually got quite a bit done!Not sure. We put the amount of effort we could afford. We have 4 projects going on, and have about 8 members that contribute regularly, so we did what we could. Not sure how next year will line up with our resources.I don't know.
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100