TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute an agreement, and any related documents or amendments, between the City of Long Beach and Coding it Forward, a not-for-profit organization established under the laws of the State of Massachusetts, for the purpose of achieving the various aims and objectives relating to the 2023 Civic Innovation Corps program anticipated to begin on June 12, 2023, in a total amount not to exceed $22,000. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
City Council approval is requested to enter a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Coding it Forward for the purpose of achieving the various aims and objectives relating to the Civic Innovation Corps program.
The Civic Innovation Corps <https://www.codingitforward.com/summer-fellowships>program, created by Coding It Forward <https://www.codingitforward.com/about>, empowers the next generation of technology leaders to work at the intersection of technology and public service in local, state, and federal government offices across the United States. Civic Innovation Corps Fellows (Fellows) must be current students or recent graduates of a bootcamp or certificate program, undergraduate, or graduate degree program. Previous Fellows come from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. 63 percent identify as Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, and other persons of color, and 55 percent identify as women or non-binary. Fellows are given an opportunity to learn about public interest technology and career opportunities with government Host Offices to develop solutions in service of the public over the course of a ten-week long internship. The City of Long Beach (City) seeks to participate as a Host Office in the 2023 Civic Innovation Corps program.
Under the agreement, Coding It Forward will provide the City with four Fellows and compensation for three Fellows as W-2 employees, who will support several City programs during the ten-week internship period. The City will provide compensation as a W-2 income for one Fellow. The four Fellows will provide the City with expertise in data analysis, service design, and product management to understand the effectiveness of City programs and recommend future improvements. The City will be responsible for providing Fellows with guidance, supervision, and necessary materials over the ten-week internship period required for successful completion of several high-impact technology and innovation projects from June to August 2023. The four Fellows will support the following projects: Evaluation of the Smart City Initiative program in Technology and Innovation Department, Development of a dashboard solution to improve contract management processes in Public Works Department, Design a technology solution to track and publicly report progress on the City’s Climate Action Plan in the City Manager’s Office, and development of a data collection tool to support the City’s regular greenhouse gas emissions reports in the City Manager’s Office.
The goal of the City’s engagement with Coding it Forward is to improve and advance the City's ability to treat data as a strategic asset, leverage data more effectively to produce reliable insights on efficient service provision, and to deliver results by strengthening its performance analytics systems and processes. This engagement will further promote a culture of using data, user-centered design, and industry-best software development practices to create City programs and services and build upon existing foundational City efforts to-date including the Open Data Policy, Office of Civic Innovation, and Smart City Initiative. The data analysis, user experience design, and product management services provided by Coding it Forward as part of this engagement are far below typical market value because the Fellows are early-career technologists seeking a short-term impact in a government setting.
This matter was reviewed by Deputy City Attorney Erin Weesner-McKinley on April 3, 2023 and by Budget Operations and Development Officer Rhutu Amin Gharib on March 27, 2023.
LEVINE ACT
This item is subject to the Levine Act. The Mayor, Councilmembers, and Commissioners who have received a contribution of more than $250 within 12 months prior from a party, participant, or their representatives involved in this proceeding may do either of the following: (1) disclose the contribution on the record and recuse themselves from this proceeding; OR (2) return the portion of the contribution that exceeds $250 within 30 days from the time the elected official knew or should have known about the contribution and participate in the proceeding.
All parties, participants, and their representatives must disclose on the record of this proceeding any contribution of more than $250 made to the Mayor or any Councilmembers within 12 months prior to the date of the proceeding. The Mayor, Councilmembers, and Commissioners are prohibited from accepting, soliciting, or directing a contribution of more than $250 from a party, participant, or their representatives during a proceeding and for 12 months following the date a final decision is rendered.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
City Council action is time sensitive due to the expected start date of the 2023 Civic Innovation Corps program on June 12, 2023.
FISCAL IMPACT
The total cost associated with the 2023 Civic Innovation Corps program is estimated at $88,000. Of this amount, $66,000 will be directly funded by Coding it Forward which will support costs associated with three Civic Innovation Corps Fellows in the Public Works Department and City Manager’s Office. The remaining amount of $22,000 to support the Technology and Innovation Department Fellow will be funded by the City. Sufficient appropriation is budgeted in the General Services Fund Group in the Technology and Innovation Department Executive Office to support these costs. Approval of this recommendation will allow the Technology and Innovation Department to enter into an agreement with Coding it Forward, a not-for-profit organization to bring on four Fellows for ten weeks to address several technology and innovation projects benefiting the Technology and Innovation, Public Works, and City Manager Departments. This recommendation has no staffing impact beyond the normal budgeted scope of duties and is consistent with existing City Council priorities. There is no local job impact associated with this recommendation.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
LEA D. ERIKSEN
DIRECTOR
TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION
APPROVED:
THOMAS B. MODICA
CITY MANAGER