Earlier this week Code for America announced the beta launch of Change By Us Seattle, a new application to support volunteerism in the community. The idea behind the project is to empower neighborhoods in Seattle to coordinate offline efforts to make their city better.

The new site helps you share ideas, start projects, connect with resources and make your community better. You can join a project or start your own and a network of city leaders is ready to hear your ideas and provide guidance for your projects. 

This summer the City of New York and Knight-funded CEOs for Cities launched Change by Us NYC with help from Knight Foundation’s Technology for Engagement initiative. The website invites New Yorkers to propose community change ideas and seek city money to help make it happen.

At the launch of Change By Us NYC, Paula Ellis, VP of Strategic Initiatives for Knight Foundation wrote:

“It’s a really cool idea that we hope is just the first of many, many, many new notions about how government can really engage with residents who care about the place they live and want to help make it better….at Knight Foundation, where we believe that informed and engaged communities are better places to live, work and play, we’re excited to help support this burgeoning movement.”

Currently, Code for America fellows are helping to standardize the site to bring it to more cities and add new features. You can read more about the new site and its users on Code for America’s blog post about the launch and learn more about the functionality of the site by watching Change By Us Seattle’s video tutorials.