The National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) will launch the 2013 Civic Data Challenge today at the Data Visualization Summit in San Francisco. The Challenge, which is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, will turn the raw data of “civic health” into useful applications and visualizations that have direct impact on public decision-making.

Last year, the partners launched the first-ever national Civic Data Challenge to bring new eyes, new minds, new findings and new skill sets to explore the civic health of communities. Winning teams spanned the country and included a diverse group of undergraduate students, nonprofit leaders, financial analysts, graphic designers and coders.

This year, the challenge has been expanded to include:

• Three challenge phases will encourage data scientists, coders, developers and designers to come together to build their entries.

• Grand prizes will go to teams who create exceptionally useful products AND work with community partners to successfully implement those tools.

• Participants will have the opportunity to engage with a team of expert advisors to improve their entries.

“At NCoC, we believe that civic data is critical to understanding the health of our communities,” said Ilir Zherka, executive director of NCoC. “We are thrilled about the possibilities of the challenge to build tools that help our communities take action to strengthen civic life.”

“Building on the success of last year’s challenge we hope that new talent and audiences will engage around the field of civic health,” said Jeff Coates, strategic initiatives associate for Knight Foundation. “By helping to expand these connections we are discovering new ways to unlock civic attachment data and foster stronger communities.”

The Challenge launches today, April 11, at the 2013 Data Visualization Summit in San Francisco. The Civic Data Challenge is asking community leaders, government officials, developers, coders, designers and all interested citizens to get involved.

For more information and to join the challenge, visit www.CivicDataChallenge.org.

The Civic Data Challenge is supported by our launch partners at Innovation Enterprise who are organizing the Data Visualization Summit. DVSF is the world’s largest executive led data visualization summit and will be attended by Fortune 500 executives. The challenge is also supported by our team of judges and advisors, promotional partners at CEOs for Cities and DataKind, and sponsors at Iron.io.

About the National Conference on Citizenship

At the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC), we believe everyone has the power to make a difference in how their community and country thrive. We are a dynamic, non-partisan nonprofit working at the forefront of our nation’s civic life. We continuously explore what shapes today’s citizenry, define the evolving role of the individual in our democracy, and uncover ways to motivate greater participation. Through our events, research, and reports, NCoC expands our nation’s contemporary understanding of what it means to be a citizen. We seek new ideas and approaches for creating greater civic health and vitality throughout the United States. More information is available at www.NCoC.net.

About Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit KnightFoundation.org.