Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 159

CHAPTER 4

In six weeks, the team of fellows and city officials pulled the data together into a one-stop
online application called BlightStatus that made it easy for communities to map exactly where
blighted properties were located, find out who owns them, and what their history was. The
app was so successful that it spun out into a full-fledged startup called Civic Insight that now
helps people track and solve blight in a n umber of cities.
Civic-minded techies are coming together in cities around the country and the world,
giving concerned people with advanced computer skills a chance to address community
problems like never before. They are building apps, maps, visualizations, and networks,
and bringing this entirely new set of tools to the fight against hunger and poverty in their
communities.
Derek Schwabe is the Hunger Report Fellow in Bread for the World Institute.

www.bread.org/institute?

Volunteers collaborate on
DC Action for Children’s
interactive map at a
DataKind DataDive in
Washington, DC.

DC Action for Children

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