EveryBlock, a site that has pioneered the local news space, today announced a content-sharing partnership with SeeClickFix. The collaboration provides consumers in each of EveryBlock’s 16 cities with a simple way of viewing civic issues that have been reported in their neighborhoods. SeeClickFix, a New Haven, Connecticut-based site, encourages residents to participate in the care and improvement of their neighborhoods by reporting non-emergency issues.
The collaboration harnesses the power of the rapidly growing initiative for transparency and openness in government by enabling information sharing and engagement all the way down to the neighborhood block level. Consumers now have EveryBlock’s local news feeds for their blocks combined with SeeClickFix’s easy-to-use tools to report civic issues – right at their fingertips.
“EveryBlock is focused on delivering news near you, and SeeClickFix users report hundreds of specific, relevant civic issues each month in the cities we cover,” said Adrian Holovaty, general manager of EveryBlock. “We think they’re a great addition to our site, and they perform a useful service in every city they cover.”
“The work that EveryBlock has done to free up local data has been instrumental in creating the kind of environment in which tools like SeeClickFix can thrive and create real positive change through greater civic participation,” said Ben Berkowitz, CEO of SeeClickFix. “SeeClickFix maintains an open data policy so that like-minded sites like EveryBlock can put our users content in front of their users, and we can work to create a larger environment of open local communication for the greater good of our neighborhoods.”
EveryBlock is available in 16 cities: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Users can visit www.everyblock.com or download the free iPhone app (http://www.everyblock.com/about/iphone/) to join the discussion of what's happening in their neighborhoods.
Municipalities who would like to make data available to EveryBlock or learn more about the company can contact the EveryBlock team at (773) 321-8146.
About EveryBlock
EveryBlock is an innovative local site with a twist: it offers news down to the block level. EveryBlock, founded in 2007, was awarded a grant from The Knight Foundation for its unique development of platforms, tools and services to inform and transform community news. Acquired by msnbc.com in August 2009, the team is based in Chicago and offers a news feed for every city block in 16 cities.
About SeeClickFix
SeeClickFix is a web, mobile web and Smartphone reporting tool that allows citizens to report non-emergency issues to governments and others accountable for the public space. Over 30,000 problems from potholes and speeding school buses to bad drinking water and blighted buildings have been reported on SeeClickFix. Over 40% of those issues have been reported as fixed.