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CityCampSavannah Prospectus |
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2018 Sponsorship Prospectus
Brought to you by:
In partnership with:
[[TOC]]
his prospectus is geared to:
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Locally-owned and operated businesses in the Greater Savannah region considering sponsorship of the City's first-ever CityCampSavannah event.
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Nonprofits and community organizations from all backgrounds considering partnering with OpenSavannah for CityCamp in any capacity – whether it be through simply agreeing to distribute flyers, signing-up on behalf of your organization to volunteer for CityCamp, or in-kind donations.
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Social service providers; government agencies, city vendors, political leaders, public servants, public educators, media professionals, and any individual or group that has a vested interest in seeing a more depolarized, interdependent, and prosperous Savannah and Coastal Georgia region.
If you care about the future of civil society locally – and you also believe we can do better than we traditionally have at true deliberative democracy – then you share the values of CityCampSAV and its organizers volunteering under the auspices of its host organization, OpenSavannah.
What started as a whimsical idea among a few new friends has become a viral local movement to organize and collaborate around ways to use digital technology to shape better local government and communities. Become a part of that movement by supporting CityCamp with your financial and in-kind contributions or sponsorship.This document tells you how to do it.
The stakes are too high to leave our local government and civil society behind. Decide that it's worth fixing. Let’s get moving!
"Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody only when, and only because, they are created by everybody."
–Jane Jacobs
- The 101 of CityCampSavannah
This flagship one-day only event – brought to you by the same folks who brought you Hack for Savannah last fall – will feature civic leaders, a special guest keynote, breakout sessions, a Municipal Budget 101 Session led by Melissa Carter of Office of Budget, and a three-hour unconference-style series of lightning talks where anyone who submits a popular idea can take the stage.
Government and community members never have a chance to talk, think and work together in a safe place- we're either angry at a City Council meeting or frustrated at a regular City town hall meeting where we don’t all get to talk to each other. CityCamp is the one chance to talk and think through ideas as equals - city staff and community members all have great ideas and valid concerns, what happens when we all get together at CityCamp? Awesomeness.
As we've matured as an organization over the past 17 months, we’ve certainly recognized the value that a well-run and spirited hackathon or hacknight with the right government partners focused on the right issues can bring to the table.
But we've also observed that the competitive nature of civic hackathons – not to mention the exclusionary nature of the term 'hackathon’ itself – runs somewhat counter to our most fundamental organizational patterns. We don’t believe that competitive isolation and competition motivated by cash prizes is a sound way of catalyzing long term systems-level change. Too often, projects from these events are finite. Whether because of the hesitation of public sector agencies to adopt new approaches or a lack of longterm commitment on the part of participants, civic hackathons have value but the sustainability of that value is not always clear.
The challenging, complex nature of the decline in civic trust in Savannah in recent years demands we take a different approach–one that addresses root causes, not endpoint side effects. Too often, projects in civic tech and civic design act as a bandaid for the structural barriers to underlying productive civic dialogue and public participation. We think it's time to stop putting on civic band-aids and address the disconnect head-on.
Where ****Does The Money Go? (watch promo vide**o)**
MUNICIPAL BUDGETING PRIORITIES
**A city's ****annual municipal budget is perhaps the truest reflections of its collective values. **It’s also perhaps one of the most complicated, wrongly maligned, inaccessible, and misunderstood parts of the machinery of municipal government. While we will gather to address a range of opportunities and issues, each will in some way relate to the allocation of funds for the 2019 budget in an attempt to improve the quality and representativeness of public feedback, which has historically been a pain point for municipal agencies, particularly the City’s Office of Budget Management.
**"The only way we can make informed decisions as staff and make recommendations to the city council is if we really hear from our citizenry." ****–**Melissa Carter, Director, Office of Budget Management, City of Savannah.
Given the widespread confusion, public backlash, and subsequent multiple revisions to the City of Savannah's 2018 budget, we have chosen 2019 budgeting priorities as the theme of most importance to the civic health of the region.
In talks with residents from a broad cross-sector of Savannah and Chatham County, hardly anyone fully understands how the municipal budget process works. While OpenSavannah has attempted in past projects such as OpenBudgetSav.org to distill the allocation of funds and flow of revenues and expenses in an interactive visual format, we believe a more* participatory, catalytic component* is necessary if we wish to achieve *change that sticks. *Especially during a time of declining civic trust at all levels of government, getting the inclusive participation needed will take more than the status quo public forum held on a weekday by government that says it wants to "listen." Despite best intentions from public servants, the public has lost trust in the status quo. Which is why CityCamp is resident-driven, and why it takes the form of an unconference.
_"We need to make it clear that this is a resident-driven process, not a top-down one. __This will be a learning experience for me to hear real people talk about how they view the budget. _We've never really, truly gotten that from people."
*––*Melissa Carter, Director, Office of Budget Management, City of Savannah
II. About CityCamp
CityCamp is an 'unconference' focused on innovation for municipal budgeting and community organizations. As an unconference, content for CityCamp is not programmed for a passive audience. Content (your agenda) is created and organized by participants and coordinated by facilitators. Participants are expected to play active roles in sessions. This provides an excellent format for creative, open exchange geared toward action. Moreover, it aims to be as inclusive of all voices as possible.
_"We hear so much from the same people over and over. __And there's so many people we don’t hear from. __It’s hard to know what to do with that sometimes." _
*––*Melissa Carter, Director, Office of Budget Management, City of Savannah
CityCamp recognizes that local governments and community organizations have the most direct influence and impact on our daily lives. These events seek to create local communities of practice who are dedicated to design, process, and technology applications that make cities and other local communities more open and "user friendly." CityCamp doesn't need to be “all about technology” but innovation does tend to be a central thread in most cities.
Goals
Each CityCamp has four main goals:
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Bring together local government officials, municipal employees, experts, developers, designers, citizens and journalists to share perspectives and insights about our city and the allocation of public funding
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Create and maintain patterns for using the Web to facilitate local government deliberative and inclusive democratic feedback processes and effective local governance
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Foster communities of practice and advocacy on the role of the Web, mobile communication, online information and open data in cities
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Create outcomes that participants will act upon after the event is over and shift perceptions from pessimism to cooperativism.
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residents
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civic leaders
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middle- and high-school students
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elected officials
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public service employees
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entrepreneurs
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designers
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developers
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journalists
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All CityCamp events are on the record by default. Participants should be made aware that they may be quoted, photographed, videoed and otherwise recorded. Exceptions must be agreed to by all parties present in a conversation in order for the conversation to be off the record.
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All attendees agree to abide by the CityCampSavannah Rules of Engagement
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**Focus on the future, not the past. **
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Focus on solutions, not just problems.
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Avoid blaming people for the problem; blame the problem for the problem.
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Think outside the box; how can innovation play a role in shaping a more effective and efficient city budget?
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Press are welcomed and need not seek any permission before using any content from the day. If attending as a member of the press in any form, we ask that you email OpenSavannah Communications Lead Caila Brown at caila@opensavannah.org in order that we may have a press badge ready for you upon check-in.
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Both public representatives and private citizens should participate.
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We ask that you respect the spirit of the event and, if possible, stay for the entirety of the day. The agenda is scheduled in such an order that to make the most possible, we will need your participation throughout the day. If you absolutely cannot attend the entirety of the day, let us know by emailing yall@opensavannah.org prior to the event.
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All CityCamp events are participatory. Attendees at each CityCamp are expected to take an active role in the agenda.
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CityCamp exists in the Creative Commons under the Attribution, Share-alike License.
CityCamp was founded by Kevin Curry and Jen Pahlka, and the first CityCamp was held in Chicago on January 23-24, 2010. Afterwards, in an effort to inspire cities around the world to start their own CityCamp, the brand was opened for re-use by anyone.
No one organization will own CityCamp. CityCamp is an "open source brand" that exists in the Creative Commons. Open source ensures that CityCamp is maintained as a pattern that is easily repeatable and for anyone to use. Branding ensures that the pattern is recognizable and that independent organizers don't misrepresent CityCamp. Instead it will be maintained by the CityCamp community supported by a cadre of local community organizers.
One of the many promotional graphics for the event that sponsors' logos will accompany.
Residents themselves are hosting CityCamp, in collaboration with City of Savannah Government. Residents, by way of volunteer participation in OpenSavannah, are planning and volunteering their time and talents to make this event possible, with the participation of city employees and the city's generous use of Savannah Civic Center as a venue.
Imagine that! As opposed to traditional top-down public feedback mechanisms, CityCamp is *citizen-driven, from the bottom-up, and created with, not for, residents. *We believe this makes CityCamp stand out from typical government-only planned forums executed from the top-down.
Open Savannah volunteers collaborated with Coastal Georgia Indicators Coalition and The Metropolitan Planning Commission at an Aug. 9, 2017 "Community Launchpad" event for a project dubbed “**SavMap*s.” In just three hours, about 40 residents – most of them from non-technical backgrounds – got together to build an** interactive, filterable, searchable ma*p* of social services in Chatham County.*
What is OpenSavannah? Who all is involved with it?
OpenSavannah is a diverse, inclusive, and loosely organized group of 400+ resident volunteers (which can and should include you!) who believe in the power of community-driven innovation to make our city work better for everyone, especially those who it hasn't always served in the past.
We live in a time of record cynicism and distrust of government, and understandably so. According to a March 2017 poll, just 13 percent say they can trust the government always or most of the time, among the lowest levels in the past half-century. Only 20 percent would describe government programs as being well-run. And elected officials are held in such low regard that 64 percent of the public says "ordinary Americans" would do a better job of solving national problems. Yet at the same time, most Americans have a lengthy to-do list for this object of their frustration: Majorities want the federal government to have a major role in addressing issues ranging from terrorism and disaster response to education and the environment.
The story is similar when it comes to local city and county government. Relentless infighting between the City of Savannah and Chatham County – most recently regarding a police demerger – leads us to feel as if local government is as hopeless as Congress.
When we receive an incorrect $1.2K water bill –– and on top of that have to wait in line for an hour in the middle of the business day at the Utility Services Division downtown to pay our bill –– we feel like government isn't working to meet our needs. We grow weary of our Aldermen approving the construction of yet another downtown hotel or resort plan, slowly destroying the cultural fabric that makes our city so unique. We naturally begin to feel disempowered when government seems ineffective and not as responsive as we think it should be.
But rather than complain about it, wouldn’t it be great if more of us offered our hands to help do something about it? It’s easy to watch from the sidelines and critique the many civil servants whose job it is to keep our region a thriving and robust place to live and work.
It's harder to approach the issue from a position of empathy and willingness to serve in a volunteer capacity. That’s the guiding vision behind Open Savannah. The stakes are simply too high to sit on the sidelines.
You may not have heard of OpenSavannah yet, or you might be leery of putting your time and efforts to collaborate with a community organization you're not yet familiar with. We get it. That’s why we want to show you the impact and evidence of our work since we were formed less than two years ago.
We've already racked up a solid list of achievements and a combined total sign-in attendance of 432 distinct residents of Greater Savannah at our 14 events. We’ve teamed up with Creative Coast for event space and networking benefits, and now hold full-time open office hours with at Bull Street Labs, allowing any and all community members to drop in and say hello or talk about a potential civic tech project or issue they may think the brigade could solve. We’ve held five (5) large community events to solve civic issues in the region, and currently are working with CAT to build a bus-tracker app for their downtown fleet.
We have a Meetup.com group of ~450 members and a new Slack team we recently launched with 95 members. We also have sizeable followings on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, in addition to our GitHub organization where we store project code and documentation.
Moreover, we've been recognized by Code for America as the "Best New Brigade" and the “Best Brigade, Midsized City” category of 2017 in the organization’s annual awards program. Our Core Leadership team is composed of ten (10) individuals who each commit to at least one (1) year of volunteer service––with bylaws, a Code of Conduct, and a succession plan to ensure longevity, continuation of mission, and planned strategies for financial solvency for the coming five (5) years.
See photos from the first six months of Open Savanna**h.**
**See some of the news coverage of OpenSavannah**.
OpenSavannah is an all-volunteer organization, and we're taking on all financial responsibility for this rather challenging task of fostering productive civic dialogue between city and citizen. Aside from in-kind marketing, people support, the use of Savannah Civic Center as venue, and a small grant applied for independently, The City of Savannah (i.e. taxpayers of the City) is not paying for this event to take place, or for any of the meals, marketing, event programming, etc.
That's where your organization may hopefully come in! We’re hopeful you’ll agree to serve as a sponsor – whether financial or in-kind –
These programs are designed to provide a basic set of options. We are always open to discussing other options.
For more information please contact:
Carl V. Lewis, OpenSavannah Director
carl@opensavannah.org - (912) 816-7007
'Keys to the City' Platinum-Level Sponsor (only one sponsor of this level; first come, first serve basis)- $1500
Your $1,500 US contribution will sponsor half of all costs, and we'll be sure to highlight your business and the generous civic contribution you’ve made to the community by listing you alongside OpenSavannah and City of Savannah as a joint headlining sponsor.
In return, your organization will be featured prominently in communications, Web presence and event displays for CityCamp.
This includes:
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Logo on event's registration page;
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Logo on the event's homepage;
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Logo on at least one (3) email updates to registered attendees, pre-event
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Logo in full-page advertisement in* Savannah Morning News*
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5 min. honorary time at the mic to tell the community and local government leaders what your business does, and why sponsoring this event is so important to you.
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One (1) spot on the 10-person CityCampSavannah steering committee
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Logo contained in the interactive budgeting feedback app being deployed in late Sept. through Dec. 1.
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Posters and other marketing materials placed at the event
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Logo on at least one (1) email follow-up to registered attendees, post-event
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Public mentions on social media
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One (1) piece of sponsored content, distributed through the OpenSavannah blog to the entire Code for America national network.
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Logo on all attendee nametags.
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Mayor Eddie DeLoach will present your business with the symbolic "Keys to the City" award in his closing remarks.
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Listed in all sponsorship spots available for the remainder of 2018, effectively becoming OpenSavannah's platinum sponsor for the rest of the year.
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One (1) sponsored SMS notification with a link to a URL of your choice sent to residents who've opted in to participation in the participatory feedback period via text message.
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Photos on the "Civic Red Carpet" with your organization's representatives alongside OpenSavannah volunteeers and public servants holding the City key.
Your $750 US contribution will cover all outside labor and contractor costs, including payments to local artists, photographers, multimedia specialists, visual facilitators, and help offset out-of-pocket costs of volunteers.
In return, your organization will be featured prominently in communications, Web presence and event displays for each sponsored CityCamp.
This includes:
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Logo on event's registration page
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Logo on the event's home
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Logo on at least one (1) email update to registered attendees, pre-event
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Posters and other marketing materials placed at the event
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Logo on at least one (1) email follow-up to registered attendees, post-event
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Public mentions on social media
CityCampSavannah Responsible Civic Steward Sponsor - $250 or more
Your $100 US contribution will help cover the cost of setup, photography, videography, and swag.
In return, your organization will be featured prominently in communications, Web presence and event displays for each sponsored CityCamp.
This includes:
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Logo on event's registration page
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Logo on the event's home
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Logo on at least one (1) email update to registered attendees, pre-event
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Posters and other marketing materials placed at the event
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Logo on at least one (1) email follow-up to registered attendees, post-event
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Public mentions on social media
We recognize that, for some organizations, the most valuable gift you can make to CityCampSavannah are the products or services you already offer either for free or at a reduced-rate. And we'd always prefer buying locally if and when possible!
For that reason, we have outlined the following services and goods we're currently looking to find in-kind donors to help offset the cost:
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**For Restaurants: **We're currently seeking locally-owned or operated food service establishments/retailers either to (a) host a sampling table in our "Civic Food Court" for lunch, or (b) to help cater food for breakfast, lunch, or snacks during breaks for volunteers to distribute. If your food service establishment or retailer is able to help out with any portion – no matter how small – of event catering, contact the OpenSavannah Executive Leadership Team at yall@opensavannah.org.
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**For ****Other Local Businesses ****: **In addition to direct financial support and event catering, we need stuff like telecommunications, printing, A/V, photography, and other services. Does this sound like you? If so, let us know! Email yall@opensavannah.org to let us know!
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**Printing: **We're currently seeking a print shop to sponsor the promotional materials for CityCampSavannah.
For all in-kind sponsors, we'll make sure to provide the following:
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Logo on the event's home
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Logo on at least one (1) email update to registered attendees, pre-event
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One (1) poster placed at the event
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Logo on at least one (1) email follow-up to registered attendees, post-event
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One sponsored (1) Instagram post, one (1) Facebook post, and one (1) Tweet as well as one (1) email to our contact list of 559 local residents.
Logo on at least one (1) email update to registered attendees, pre-event
1.One (1) poster placed at the event
- Logo on at least one (1) email follow-up to registered attendees, post-event
In return for providing any of these services, your organization will be featured prominently in communications, Web presence and event displays for the event.
This is especially true when it comes to food!
A fundamental value of OpenSavannah as an organization is interdependence. We recognize that to bring about community and civic change we must work with the entire civic ecosystem of activists, changemakers, nonprofits, community organizations, and passionate citizens as co-creators, not worry about 'who gets credit.'
If your community group or nonprofit can help volunteer for outreach plans or for the event itself, we'd love to make this as collaborative of an event and process as possible, and we’re not at all greedy about sharing the limelight. Civics is, after all, about working together, right?
We're not one of those nonprofits who cares about 'taking credit’ for things, and we have no dues, commitments, or special requirements to join.** If you’re a resident of Greater Savannah, for our purposes, you’re a member of OpenSavannah.**
**Inclusion is our ultimate success metric. **For CityCampSavannah to reach its true full potential, it should be planned and executed with the entire community, especially with other nonprofit organizations, community organizations, and local businesses. As with all OpenSavannah events, we do not want to not default to "just another bunch of white guys". We therefore must place inclusion and diversity above all else.
A more representative democracy is a stronger democracy.** **We can and must do better at engaging all Savannah residents –– especially underserved communities –– in the process of deliberative democracy on issues of civic importance. And that's an issue of shared responsibility.
**Fixing government starts with fixing citizenship, which means accepting shared responsibility. **We can and must do better at engaging all Savannah residents –– especially underserved communities –– in the process of deliberative democracy on issues of civic importance. It's easy to blame our elected officials when things go wrong. It’s easy to complain about local government on Facebook. It’s much harder to take ownership in our communities and do the hard work to make the system work for everyone. No one is coming … it’s up to us.
**Public feedback is only valuable when there is an engaged and informed citizenry. **We can and must do better at engaging all Savannah residents –– especially underserved communities –– in the process of deliberative democracy on issues of civic importance. It's easy to blame our elected officials when things go wrong. It’s easy to complain about local government on Facebook. It’s much harder to take ownership in our communities and to take meaningful action to change the status quo.
** ** Democracy requires participation.
**IV. Fiscal **Agent
The fiscal agent for OpenSavannah is Code for America, a 501c.3 non-profit organization. Since OpenSavannah –– not the City of Savannah –– will be footing the bill for the event and feedback period, all donations should go to OpenSavannah. This event was pitched, is being organized, and being carried out by volunteers.* It is in no way intended as volunteers doing the bidding of city staffers. *We welcome – and encourage – constructive criticism of the status quo in local government, and believe wholeheartedly in the notion that reasonable people can disagree at times.
OpenSavannah is officially a part of Code for America and is a registered 501c.3 non-profit organization based in the United States. Contributions are 100% tax deductible in the United States.
The best way to donate to CityCampSavannah is online at opensavannah.org/donate. Going there will reroute you to the appropriate donation form on Code for America's website that will ensure we receive your donation locally. You may want to check to confirm we have received your payment 24 hours after making it by emailing carl@opensavannah.org.
If you wish, or if your organization/agency requires it, you may also make by check sent via USPS mail to Code for America with OpenSavannah in the memo line.
The mailing address for Code for America is:
Code for America
155 9th St.
San Francisco, Ca.
USA
Checks for CityCamp should be made out to "Code for America." Include “OpenSavannah” in the memo line of the check to ensure the funds are disbursed to our account.
Contributors will receive a receipt for tax filing purposes.
With the contributors' approval, all contributions over $100 will be added to the Friends of OpenSavannah page, i.e., unless anonymity is requested.
If you are able to offer any of these services, please contact Open Savannah's Leadership Team (yall@opensavannah.org):
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Breakfast or lunch catering of any portion size
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Printing and promotional materials.
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In-kind marketing or advertising
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Any form of snacks for breaks
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A/V hardware
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Photography
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Videography
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8:30-9:00: Introductions and We
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9:00-9:30 Speakers
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9:30-10:00 Idea pitches for sessions
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10:00-10:30 Session voting and room assigning
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10:30-11:30 Breakout session 1
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11:30-12:30 Breakout session 2
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12:30-1:30: Lunch
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1:30-3:00 Breakout session 3
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3:00-4:45 Breakout session 4
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5:00-6:00 Session report back in big group!
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6:00-?: Happy hour celebration
For CityCampSavannah to reach its true full potential, it should be planned and executed with the entire community, especially with other nonprofit organizations, community organizations, and local businesses. As with all OpenSavannah events, we do not want to not default to "just another bunch of white guys". We therefore must place inclusion and diversity above all else.
Here are some roles for a planning team:
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Event planning and logistics
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Outreach and communications
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Food and beverage
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Venue logistics
Decisions are made by those who show up!
**Join us, **won't you?
Oct. 20, 2018
Savannah Civic Center
408 W. Montgomery Ave.
citycampsav.org