OurPhiladelphia.org Launched

Last month, Gabriel Farrell, Cecily Anderson, and I launched OurPhiladelphia.org for our client, Common Cause, a nonprofit, nonpartisan citizen’s lobbying organization working to promote open, honest, and accountable government. While we plan to enhance and grow its functionality in the future, we hope this initial iteration of the site proves useful in helping Philadelphians access information about local politics. Our goal is to help create an open, honest, and accountable local government that serves the public interest.

Functionality Overview for Philadelphians

• Find a complete list of legislative representatives based on a home address search
• Access representatives’ photos, contact information, and campaign donor data
• Read in-depth reports about the campaign money behind local issues that matter to Philadelphians
• Follow the site’s blog for articles, events, and Philadelphia news related to how campaign money works in Philadelphia politics
• Register to create a profile, comment on reports and blog posts, and get a personalized news feed
• Our Philadelphia was made possible by the Samuel S. Fels Fund. Its representative search tool is powered by Cicero’s API. The site is built on Django and is an open source project. Feel free to download its source code or contact me about using this software in your own city.

Read more about the project here or follow Our Philadelphia on Twitter.