SCI boosts civic action with websites

SCI boosts civic action with websites Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology - by Christopher Calnan Mass High Tech A Woburn entrepreneur is taking a modern approach to foster old-fashioned civic involvement. David Crowley, president of nonprofit Social Capital Inc., has launched three websites in local communities designed to promote civic engagement. He now hopes to replicate the model statewide. Crowley launched his first website in Woburn in 2002 and expects to be hosting 10 by the end of 2008. Within three years, he said, that number could be 25 websites. Whereas municipal websites typically list government-sponsored activities and information such as trash pickup schedules, those developed by SCI include both municipal information and events by private organizations and residents. For example, SCI's MyDorchester.org connects social service agencies with residents they're trying to reach. And its Woburn website offered such information as a summer concert series and a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day event at a local church. Before founding SCI, Crowley was executive director of Generations Inc., a 16-year-old Boston nonprofit group that sponsors programs such as tutoring and mentoring to promote interaction across generations. In 1994, he started the Kentucky Community Service Commission, a state agency managing AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps and other service programs. Backed with more than $150,000 in grants from local foundations and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he developed a website for Woburn in 2002, Dorchester in 2004 and Lynn in 2007. Each website is built on an open-source platform and is custom built for that community, Crowley said. The three "flagship" websites are expected to continue to operate with grant fundings, while future websites are expected to be self-sustaining with the help of local sponsors, he said. Social Capital plans to host the additional websites for an initial $8,500 fee and $2,000 per year using community volunteers to operate the front end. MyDorchester.org attracts about 5,000 unique visitors per month and sends out 2,000 electronic newsletters per week, website director Marisa Luse said. In addition to helping residents find services, the SCI websites help guide residents looking for ways to serve, Crowley said. "We feel we're pretty well positioned to help communities answer that question," he said. "We want to be a primary resource for local communities to get people civically active." All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.