Whether it’s cultural or political, sometimes government isn’t amenable to working with civic hackers. But as they say, “hackers gonna hack,” and designers and developers will always find a way to leverage their skills and passion to help fix something they see as broken. Citizen journalist and civic technologist Carlos Moreno shares his experiences and lessons learned civic hacking. Carlos talks about the dynamics of hacking when government isn’t civic hacker friendly and how nonprofit organizations can be a better outlet for technologists who want to help. Carlos shares how civic hackers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shifted their focus from government to supporting local organizations. He also offers advice for how both can find and work best with one another for the greater good.
Carlos Moreno is a project manager at 9b and is the author of two books: The Victory of Greenwood and A Kids Book about the Tulsa Race Massacre. He was selected by national urban-affairs magazine NextCity as part of its 2014 Vanguard Class. In 2015, he was certified by IDEO and +Acumen, in the practice of Human-Centered Design. Carlos earned a Bachelor of Arts in Administrative Leadership in 2017 and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree with a focus on civic technology in 2020 from the University of Oklahoma.
Carlos serves on the board of Urban Coders Guild which teaches programming skills to disadvantaged youth, as well as the leadership team of Tri City Collective which provides journalism, cultural, and educational opportunities outside the classroom for youth and adults.