Project context MOTI; Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services (PRNS); City Manager’s Office (CMO); and Office of Racial Equity (ORE) are assessing the equity impact of PRNS scholarships, by analyzing spatial patterns of how scholarships for three programs — Citywide Scholarships, Camp San José (a summer day camp), R.O.C.K. After School (an after…

By: Beatriz Aldereguia, Christopher Maximos, & Insha Momin Christopher Maximos (Stanford ‘23) represented our summer community engagement fellows (Beatriz Aldereguia, MIT Sloan ’22; Insha Momin, Georgetown ‘23) in a recent presentation to Cities for Digital Rights (CC4DR), a global network of over 50 cities committed to promoting and defending digital…

By: Julia Chen In August 2020, the Knight Foundation granted a $60,000 initial investment to MOTI. In less than a year since, the data equity pilot team has grown from one Harvard Business School Leadership Fellow to 20 individuals spanning partnerships from San José State University to mission-driven nonprofits like…

For us, by us What if we could harness the ingenuity and authenticity of community technologists to help address the youth and young adult mental health crisis in San José? Our young people are suffering from a severe mental health crisis; even before the pandemic, a 2021 UCLA study found that nearly half of…

One of the first members of MOTI’s Data Equity team reflects on his journey into data science and the City of San José, and how it was supported by organizations like Correlation One that work to create equal access to the pipeline for data-driven jobs. By: Casey Kongpanickul For the…

By: Julia Chen and Christine Keung San José prides itself on our cultural diversity — in 57% of homes, English is not the primary language spoken — and an innovation economy that includes the headquarters of companies like Zoom, Adobe, and Cisco. We’ve been lauded as the #1 most innovative…

By: Clay Garner It’s no secret that American local governments struggle to provide good digital experiences for their residents. Whether you’re looking to apply for a permit or find the nearest free meal distribution site, confusing and sometimes clunky public apps are the norm. But a bad user experience isn’t…

Last May, I returned from my 2nd tour to Afghanistan and deployed from one crisis to another. Upon returning to the US, I was shocked that ~100k people in Silicon Valley’s largest city suffered from the digital divide, and I couldn’t fall asleep thinking about the pains of our residents…

By: Apoorva Pasricha I rode my first 1.5 hour CalTrain from San Francisco to San Joseˊ in August 2019 and power-walked the mile from San Joseˊ Diridon to City Hall in 4-inch heels. …