Why you might visit this website while drinking at a bar (and why it matters)

One moment you’re sipping a Lagunitas IPA (or a Victory Summer Love?), the next you’re finding out how much your drinking contributes to the School District of Philadelphia.
That’s the setup for a new collaboration between Young Involved Philadelphia and civic hacking group Code for Philly. In order to get millennials more interested in civic issues, they’re launching a two-part strategy: one that starts IRL and then moves online.
They shipped 1,500 coasters, funded by Philly.com’s Next Mayor project, to bars like Dirty Franks, Standard Tap and the Field House. The coasters are designed to pique drinkers’ interests and get them to visit PhillyDrinkTax.com. The site tells you how much you contribute to Philly schools’ through your bar-going habits and prompts you to learn more about school funding.
Check it out
“YIP and the team is not taking a policy stance on anything specifically (for instance, we are not advocating for a higher or lower drink tax or a specific way to fund the schools),” wrote Mike Thomas, who is helping to lead the project. “Rather, our goal is to illustrate that local government impacts our daily lives, even if we think it’s cool or hip to not be political.”
The development of the site was led by Davis Shaver, with help from Chris Arasin, Ben Novack, Kristen Linn and Thomas. Find the project’s GitHub page here.
See the group’s Knight News Challenge application here.