Civic News

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

A Young Involved Philadelphia and Code for Philly collabo wants to encourage more millennial civic engagement.

The coaster in question. (Courtesy photo)

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.

Companies: Young Involved Philadelphia

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

Our services Preferred partners The journalism fund
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

The person charged in the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting had a ton of tech connections

From rejection to innovation: How I built a tool to beat AI hiring algorithms at their own game

Where are the country’s most vibrant tech and startup communities?

The looming TikTok ban doesn’t strike financial fear into the hearts of creators — it’s community they’re worried about

Technically Media