Network-building is central to the work of community foundations and organizations -- yet often they lack strong personal ties with programmers and others in their local tech community. A nationwide event in June offers a perfect opportunity to meet and assist civic-minded techies you might want to draw into your network.

The National Day of Civic Hacking, June 1-2, aims to bring together citizens, software developers, entrepreneurs, and community leaders in local events held around the country. The goal: to "collaboratively create, build and invent using publicly-released data, code and technology to solve challenges relevant to our neighborhoods, our cities, our states and our country."

Why should community foundations and organizations get involved? Lisa Williams, Knight Community Information Challenge circuit rider and author of the forthcoming book Data for Radicals, notes that these organizations often "don't know the local nerds -- but these are precisely the people with the skills and creativity to help you use technology to help your community."

Also, Civic Hack Day is an opportunity to increase awareness about your organization and its mission among a uniquely important subset of techies: coders and developers who are also deeply interested in solving community problems.

"People often think that all tech people care about is technology. But programmers also often care about the environment, local business, education, etc. And some of them event want to do volunteering that speaks to their unique skillset," said Williams. "But you have to go find them; don't expect them to come to you."

Start now. Right now -- a month in advance -- is the perfect time to get involved with Civic Hack Day events near you. There are three main event types: Random Hacks of Kindness hackathons, Code for America brigade meetups, and Super Happy Block parties (a street festival model for community innovation). Or you can propose your own event.

If you aren't a technical person or don't yet have strong ties with local techies, it probably isn't best to leap in by proposing your own event. For now, a better strategy is to simply attend Civic Hack Day events to meet local techies -- or to offer useful support or resources.

What to do when attending Civic Hack Day events. Williams suggests introducing yourself to techies. Mention your organization and that you do community work. But mostly, focus on asking techies why they're attending the event -- and what they plan to work on there.

"Most techies come to hackathons and similar events with strong ideas about they kind of projects they want to collaborate on," she explained. "Get a sense of what they're interested in and what they have to offer. Focus more on them than on yourself or your organization at first."

Contact event organizers in advance to see if your organization can offer useful event support: wifi-enabled large meeting space, hackathon prize money, or even pizza or soft drinks. Usually these events have an e-mail list used for organizing; joining this can help orient you to the event and how you might best offer assistance or support.

Williams notes that often finding space is the biggest challenge for hackathons. This space must be large enough, with a lot of fast wifi, and be accessible (parking, transit, and disabled access/bathrooms). If your organization can offer hackathon space (or make connections with libraries, schools, universities, or other local institutions with appropriate facilities) that's a great way to build bridges with the local tech community.

Feed them data! Community foundations often are great collectors of civic data -- some of which they compile themselves, others obtained from local governments or elsewhere. If you have access to useful community datasets (or at least know where to find them and how to contact them), especially in spreadsheet format, a particularly helpful way to participate is to provide those datasets in advance to community organizers. Then they can post this data online as part of the event data catalog -- fodder for coders seeking interesting problems to solve at the event.

Williams notes that providing interesting and useful datasets as early as possible makes it more likely that coders will get interested in the information you provide -- and that they'll come to the event with ideas for putting your data to use.

"You can't really walk into a hackathon and say 'I want you to build me an app to do X,' coders don't work that way," she said. "They want to be creative, not dictated to. Give them something interesting and real that they can work with."

Also, leverage your existing network of local creators or repositories of civic data -- such as people at the county clerk & recorder's office, or city dept. of records. Invite them to attend Civic Hack Day events and get involved. Make introductions to the event organizers and attendees. "Be a pathfinder to the civic data that already exists," said Williams.

What if there are no Civic Hack Day events near you? There are many other opportunities to reach out to your local tech community. The best place to start is Meetup.com: look for and join local meetup groups under the tech category on that site. Start attending them.

"It's totally okay to go to a tech meetup when you're not at all technical yourself," said Williams. "Just show up, say you do community work and you're interested in getting more connected with the local tech community, and ask them about what they do. Get a feel for what their priorities are, what they like to work on, what they can do with their skills. Then you can start to figure out where there's overlap with your programs and initiatives. Keep going to different tech meetups and people will get to know you and your organization, and you'll make useful connections."

RELATED POST: Last week, Williams offered advice on Building a great Civic Data Challenge entry. Deadline for contest entries: May 19.