This weekend, at 123 events in 103 U.S. cities, more than 11,000 people (from government, business, nonprofits and community organizations -- as well as technologists, data experts, entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens) will gather to prototype ways to use technology and public data to help solve problems and create opportunity at the local, state, and national levels.

The National Day of Civic Hacking (May 31-June 1) represents a unique opportunity for community foundations and community news publishers to foster strong connections with local people who have precisely the skills needed to successfully execute digital community service and engagement projects.

Most of these events are hackathons: where self-organized teams compete to build, in a day, solutions (or at least proof-of-concept demos) to specific challenges. Their raw material is data supplied by government agencies, nonprofits, universities, and others. Examples include:

• Civic Hacks North Dakota, May 31, Grand Forks.Challenges: (1) Create an application or mobile website for Grand Forks area biking, hiking, and running trails. (2) Design and create an application which uses traffic data from the City of Grand Forks to show when railroad crossings are occupied by trains within the city limits.
• SFUSD Teen Work Permit Process hackathon, May 31-June 1, San Francisco.Teens will to learn how to use popular, versatile tools to build an application to streamline the work permit approval process for students in the San Francisco Unified School District.
• Alamo Civic Day of Hacking, May 31, San Antonio. No predefined challenges; an open hackathon for creative uses of public datasets.

Other Civic Hacking Day events are focused on group projects. For instance, the Cleveland Public Library is hosting an OpenStreetMap Editathon, where participants will add to OpenStreetMap (a free, editable, open-source alternative to Google Maps) their favorite Cleveland places (restaurants, streets, parks, schools, and more).

You don't need any technology skills to participate in Civic Hacking Day events. Just bring your interest in improving how people in your community or state interact with government, enhancing their quality of life, or empowering them to solve pressing or common problems. And your willingness to dive into unfamiliar territory, offer what you can, meet new people and learn something useful.

Find out if there's a Civic Hacking event near you. Simply showing up (or otherwise offering support) can help build bridges and increase your organization's capacity to use technology more adeptly and creatively on behalf of your community.

If there are no events near you, or if they're already at capacity, you can still participate virtually online.

One intriguing form of virtual participation is to use the Maker Cities online platform for the "maker" culture of people who enjoy building things, and contribute to the page for your city -- where you can suggest ideas for the future of your city.

Going forward from this weekend, there are many other civic hacking and related local events, groups and programs that you can participate in. Your organization also can offer concrete support to these efforts through sponsorship/funding, publicity, donating space for events or meetings, or making valuable introductions.

Civic hacking is becoming a popular nexus for local engagement and action, both through focused events and projects and ongoing networking. For instance:

• Hack the Hood. Now in its second year, this summer program (founded by the community news venue OaklandLocal.com) offers youths in Oakland, Calif. training in multimedia and tech skills, as well as business and professional skills. With mentoring, these youths offer consulting to create websites and improve online visibility for small, locally-owned businesses and nonprofits. One way to support this project is to vote for it (by June 2) in Google's Bay Area Impact Challenge competition -- where it could win an additional $250,000 in funding.
• Hack the Housing Crisis, June 13, San Francisco. A one-day conference to innovate solutions that address the need for affordable housing in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Workshops will explore creative ideas for improving access to housing and encourage collaborations among diverse stakeholders. Sponsored by the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit independent community news outlet.
• Connect with local groups. Search Meetup.com for civic hacking, open government ("opengov") or open data to find groups and events in your area. Or connect with the nearest Code for America Brigade. If neither of these have a direct presence in your community, ask the nearest groups for contacts and introductions in your area, and invite those people out for brainstorming over lunch or coffee.
• Check with your state government to see what programs or events they offer or support. Likely agencies or offices to contact include your state's Secretary of State or office of economic development. Also your governor's office might have special initiatives. In Colorado, the GoCode Colorado program (held earlier this year) was organized by several state offices and programs.