Civic Boost
Challenge 14Civic participation
HOUSTON · CIVIC SIGNALS

Make the need
harder to miss.

Civic Boost gives a neighborhood priority a clear shape, a visible measure of support, and an honest next route into public work.

See the product film Open the prototype

A working prototype for Houston Hackathon 2026 challenge 14. No City endorsement or delivery promise is implied.

A cared-for Houston neighborhood garden and gathering space with Civic Boost signal markers
Community-led · source-linked
01The challenge

A local need can be real and still disappear.

Challenge 14 asks for a clearer connection between community priorities, public-work information, and the decisions that follow.

A

Residents and groups

Need a place to frame the issue, gather a visible signal, and find the next official route.

B

Government teams

Need context about what a neighborhood is asking for before a response process can be designed.

?

Open question

Which partner will participate, and what response process will it commit to?

02The product

Turn one place into a clearer civic signal.

The prototype keeps the first step small, public, and honest.

01Name the need

Title, neighborhood, place, and grounded words.

02Gather support

One clear signal from each signed-in person.

03Find the route

Official source-linked routes, each with a checked date.

Browse without an accountDrafts stay on this deviceSupport is not City approval
03Product proof

Start with a private draft, then decide when it is ready to be public.

The proposal card is specific enough to help a neighbor write a useful signal without asking for an exact home address.

  • Short, specific title
  • Priority area and neighborhood
  • Place or nearest cross street
  • Observable reason it matters
  • Publish after sign-in
THE PROPOSAL CARDDraft · not published

What should Houston notice?

Saved on this device

The form shown uses the live product's structure and copy. It is not a live public submission.

04Source-linked routes

Support is a signal. The source is where the next question starts.

Civic Boost keeps official context close without turning a link into a promise.

CITY SERVICE ROUTE

Houston 311

Service-request entry point for reporting concerns and finding guidance.

Checked Sep 26, 2026
CITY CAPITAL PLANNING

Capital Improvement Plan

Five-year capital planning context for public facilities and infrastructure.

Checked Sep 26, 2026
NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING

Complete Communities

Neighborhood plans that document priorities and implementation context.

Checked Sep 26, 2026
FUNDING CONTEXT

Public facilities

HCD context for public-facilities funding sources, not an open award.

Checked Sep 26, 2026
05Progress · practical · potential

A useful prototype can be ambitious without pretending the open questions are solved.

PROGRESS

Shipped now

Public browsing, device-local drafts, sign-in-gated publish, one-time support, workflow labels, and four source-linked routes.

PRACTICAL NEXT STEP

Test one response loop

With a real partner, define who receives a signal, what gets acknowledged, and how equity sits beside support.

POTENTIAL

Make the signal useful

Future work could add response tracking, grant, tender, and deadline listings, or funding context only after an accountable administrator and process exist.

Community signalCity approval · funding · delivery
CIVIC BOOST · CHALLENGE 14

Start with one place.

Make the need clearer. Bring the signal. Check the route. Then keep the next conversation honest.

Watch the narrated demo Open Civic Boost