Monday, January 10, 2011 - By Unknown - No comments

Kondratick running on "streamlined government" platform in Ashburn, VA

Michael Kondratick

Mike Kondratick understands the value of connecting people to their governments.  It’s been his passion (and his job) during the years that he’s worked as Director of Grassroots Advocacy for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) in Washington, DC.  He strives to maintain a strong connection between JDRF and members of Congress using mobile technology, social media, and other grassroots mobilization methods.  His strategy, he says on his blog, is “to find ways to communicate that build relationships by following the old adage that 'all politics is local.’”  

Sounds a lot like what we do here at SeeClickFix!  We’re interested in eliminating communication obstacles between citizens and their governments.  Kondratick has been doing the same for JDRF, and now he’s taking things a step farther by running for a seat on the General Assembly’s House of Delegates in Virginia where he resides (according to a recent article in “Leesburg Today”).  He has been an advocate for diabetes-afflicted youth in America -- now he is seeking to advocate for his Ashburn-area neighbors, utilizing the same concepts of efficiency, collaboration, and technology (in a word, Gov2.0!)

Kondratick’s platform will focus on solutions like data curation, smarter procurement processes, incubators to facilitate business development, and streamlining tools like -- ta-DA! -- SeeClickFix.  He mentioned our site as a good way for citizens to help cities distribute money as effectively as possible.  It’s a way to focus on specifics (litter, graffiti) without sacrificing efficiency.  In his talk with “Leesburg Today,” Kondratick summarized his goals:

"At the end of the day I'd like to have a campaign where we talk about how we can invest our resources in a way that empowers the greater community. I want to be able to empower citizens and businesses to find ways to work together to achieve things that we all want to see."

Replace the word “businesses” with “governments” and that would practically be the SeeClickFix mission statement!  Paving the way for citizens to speak directly to their local leaders, we help to create better communities that everyone can enjoy.  Thanks, Mike Kondratick, for advancing the vision of open communication and collaboration in your corner of the world.  We look forward to being part of it.

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