SeeClickFix to Share Map Widget Technology With Social Voting Start-Up

New York (May 2, 2011) – The Independence Year Foundation today announced their strategic partnership with citizen reporting platform SeeClickFix. NewGov will deploy SeeClickFix technology, featuring map widgets displaying non-emergency public issues in all 435 congressional districts represented on the site. The partnership will allow voters within each district to easily identify issues reported by constituents while interacting with local policy development groups.

NewGov is an open, free public utility for American voters to discover each other within their congressional district and collaborate as members of their congressperson's Policy Development Group (PDG). SeeClickFix offers voters and all levels of government a transparent means of reporting, tracking and resolving non-emergency issues within the public space. NewGov's partnership with SeeClickFix will benefit members and PDGs focused on fixing issues pertaining to transportation and infrastructure within their congressional district.

SeeClickFix will be providing NewGov with map widgets for all 435 Congressional Districts in United States. Embedded on each PDG page on NewGov.us, the widgets will display issues and their exact locations in real time as constituents report them through the SeeClickFix platform. Once issues are identified, NewGov members who have become SuperVoters can use their amplified influence with local representatives to help advocate for issues to be fixed.

“We hope our partnership with NewGov helps to further our shared goal of promoting transparency and accountability in government.” said Ben Berkowitz, CEO and co-founder of SeeClickFix. “It’s exciting to imagine how citizens will unite and advocate for the resolution of community issues within their district using our technology on the NewGov site.”

NewGov links voters to their representatives in Policy Development Groups where they can communicate their positions on issues and coach their congressperson on how to represent them. NewGov has provisioned PDGs for every US state, senate seat and congressional district. NewGov members can also create and join groups to advocate for causes and issues they strongly support.

"Thanks to our partnership with SeeClickFix, the map on each district's home page will be the SeeClickFix map of that district. We're excited that NewGov PDG members will be able to use these widgets to track and discuss issues in their district reported through the SeeClickFix system.” said Britt Blaser, Director of the Independence Year Foundation. “This means that NewGov Policy Development Group members can respond to and follow up on voter-submitted issues as systematically as a governmental agency might. Assuming, of course, that the agency is sophisticated enough to see the value of the SeeClickFix suite of issue-discovery and followup services."

Through its privacy-protected, transaction-based “SuperVoter” service, NewGov can certify to congresspeople that communications are from real constituents. As SuperVoters form into cause-based blocs, their influence in their congressional district increases. Using the principle of Social Voting, NewGov aims to empower and excite the electorate through increased communication and interaction through technology.

The technology provided by SeeClickFix will enable NewGov members to collaborate and fix problems together, or to influence their government to take action. NewGov's hosting partner is Acquia Inc., the enterprise guide to the Drupal social publishing platform, which powers 2% of the world's websites. Acquia's continuing support means that America's voters can be confident that NewGov.US enjoys the same enterprise-grade resources as whitehouse.gov and Acquia's 700 other customers.

For more information about SeeClickFix, please visit www.seeclickfix.com. For more information about NewGov please visit www.newgov.us.

About SeeClickFix
SeeClickFix allows citizens anywhere in the world to report and monitor non-emergency community issues ranging from potholes and planted trees to garbage and graffiti. Launched in 2008, it empowers citizens, community groups, media organizations, and governments to work together and improve their neighborhoods. Through mobile web, web, Facebook, iPhone, Android, and Blackberry apps, the SeeClickFix platform is the most widely-distributed citizen reporting tool in the country. The platform is fun and easy to use for citizens while being inexpensive and easily adaptable for governments. Over 40 percent of issues reported on SeeClickFix are ultimately resolved. For more information, or to report an issue, visit www.seeclickfix.com.

About NewGov
NewGov links voters to their representatives in Policy Development Groups (PDGs) where they can communicate their positions on issues, and coach their representatives on how to represent them. NewGov has provisioned PDGs for every US state, senate seat and congressional district. NewGov members can also create and join groups to advocate for causes and issues they strongly support. Through its privacy-protected, transaction-based “SuperVoter” service, NewGov can certify to congresspeople that communications are from real constituents. As SuperVoters form into cause-based blocs, their influence in their congressional district increases. Using the principle of Social Voting, NewGov aims to empower and excite the electorate through increased communication and interaction through technology. www.NewGov.us