CivicActions, Inc. is a services firm that provides technological support with a focus on free and open-source software to agencies.

History

CivicActions was founded as an Llc in 2004. Their focus was to provide hosted FOSS group forming network technologies to NGOs. They were the early adopters of Drupal (that they are a services provider now),

Openwall The Openwall Project is a source for various software, including Openwall GNU/*/Linux (Owl), a security-enhanced Linux distribution designed for servers. Openwall patches and security extensions have been included into many major Linux distribut ...

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

, and CiviCRM. Over the period between 2004 and 2012, its claimed that they have served over 175

organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is an legal entity, entity—such as ...

s including

Center for Reproductive Rights The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) is a global legal advocacy organization that seeks to advance reproductive rights, such as abortion. The organization's stated mission is to "use the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental huma ...

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...

, Amnesty International, and

Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science The 'Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)'' is a society that aims to further the success of Chicano/Hispanic and Native American students in obtaining advanced degrees, careers, leadership positi ...

. In 2014, CivicActions, with people in federal, state and local governments, founded
AGL (Agile Government Leadership)
' and published the
Agile Government Handbook
'. All of the work of AGL is published under public license, where it can be used by government workers, as well as other agile software vendors. In early 2016, CivicActions co-founder Aaron Pava was recruited to join the

United States Digital Service The United States Digital Service is a technology unit housed within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. It provides consultation services to federal agencies on information technology. It seeks to improve and simplify dig ...

team in

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

to assist the federal government in transforming procurement practices to enable federal agencies to more easily procure services from small businesses like CivicActions. He returned to CivicActions in November 2016.

Defective by Design

Gregory Heller and Henry Poole, who are both involved in

Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985, to support the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed under copyleft (" ...

and CivicActions, with the help of Peter T. Brown who was the president of FSF, have played major role at formation of

Defective by Design Defective by Design (DBD) is an anti-DRM initiative by the Free Software Foundation. Digital rights management (DRM) technology restricts users' ability to freely use their purchased movies, music, literature, software, and hardware in ways th ...

, an anti-

DRM DRM may refer to: Government, military and politics * Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd * Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar * Direction du renseignement milita ...

campaign advocating for elimination of digital restrictions.

Work

Partnerships

CivicActions has worked with multiple entities mostly United States government entities. In 2016, they worked with the

Defense Security Cooperation Agency The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), as part of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), provides financial and technical assistance, transfer of defense matériel, training and services to allies, and promotes military-to-milit ...

in creating ''GlobalNet'', a collaboration and

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

platform.. In 2017, CivicActions worked with California Polytechnic State University in creating their ''Digital Democracy'' platform. They also work with the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

with the creation and maintenance of ''LINCS'', an adult literacy website, and with the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

Human Services Agency, with the creation of ''Eatfresh''. Through

Acquia Acquia is a software-as-a-service company co-founded by Dries Buytaert and Jay Batson to provide enterprise products, services, and technical support for the open-source web content management platform Drupal. Overview The company is venture ca ...

, CivicActions also worked with the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

and the Department of Treasury. CivicActions has also worked on website modernization for the

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...

and the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

Services

CivicActions provides several services. Those are: * UX * Open Data * Security & Compliance * Support * Drupal * DevOps * Education Services * Quality Assurance * Innovation Lab

References

External links

*
Employee HandbookGithub PageTwitter
{{FOSS Free and open-source software organizations Organizations established in 2004 Fiscal sponsorship organizations Organizations based in California Companies based in Contra Costa County, California