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The Open Data for Good Grand Challenge Awarded $260,000 in Prizes

Submissions for the Open Data For Good Challenge are now closed. The Challenge awards funding to teams who built technology products with federal open data.

Pointillism photo of a mountainside with evergreen trees

Open Data

For Good

Grand Challenge

WINNERS ANNOUNCED

What is It?

The Open Data for Good Grand Challenge is a set of monetary and in-kind prizes awarded for teams who have created high-impact digital tools that solve problems for the public.

Please visit the official challenge.gov posting to view Challenge details.

$260,000 in prizes were announced during The Opportunity Project Summit on December 13 - 15, 2021.

Climate, Resilience, & the Natural Environment Awards

U.S. Census Bureau awards the following prizes:

  • Grand Prize, $25,000: Climunity Planning Tool by Deloitte
  • Runner Up, $15,000: Community Resilience Toolkit by mySidewalk
  • Student Prize, $10,000: R Story by Columbia University-based student team

Society, Economy, & the Built Environment Awards

U.S. Census Bureau awards the following prizes:

  • Grand Prize, $25,000: Childcare Planning Assessment Tool by University of Kansas Center for Public Partnerships and Research
  • Runner Up, $15,000: District Builder by Azavea
  • Runner Up, $10,000: The Envision App by Organizational Performance Systems
  • Student Prize, $10,000: Proyecto Quinqué by Solo Hechos
  • Honorable Mentions:
    • Public Domain Map by OpenStreetMap US
    • Safe-T-Grid Covid Tracker by Safe-T-Grid
    • Bridging the Divide Mapping Tool by University of Louisiana System

Climate Smart Community Challenge Awards

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awards the following prizes:

  • Best All Around, $16,666: Community Resilience Toolkit by mySidewalk
  • Best UI/UX, $16,666: Forerunner Floodplain Management Dashboard by Forerunner
  • Best Tool for Equity & Inclusion, $16,666: R Story by Columbia University-based student team
  • Honorable Mentions:
    • Climunity Planning Tool by Deloitte
    • City Builder by Citi Ventures

Health & COVID-19 Awards

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services awards the following prizes:

  • $20,000: Activity Finder by Health Professional Student Association (HPSA)
  • $20,000: Front Door by National Fair Housing Alliance
  • $20,000: Black Equity Coalition COVID-19 Allegheny County Data Dashboard by Black Equity Coalition
  • $20,000: SAVI COVID-19 Impact Index by The Polis Center at IUPUI
  • $20,000: Proyecto Quinqué by Solo Hechos

In-Kind Awards

  • Orange Sparkle Ball awarded four individual start-up acceleration sessions and storytelling, customer acquisition, product launch, and pitch support to the Vaccine Hesitancy Index by mySidewalk
  • CivStart awarded consultation with CivStart staff on go-to-market strategies, introductions to select corporate partners and access to CivStart Community and resources to Forerunner Floodplain Management Dashboard by Forerunner

Past Prize Challenge

How It All Started

Illustration of a blue circle around text which says The Opportunity Project

In 2019, we launched The Opportunity Project Prize Challenge. The Census Bureau’s first ever prize competition, it awarded $100,000 in funding across 5 teams.

Why the 2019 Prize was Launched

After 4 years of TOP, we created the TOP prize challenge to help address the challenges technologists face in deploying and sustaining civic tech products. The prize challenge aimed to support technologists in getting their solutions into the hands of communities around the country.

Judged by Experts

User Friendly
Civic Impact
Creativity

Products in our first competition were scored for their creativity, user-friendliness, and potential for civic impact by panels of product, data, and policy specialists from private industry and government.

Past Winners

Image of the Cura Patient homepage with text reading Reimagining How People Work

Cura Patient

Description

Uses US Department of Veterans Affairs API and CMS API to reduce physician burnout and hospital readmission rates for veteran heart failure patients.

Sprint

TOP Health

Problem Statement

Using AI to Help Patients Find Clinical Trials

A small, 5-pointed yellow star Awarded $20K

Screenshot of a webpage containing several paragraphs of text. Text is not legible.

Inclusive Development Dashboards

Description

Assists regional workforce and economic development conveners develop strategies and prioritize initiatives to achieve inclusive development in their regions and to build an inclusive development network that includes leaders from the civic sector, government, and industry

Sprint

Workforce

Problem Statement

Catalyzing Investment in Opportunity Zones

A small, 5-pointed yellow star Awarded $20K

Screenshot of Data 2 Go app showing a map in gradient shades of white, yellow and orange.

Data2GO.NYC

Description

Free mapping and data tool for visualizing data that can help with decennial Census outreach in NYC communities by answering questions like 'What happens with Census data?' and 'Why does the Census matter to me?'

Sprint

Original Sprint (2016 Sprint 1)

Problem Statement

Engaging Communities in the Census

A small, 5-pointed yellow star Awarded $20K

Mockup of the PRADOS (Puerto Rican Address Database Operations Support) tool on an iPad

PRADOS

Description

Helps the municipalities and communities in Puerto Rico enhance their address infrastructure to support the reconstruction process, improve emergency response and foster a more resilient future

Sprint

Geo-Cohort

Problem Statement

Helping Tribal, State, and Local Governments with Local Address Data Collection

A small, 5-pointed yellow star Awarded $20K

Screenshot of the City Builder website, showing a map of St. Louis with information that there are 33 opportunity zones in St. Louis

City Builder

Description

Brings transparency to the Opportunity Zone ecosystem for investors, fund manager, wealth managers, and cities

Sprint

Workforce

Problem Statement

Catalyzing Investment in Opportunity Zones

A small, 5-pointed yellow star Awarded $20K