About

The Florida Community Innovation Foundation (FCI) empowers young innovators and volunteers of all ages to build scalable social services technology for their communities. Basically, what we do is experiential learning for social impact in partnership with different universities, grounded in community listening.

We envision a Florida where everyone has equal access to trusted information, critical services, and rewarding careers. As a network of students and volunteers of all ages, we engage in public service projects that move the needle on resource access and other key issues that impact Floridians.

We have pioneered a research-into-practice model in partnership with the communities we serve. Our flagship project is the Florida Community Resource Map, which will help social and community workers find and manage information about food banks, employment resources, and more to help people in need.

Right now, all of our money goes to deserving students developing these projects. $500 supports five months of experiential learning for a student working for social good!

Curious about how we make an impact? Check out our “Impact” page!

Our partners

With the Florida Community Resource Map, our partners include the United Way of NW FL, the Community Foundation of North Central Florida, and the Central Florida Foundation.

On our public education campaigns, we’ve partnered with the Science Cheerleaders and the UF-VA Bioethics Unit.

For our research and other student projects, we’ve worked with undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Michigan’s School of Information, various University of Central Florida Departments, the University of Central Florida, UC Berkeley’s Cybersecurity Clinic, the University of Florida, and American University’s School of Public Affairs.

With the City of Miami, Parks & Recreation Department, FCI is building a historical education app that introduces Floridians to the historic City Cemetery.

FCI also works with CodeGNV on various projects.

Values, Vision, and Mission Statement

Shout-out to Tessa Jones and Aniqa Ahmed for writing the below statement!

At Florida Community Innovation (FCI), our work is guided by the following core values and concepts.

Innovation.
1. We are building working toward a Florida where everyone has the resources and opportunities they need to thrive, in a way that is authentic to them.
2. We are willing to pioneer new ideas and programs. Projects are first analyzed to determine that they will not harm communities before any motion to develop the project.
3. We empower the next generation of innovators to build social services technologies for their communities. Basically, it’s experiential learning for social impact, grounded in community listening.
4. We are student-centered and youth-centered
Education and Empowerment
1. FCI invests in young innovators by providing them with opportunities to lead, learn, and apply their skills ro meaningful civic projects. We aim to inspire the next generation of leaders through hands-on experience and mentorship.
Mentorship
1. We are committed to fostering the growth and development of our volunteers and interns by offering hands-on learning experiences through our projects. FCI participants will gain valuable experience across their areas of interest, helping them build a strong foundation for their future career goals. Weekly guest speakers provide insights into the professional world and offer networking opportunities to support their growth.
Community-Centered Approach
1. Our commitment to helping our community drives everything we do. We collaborate with local organizations, stakeholders, and individuals to ensure that the solutions we develop truly meet the needs of the people they serve. Listening and co-creating with our communities is central to our process. Community listening makes sure that the projects we work on truly benefit communities and do no harm.
Iterative process
1. FCI is always working to improve our projects by listening to feedback from the community. We make sure to take that input into account to keep refining our work and ensure we’re meeting the needs of those we serve. This results in several iterations of our projects.
Collaboration
1. We are stronger together. FCI brings together students, researchers, professionals, and community leaders to work toward shared goals. Through partnerships with academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and local governments, we create impactful civic technology projects that amplify our collective potential.
Equal Opportunity and Representation
1. We are committed to advancing equity by reducing gaps in resource access across all communities. Our projects have a special focus on underrepresented and underserved populations.
2. We do not support discrimination on the basis of sex, ethnicity, religion, nationality, disability, class, race, or any other aspect of personal identity not mentioned above.
3. We believe in freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
4. We assert the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals to thrive!
5. Regardless of nationality, if an individual wants to help Florida, we want to work with them.
Integrity and Accountability
1. We uphold the highest standards of integrity and accountability in all our endeavors. Our commitment to transparency, ethical practices, and measurable outcomes ensures that our work remains aligned with our mission of creating a positive social impact.
Growth mindset
1. We strive for excellence in all our pursuits and aim for constant internal and external improvement. At the conclusion of one project we strive to vitalize more efficient and impactful avenues while striving for improvement in all regards.
Accessibility
1. As we work towards a more equitable civic technology landscape we aim to produce products and solutions that are usable by individuals of all backgrounds, abilities, and levels of tech literacy to create equal implementation of our community resources and initiatives.

How we got our start: Florida Alliance for Response to Epidemics (FARE)

One of FCI’s first projects was the Florida Alliance for Response to Epidemics (FARE).

Beginning in March 2020, FARE, with input from Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from the fields of public health communication and medicine, developed a behavior change messaging campaign in the public interest. The goal was to encourage Floridians to social distance, and message designs were developed from contemporary themes using an adapted grounded research methodology.

By the numbers, in 2020…

185,824 Unique Floridians were reached with FARE social media ads
411,829 Impressions generated by FARE content
11% Of total population in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, and West Palm Beach areas were reached with FARE ads
$457.38 Total ad spend across all FARE campaigns

FARE partners included the UF-VA Bioethics Unit, the Science Cheerleaders, the Central Florida Foundation, and the United Way of Northwest Florida.

Public interest outreach examples:

For the entire archive of FARE activities and for periodic public health content, see FARE social media: