mySidewalk CEO: Partnership with National League of Cities will ‘unlock’ hidden data for thousands of communities

A veteran Kansas City tech startup has partnered with the National League of Cities to help its members “bring actionable data to every community,” mySidewalk’s CEO announced this week.

“Together, we will provide data to unlock funding, guide investments, and improve neighborhoods,” said Stephen Hardy, leader of the KC-based govtech company, describing NLC as “the country’s best resource for cities” — working with more than 2,000 communities across the country.

The partnership with the NLC is expected to give members free use of mySidewalk’s newly expanded tool, Seek for Cities, which allows users to quickly and seamlessly access curated data from more than 40 sources, including the U.S. Census and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Click here to learn more about Seek and the NLC pairing.

The NLC and mySidewalk also plan to engage local government and community innovators through a series of six conversations focused on addressing community challenges, such as equitable federal funding, housing, the economy, climate risk and resiliency. During each discussion, city innovators will identify a challenge their community once faced and share how they used Seek to successfully solve the problem.

“NLC is always exploring innovative ways to strengthen and support local governments and their communities,” said Heyward Harvin, director of strategic partnerships at the National League of Cities. “Partnering with mySidewalk will allow city leaders to leverage vital data, unlocking new insights and meaningful trends that will help assess community needs and develop solutions to various challenges they may be facing.”

Click here to learn more about the National League of Cities, which works to “strengthen local leadership, influence federal policy and drive innovative solutions.”

Founded in 2010, mySidewalk provides a suite of data tools necessary to access large swathes of community data and information — in addition to a comprehensive community data library that pulls information for products like Seek for Cities. mySidewalk’s goal is to democratize data by making it readily available to all populations.