Jennifer Pahlka, the founder and executive director of civic tech leader Code for America, has announced she's taking a year-long sabbatical to join the staff of the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House.
"Jennifer Pahlka will take a year-long break from running the national civic tech non-profit Code for America to serve as the White House’s latest deputy chief technology officer for government innovation, according to a post on the organization’s blog," reports Nancy Scola.
"The driving notion behind Code for America, and Pahlka’s last four years, has been that making bureaucracy more efficient, effective and user-centric — in short, making government more like the technology from Silicon Valley that people love to use — can restore a bit of faith in the whole democratic endeavor."
"But whether that approach can work in Washington will be very much her challenge."
FULL STORY: Code for America’s Jennifer Pahlka to Take a Year at the White House

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