Build Track

The Build Track is for projects that are ready to move from idea to an actual Civic Tech DC Project.

The first step is to meet our team in person (ideally by attending a project night). We highly recommend reaching out to us at team@civictechdc.org beforehand with a short summary of your idea. That way, we can prepare for your arrival as project nights tend to get very busy. If you can’t attend in person, you can also request a virtual conversation.

1. Process

Initial conversation: When we meet, you do not need a polished pitch. It’s okay to bring early ideas and what matters most is having a clear understanding of:

What problem you’re working on
Who the project serves
Why it matters
How it connects to civic tech

We’ll ask questions (probably a lot) to understand the idea and identify what support you might need.

2. Review period

After the initial conversation, the team will review your project internally to confirm alignment with our project criteria. This typically takes about one week. In some cases, we may also confirm alignment during Project Night and invite you to give a short 30-second intro at the end of the night.

During this time, we may follow up with clarifying questions or suggestions to help refine your idea.

3. Confirmation & Next Steps

Once approved, we’ll invite you to officially launch your project in the Build Track. At this stage, the initial actions will include:

Creating a slide for our Project Night presentation. We will send you details.
Prepare a short pitch for project nights. (See below for best Pitch tips)
Create a dedicated Slack channel with a clear name so people can find you. (See below for best Slack tips)
Create a GitHub repository. (See below for best GitHub tips)
Filling out a webpage template so we can add to Civic Tech DC’s website. We will send you details.
You should set up a Google Drive or some sort of management system to take notes. Taking notes is essential for getting newcomers up to speed on the most recent developments. You are not required to have a shared Drive with Civic Tech DC.
Optional: We would love to highlight on social media you as a new project. Fill out this social media request where we will make the announcement on LinkedIn. Please send it to team@civictechdc.org.

Pitch & Slack Setup Tips

Preparing your project pitch 🎤

For your first presentation, it’s okay if your pitch is longer than the standard 30–60 seconds. However, over time, we’ll ask you to refine it into a concise pitch so that it’s easy for others to quickly understand your project and how to get involved. In the order of the Project Night presentation, the pitches happens after the announcements. Some best practices:

Start with the problem, not the solution. Asking a question usually grabs people’s attention
Explain what the project is and what you are building (one to two sentences is good)
Give an action item by saying what technical and nontechnical skills the project is looking for

Setting up your Slack channel 💬

Create a dedicated Slack channel with a clear, recognizable name so people can easily find and join your project. Here are some best practices for setting up slack and onboarding people faster.

If you click on the name of your channel, you will be able to see a “edit description” button. Add a one-line description (this is visible whenever people are searching across all the channels).
At the top of the channel, you will also see a button that says “Add Canva.” Add details such as a project description, the current status of the project, links to relevant resources (GitHub, docs, design files), and how someone can get involved.
- You can also click on the threedots on the top left which will have templates for Canvas that you can use.
You are able to add people who expressed interest in the project to the channel, although it is good to ask them first.
Post a short “welcome message” so new contributors know where to start.

Setting up your GitHub 💬

Create a reposistory at our GitHub https://github.com/civictechdc