About Code for Maine

Code for Maine began in 2011 as a foundational member of Brigade Program at Code for America, a national organization promoting civic engagement via technology [1].

Originally organized around the city of Portland, a small group of hackers in Bangor took up the standard in 2012 after organizing a wildly successful Maine Civic Hack Day event that gathered nearly a hundred hackers and civic partners in one room in Downtown Bangor to hack on civic needs.

With the momentum from that event, CfM became much more of a state-wide collaboration. Leadership changes led to a focus on how to collaborate across the state, rather than focusing on a specific municipality in the state.

[1]

Per the CfA webiste, Code for America Brigades are volunteer groups that collaborate with local government and community partners to build new tools that help with local civic issues. Code for America supports Brigade chapters with resources, tools, and access to the wider civic technology movement.