Code. The names of Code for Orlando and Code for America lead with a word that intimidates plenty of people who are interested in civic improvement. It shouldn’t.

Code for Orlando is bigger than computers and programming, and we need all kinds of skills outside of anything a sane person would call “code”.

At the 2015 Day of Civic Hacking, we had a session about the flag for the City of Orlando. The city has some great iconography around its seal and logo, but those are not flags. Orlando has a flag, but almost no no one is happy with it.

A flag should symbolize our city to ourselves and our selves to the world. It’s a device around which, throughout history, people have literally rallied, to act as a group and feel like part of something bigger than themselves.

Other cities have flags that hang in front of businesses and off of front porches. They are patches sewn onto backpacks. They drape over beds. They foment pride and remind us of who we are.

Not having the a flag like that is the kind of problem that Code for Orlando can help solve, and it doesn’t involve computer-science degrees.

As of July 2015, designing a flag is not yet done. We have some good ideas, but we need you.

Join us and help us make Orlando, and cities and counties around it, better.

</> Code for Orlando

Flags are not Code