Out of an applicant pool of more than 50 municipalities, Long Beach has been selected as one of the ten governments selected as 2014 partners for Code For America’s annual fellowship program, setting forth a year-long partnership where tech geeks invade civic operations to modernize the City while creating larger accessibility for its denizens.

Often dubbed “The Peace Corps for technology,” Code For America’s mission is simple: using technology to make more efficient, better government. The pairing of coders and civic leaders seems, at first, disparate, however, given that both want to make a difference through innovation, it is clear that bridging the two becomes a benefit.

“The Code for America fellowship is an incredible opportunity for Long Beach to elevate how we engage the community through technology,” Mayor Bob Foster said in a statement. “Our City’s skilled workforce and active tech community are going to find new reasons to be energized as the Fellowship rolls out over the next several months. We can’t wait to get started.”

In Philadelphia, Code For America’s partnership with the city engaged in a multitude of projects, one of the most innovative being Textizen. The Planning Commission of the city understood the reality that the majority of citizens wouldn’t or couldn’t attend their in-person meetings. However, they noticed that a vast amount of Philadelphians—9 out of every 10—had access to text messaging. Using posters and bus shelter ads, the Planning Commission solicited opinions and ideas via SMS texting, providing a voice to a typically underrepresented population. Thus far, 14,000 responses have been provided through Textizen over 30 different surveys.

In Austin, where roads can flash flood within minutes, the Code For America team paired with the City of Austin to create a real-time flood map called ATXfloods, which provides users precise water-crossing statuses.

In Santa Cruz last year, one of their largest projects was the installation of 100 bike lockers in the downtown region, where users use a smart card to rent fully-enclosed lockers for just 5¢ an hour.

Long Beach’s partnership, which also includes the Molina Foundation as a community partner, will begin at the start of 2014.

For more information on Code for America, visit http://codeforamerica.org