Discover Level Up, Lafayette! Watch this intimate discussion of a revolutionary idea between a Mayor & the Youth of Lafayette, LA

* UPDATE *

After some testing, I have confirmed that you can vote at least once per day per browser, so check back daily and keep voting for Level Up, Lafayette! #LevelUpLFT
Your mileage may vary, but if you want to support a fantastic idea, keep going back and vote as often as you can!
Voting Link - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/vote-mayors-challenge-fan_n_2716857.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

* UPDATE *

Lafayette, Louisiana http://www.lafayettela.gov residents will generate epic wins by creating and playing Community Enrichment Games (Level Up, Lafayette!) that will define awe-inspiring goals, missions, and achievements for the community at large. Gaming for social good meets "Innovation with an accent" as a new paradigm to tackle civic issues.

Epic Wins / noun / 1. Opportunities for ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Many cities have played games to examine solitary municipal problems (e.g. budget roleplaying). We want to establish a platform of community enrichment games, or gaming for social good, as a new paradigm to tackle civic issues.

Level Up, Lafayette! is our community-wide initiative to play multiple games, generate epic wins and increase quality of life for all residents - even those who aren’t playing (yet). Our idea is gamification at its best - applying game-design thinking and mechanics to non-game contexts (civic behavior).

Lafayette residents are primed for epic wins. We are developing a Comprehensive Plan to guide our municipal growth for the next 20 years. Level Up, Lafayette! will be the catalyst for implementation. Level Up, Lafayette! will address a range of everyday community issues including health, civic engagement, volunteerism, technology & transparency, and cross-generational engagement.

Lafayette has a long history of engaging residents to shape their own future. Most recently in 2005 residents approved bonds to create LUS Fiber, which has since provided 100% fiber optic access to all of Lafayette and nurtured technology entrepreneurs. Our civically engaged award winning business community has several strong subsets - including young professionals, French speakers, local food activists, and fiber junkies. Level Up, Lafayette! will thoughtfully use these talents and resources to develop Community Enrichment Games (CEG).

Level Up, Lafayette! exemplifies the stretch principle. Lafayette Consolidated Government (LCG) very deliberately included partners from other sectors beginning with the ideation process to ensure open communication and buy-in. A group of thinkers representing local and state government, education (K12 & higher ed), technology, advertising, medical, and nonprofit worked together to develop Level Up, Lafayette! Each person was excited about what they could contribute on an individual basis and what his/her organization could contribute at a systemic level.

Lafayette has incubated several projects that link resources across sectors, such as partnerships between universities and hospitals, local government and nonprofits, and combinations thereof. The impact and reach of Level Up, Lafayette! will be amplified by these types of collaborative relationships.

Level Up, Lafayette! is a creative way to engage residents of all ages and backgrounds to leverage each other’s interests and talents for public good. Level Up, Lafayette! will empower players to “improve the community” (an intangible concept) on a very personal, tangible, attainable level – through games. These early adopters will tag others throughout the community and Level Up, Lafayette! will grow to include as many residents that will play.

LCG’s QUEST: To develop and implement Level Up, Lafayette!: a scalable platform of a minimum of 6-8 (critical mass) different CEG structured around goals in volunteerism ; philanthropy, health, wellness, arts & culture, cross-generational engagement, technology & transparency, and civic engagement.

Activities

Create framework for an LCG games team and core group of engaged residents (gamekeepers) who will collaborate with designers and business partners to create games such as (working titles) Land of Lafayette, Healthy Living Club, Bounce, Virtual City Hall, etc.
Research established social interaction games; adapt and form partnerships. Build upon existing relationships with non-governmental partners (business, education, nonprofits) to create incentives and mutually beneficial game-related initiatives.
Technically and programmatically develop games. Design missions, achievements, goals, rules, feedback systems (points, levels, progress bars). Create websites, apps, physical frameworks. Launch betas and pilot programs. Play
Fine-tune player and community engagement strategies. Expand Level Up, Lafayette! to all residents via huge publicity push. Measure outputs, outcomes and impact. Develop endowment and sustainability strategy. Coordinate open-source sharing and wikis to help replicate Level Up, Lafayette! in other cities.
Keep playing! Recruit other players for missions and quests that will translate into tangible impact in Lafayette Parish.