> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://usdr.gitbook.io/ghc-2023-level-up-lab-for-low-code-no-code-in-pit/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://usdr.gitbook.io/ghc-2023-level-up-lab-for-low-code-no-code-in-pit/using-low-code-no-code-tools-to-give-governments-rich-solutions-quickly-and-at-low-cost.md).

# Using Low-code/no-code tools to give governments rich solutions quickly and at low cost

12-1pm Fri 9/27 in Queueing Room 1 -> WF1

## Presenters

Melissa House: Elections Partner Engineer, U.S. Digital Response

Jessica Watson: Chief Experience Officer, U.S. Digital Response

Kristen Eberlin: Lead, Volunteers Team, U.S. Digital Response

Amy Meng: Program Manager, Digital Delivery, U.S. Digital Response

## About the session

U.S. Digital Response (USDR) is an organization of volunteers helping city, county, and state governments and nonprofits improve online services for their communities. Learn how our work in civic tech has sparked a newfound joy in tech projects she hasn't felt in many years, and work with her to use a low-code tool to build a Wait Time Tool, one of our open source solutions.

USDR partners have an urgent need in their community, and they want a solution a month ago. They’re county election officials, pro bono attorneys, county program administrators, or nonprofits, and they’re often managing critical needs with email and shared spreadsheets.

As we've worked with USDR, we've discovered one of the most efficient ways to build solutions is with low-code and no-code tools. We'll briefly discuss some tools in the low-code landscape, such as Zapier, Airtable, and Jotform. Many technologists don’t think their skills will be used working with low-code tools. In fact, these tools make it easier to quickly provide value. We have used low-code tools to create solutions that partners can maintain long term with a little guidance from USDR.

Case studies of three low-code projects from USDR (two of which she worked on) highlight how successful low-code projects can be:

1. Memphis and Shelby County, TN used low-code tools to deliver $17M of rental and utility assistance from ARPA, and connected pro bono attorneys to help residents facing eviction. (Melissa’s work on this is highlighted on the U. S. Treasury website.)
2. The Elections team uses Airtable with elections offices for tracking candidates, election day wait times, and managing election poll workers.
3. The Grants team uses Excel spreadsheets (familiar and easy to use for finance teams) and custom code to help govt’s report on Federal grants, saving time and money, and helping benefits flow to those in need.

One of our favorite examples of success with low-code tools is from Oct, 2022. A USDR partner requested a tool for election day wait times at polling sites. In 30 minutes, Melissa and another engineer created a working demo using Airtable. That tool was used during the 2022 election and is freely available to jurisdictions to include wait times on their websites. 

To show how easy it is, we'll close with a live demo of how to build this Wait Time tool with Airtable. At the end, we'll touch on ways to go deeper with Airtable by using JavaScript for complex tasks and building React apps for a custom front end to Airtable data.