Chip Kennedy is building AI for government — and changing how we think about civic innovation

On this episode of Build What Matters, host Tim Scales sits down with Chip Kennedy, founder of CivicReach, a Raleigh-based startup using voice AI to solve communication problems across the social safety net. Chip shares how his family nonprofit work led to building cutting-edge technology for government agencies, why Triangle startups in civic tech have unique advantages, and what this ecosystem needs to grow faster.What you'll hear:How CivicReach uses AI to help government agencies and nonprofits field hundreds of thousands of callsWhy government workers are innovators, not laggards—and how that shapes CivicReach's approachThe strength of the Triangle's civic tech ecosystem (hint: both Anthropic and OpenAI's heads of government sales are based here)What's missing: angel investing culture, better founder-mentor matching, and ecosystem visibilityWhy Raleigh-Durham Startup Week creates energy that major tech conferences can't replicateAbout Chip Kennedy: Chip is the founder of CivicReach, a Durham-based startup using AI to modernize communication for social service agencies. A career technologist and social entrepreneur, Chip also co-organizes Triangle Tech Night and runs a family nonprofit in Boston serving families experiencing homelessness.Build What Matters is the official podcast of Raleigh-Durham Startup Co. Subscribe wherever you listen and visit raleighdurhamstartup.co to get involved.