Textizen co-founder and then Code for America Fellow Michelle Lee posts Textizen signs around Philadelphia. (Photo: Code for America

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Government communications platform GovDelivery announced today it has acquired the civic engagement text messaging service Textizen to “promote citizen action, engagement, and behavior change.”

Textizen enables governments to launch mobile campaigns soliciting input via text messages with administration, dashboard and visualization tools that allow for monitoring and subsequent engagement.

Textizen started as a 2012 Code for America project in Philadelphia and subsequently participated in the Code for America incubator program. It was also a Knight Foundation as a Knight News Challenge winner.

“The Textizen team has demonstrated that it can use interactive text messaging technology and creative problem solving to help improve government and engage citizens,” said GovDelivery CEO Scott Burns in a prepared statement. “Textizen’s capabilities allow us to help government succeed in the critical area of driving individuals to take action.”

GovDelivery has produced a government-focused text messaging guide and will host a webinar on August 19.

GovDelivery recently acquired open source software-as-a-service provider NuCivic in December to expand its government open data offerings.