National Urban League hackathon: ‘We’re going to do this every year. We’re going to make it bigger and better’

05 Aug National Urban League hackathon: ‘We’re going to do this every year. We’re going to make it bigger and better’

Hosted by the National Urban League in partnership with Digital Grass, the two-day “TechConnect: Hack-A-Thon for Social Justice,” presented by Comcast NBCUniversal, was held on July 30-31, 2015 in Fort Lauderdale. On Day 1, team formation and concept introductions were made following motivational words from Stonly Baptiste of Urban.us and CodeFever’s Felecia Hatcher. Following a full day of coaching, brainstorming and designing, Day 2 ended with 7 young, energetic and tech-savvy teams taking the stage to the to share their tech solutions to improve civic innovation and quality of life for the core urban community.

The winner of the $2,500 cash and $25,000 in prizes was MyVillage presented by members of the Jacksonville National Urban League Young Professionals (pictured here).

MyVillage is a platform that gives political snaphots about political incumbents and candidates. The main objective of MyVillage is to provide “quality education” allowing voters to know exactly who they are voting for. The application provides voters with a centralized location for viewing Candidate’s agendas, platforms and fundraising totals. “We’re not going to just tell you to vote, we’re going to create a platform to educate you & let you know what you should be voting for,” said Ronnie King of My Village. The application has already been implemented in Jacksonville and plans for expansion in Gainesville are underway.

Although this was the National Urban League’s inaugural Hackathon, it will not be the last.

“I am amazed at the power of technology…the ability some of you have to create it; to envision how it’ll change lives… We’re going to do this every year. We’re going to make it bigger and better.” says Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League.

Expressing his satisfaction with the event, David Cohen, Senior Executive Vice President of Comcast NBC Universal, said, “I think we’ve created a new tradition for our annual conference.”

“History was made today. This was a major step for the National Urban League and positions them to be a voice and conduit to introduce people within the African American community to the power of technology and how it can be used to address social issues. It’s time to focus on being not only consumers of tech, but producers,” said LaToya Stirrup, President of Digital Grass Innovation & Technology.

Digital Grass worked directly with the Urban League to facilitate and organize the inaugural event.

Michael Hall is the founder of Digital Grass, which is dedicated to establishing a diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem in South Florida.

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