About the challenge
Did you know that the median net worth of a U.S.-born Black household in Boston is only $8, compared to $247,000 for White households (https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/one-time-pubs/color-of-wealth.aspx)? This staggering disparity is why we're calling on you to help bridge the gap. Through this hackathon, we hope that you will join us in developing projects that can create lasting change and uplift the Black community in our city.
Get started
Join us the weekend of September 20th to the 22nd to create solutions that can contribute to this prevaling issue.
Requirements
What to Build
Submit a website, app, chrome extension, data visualization, or any other project that you think can make a genuine impact. Solutions will be evaluated based on creativity, so we are giving you the freedom to create whatever you think will make a difference. For inspiration, one project that has been done in a previous year at HackMIT was Rate My Protector, an app where people can give ratings and reviews for their local police department. Another idea that came out of MIT was Birth By Us, a social impact startup that came out of the PKG IDEAS challenge which gives support to pregnant and postpartum Black women. Finally, New Majority Capital is another startup that came out of MIT and the PKG IDEAS challenge, and they seek to empower minorities to become businesses owners through Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition.
What to Submit
Your submission should be a video demo of your project, with an explanation of the motivation behind the project and how you think it can make a difference. You should also give a high level overview of how you developed the project and how it works. The video should be around 2-7 minutes long.
Prizes
First Place
$320
Second Place
$160
Third Place
$80
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Rupert Webb
Manager at Google
Valencia Koomson
Associate Professor at Tufts
Judging Criteria
-
Creativity
This hackathon was left open ended on purpose. We encourage solutions that think outside of the box to address this problem in ways that have not been tried before. -
Potential Impact
Projects should have a strong motivation behind how they expect to solve the issue of poverty in the Black community in Boston. -
Technical Difficulty
While we understand that not all projects will necessarily be technically complex, projects can still gain points if they are especially technical. However, don't expect to lose points if your project is more straightforward technically.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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