ATX Hack for Change 2014

(Event website here: http://atxhackforchange.org/)

St. Edward's University, Open Austin and SXSW Interactive Present 2nd Annual ATX Hack for Change

AUSTIN, Texas – St. Edward's University, with co-presenters South by Southwest Interactive and Open Austin, will host the second annual ATX Hack for Change on the St. Edward's campus May 31 - June 1. ATX Hack for Change is the annual civic and social good hackathon held in conjunction with the National Day of Civic Hacking, the largest ever national convening of civic hackers.

The 2014 ATX Hack for Change event is expected to see more than 250 participants from the Austin technology, civic, and non-profit communities. They will collaborate to craft creative and effective solutions to social challenges facing Austin. The project teams will begin hacking on Saturday, May 31 and will present their work on Sunday afternoon before a panel of distinguished experts from the technology, education, non-profit and civic sectors. Audience members at the final presentations will vote for their favorite project team, who will receive complimentary registrations to the 2015 SXSW Interactive Festival, March 13-17.

On Saturday, while the developer teams are strategizing, designing, and coding, a showcase event will spotlight 12 groups whose social and civic efforts are already creating a positive impact in the Austin community. The Changemaker Showcase is open to the public and will be held from 1 to 6 p.m. in Jones Auditorium on Saturday, May 31. The Changemaker Showcase attendee registration is available here. Highlights from the 2013 ATX Hack for Change include projects built to connect owners with lost pets, to collect feedback on the location of future bike share hubs, and to accelerate the ability of Keep Austin Fed to make Austin a zero-food waste city.

This year's projects will benefit AISD's Literacy Action Plan, the City of Austin Open Data Portal, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the Capital Area Food Bank, and several other local organizations and government offices. This year's event will also feature Hack It Forward Challenges, which invite hackers to build on, expand, and reimagine tools and data hand-picked for the event by the City of Austin. These include the ATXFloods challenge and the STAR Community Rating System challenge.

The City of Austin will issue a proclamation and the city's new Chief Innovation Officer, Kerry O'Connor, will serve on the panel of experts on Sunday, June 1.

ATX Hack for Change is supported by Capital Factory, Extreme Networks, Texans for Economic Progress, and thirteen23. Hackathon participants will work with technology provided by Ambonare, Mozido, Op3nVoice, Plivo, Socrata, and UserApp.

The history of the ATX Hack for Change dates back to January 2013, when the White House announced the National Day of Civic Hacking as a nationwide celebration promoting civic engagement in among the thriving tech community in the United States. St. Edward's joined forces with Open Austin to produce the 2013 event in which more than 80 hackers participated. Several of the projects completed in 2013 have enjoyed further development by local hackers and their impact continues to resonate across the city today. The transformative work done by one team of hackers for local food rescue non-profit Keep Austin Fed was recognized at the Champions of Change White House event in July 2013.