This hackathon wants to serve the Black community

Nina Smith wants to show how tech innovation can carry out social change in the Black community.
That’s why Smith, along with her nonprofit IMPACT and Bernard Holloway, is launching the Thriving Cities Innovation Showcase + Hackathon.
“We’ve seen a movement in the Black community emerging, with a renewed push to support Black-owned companies and invest in Black banks,” Smith said, who referenced the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile as a catalyst. “We thought it apt to use this time to connect that same energy to the tech/innovation sectors to help put solutions we talk about during panels into action.”
Thriving Cities Innovation Showcase + Hackathon will be held on Saturday, Sept. 17, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at UNITE HERE Local 25’s K Street office. (UNITE HERE, the hotel workers union, is co-hosting the event and providing lunch.) It’ll occur during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference.
At the hackathon, participants will brainstorm and build projects to tackle “social issues that continue to disproportionately affect Black and Brown communities,” according to the event description.
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So far, three speakers are confirmed for the Thriving Cities hackathon: Chike Aguh, CEO of digital access program EveryoneOn; Brandon Anderson, developer of police accountability app, the SWAT App and former National Urban Fellow Devon Hawkins-Anderson.