It’s hard to ignore the homeless and low-income population in San Francisco. Whether you are braving the tenderloin or shopping in Union Square, chances are that you’ve witnessed this epidemic firsthand. It can be hard to comprehend the sheer size of this often overlooked community, considering the rich digital landscape we live in; a reality in which we create apps to entertain the more fortunate on a daily basis.
Enter Creative Currency, an organization which aims to bring these two worlds together to create a new, better economy. The organization has put together a multi-phase model, which takes advantage of the breadth of local entrepreneurs, businesses, designers, and programmers who inhabit the Bay Area. During phase two, these local creators will come together to devise innovation solutions to help underserved communities in a three day hackathon style collaboration weekend.
This hackathon comes with a particularly difficult challenge – how do you use technology to help a low-income community that has very limited access to this technology? This challenge will be tackled by two of our very own COG1 team members, Creative Director extraordinary Mark Junkunc and dev expert Justin Mahon. Mark and Justin will be among the 200 participants to come together April 27th – 29th with the hopes of making a positive impact on our local economy. The collaboration weekend will kick-start a six month process, which will include development, testing, and feedback. The creators will have an opportunity to showcase their innovations during a demo day in July, after which the best projects will be chosen to move on to the final phase – $15,000 in seed funding and mentorship.
This event is a big step in the right direction, towards a new economy in which technology serves as a social catalyst for positive change.
If you are interested in using your creative powers for good, consider joining us for the upcoming collaboration weekend. http://creative-currency.org/
One Comment