Civic Hack to Tackle Food Insecurity
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe city of Indianapolis is teaming up with the Indy Chamber, TechPoint and Open Indy Brigade on a 24-hour hackathon aimed at developing technology to tackle food insecurity in Marion County. The 2018 Indy Civic Hack begins Friday evening at Launch Indy with the goal of finding novel ways to connect Indianapolis residents in need with food-related resources and services.
The hackathon is open to coders, developers and designers from throughout the area. The city says it is looking for innovative ideas to help the most food insecure residents navigate the food and nutrition resources available to them.
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Indianapolis Project Services Manager Daniel Rieger says there is a huge population in Indy and Marion County that that needs help accessing food.
"At the end of the hack, we’re looking for them to produce new ideas, outside of the box idea, for us that we could use to help serve underserved populations," said Rieger. "You’d be surprised the number of people who have smartphones, let alone cell phones. The truth is, it’s an opportunity for us to engage them, whether it’s for public safety needs or for public health needs."
The city says the winning team will have an opportunity to pitch their idea to the Indianapolis Office of Public Health and Safety for potential grant funding to develop their app concept.