Tuesday, June 13th, 2023 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oakland, CA - Over Juneteenth weekend, District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife and the Kapor Center are partnering to host a hackathon to develop community based approaches for Oakland residents to share vetted resources, report issues, and support each other while feeling more heard and understood by their council members.
Currently, the City of Oakland provides Oak311 as a mechanism to request city services to report illegal dumping, graffiti, potholes, encampments, building maintenance, and urgent infrastructure issues. However, residents at times are not sure if or when their reporting will be resolved and even if it’s been processed. Some residents and businesses would also like to identify what they've contributed to addressing these challenges and have two-way communication with the city and their neighbors.
In a statement, Councilmember Carroll Fife:
“We live under legacies of top-down power structures. As a result, there are often missed opportunities to develop community-informed, community-serving technologies, particularly in the public sector. I look forward to solutions surfaced in this hackathon and for a new future that centers technology solutions where multiple voices are not only heard, but can also actively support one another. Oak311 is a daily intersection between the public and the City, and a great place to investigate how we can work better together. ”
In a statement, Lili Gangas, Chief Technology Community Officer, Kapor Center:
"We hope that the ideas and solutions that come out can be applied to help our district and all of Oakland in a positive and scalable way. Huge thank you to all involved and especially Councilmember Fife for the vision of this event as we look to apply tech in a way that is inclusive, community centered."
WHERE: Kapor Center 2148 Broadway Oakland, CA 94612
WHEN: Saturday, June 17 10am -6pm PDT
WHO: City of Oakland District 3 City Council Office and Kapor Center. CoFounder/CTO of Spill DeVaris Brown as one of the judges and George Hofstetter as opening speaker
WHY: To find community-based approaches to improve city-wide communication on civic issues