Hack for Change: fast development of apps for civic use

Hey, over the weekend a bunch of coders met at change.org for the Hack for Change effort, which was really effective. Over the course of hours, and little sleep, they developed useful apps.

Check out the whole announcement, and here’s a little from that:

Fifty engineers and designers from the US and Canada competed this past weekend in the first ever ”Hack for Change” contest, a 24-hour hackathon at the San Francisco headquarters of Change.org.

Craig Newmark, the founder of craigslist.org, worked with a panel of judges to award ten thousand dollars in seed funding to the top three finalists. Brent Fitzgerald and Huned Botee from San Francisco took the top prize with a community based text messaging service, “Good Neighbor,” that sends messages when neighbors need a hand with quick tasks or errands.

“In just 24 hours the contestants built a series of incredible social good apps and Change.org would like to thank all of the participants for competing,” said Ben Rattray, founder and CEO of Change.org. “We look forward to more “Hack for Change” contests in the months and years to come.”