Hip Hop Hackathon

Intro

Join us in launching the Hip Hop Hackathon movement on November 8, 2021 on National STEM Day with Sway on Sway in the Morning to his 2.4 million subscribers! The Hip Hop Hackathon is taking place on February 8-9, 2022 and continuing as an event series March, April, May and June 2022.  Join the movement!  Put your name on it for the culture and future generations to come.  Final competitions take place in June 2022.

See the most recent Media Kit and press releases by Data 360 on January 10, 2022 and Urbanime on January 3, 2022.

The Problem

The Hip Hop Hackathon came together in response to the alarming stats for Blacks in STEM.

The proportion of bachelor’s degrees in science awarded to Black graduates remained flat at about 9 percent from 2001 to 2016, according to the most recent available figures from the National Science Foundation; in engineering, it declined from 5 percent to 4 percent; and in math, it dropped from 7 percent to 4 percent.

More recent figures released in April by the Pew Research Center show that, in 2018, Black students earned 7 percent of STEM bachelor’s degrees.

College-going trends that have occurred during the pandemic threaten to lower these proportions even further. Total Black undergraduate enrollment at universities and colleges is down by more than 7 percent this semester from where it was last spring, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reports.

Who Are We

Hip Hop Hackathon is a community of creators, makers, and changemakers who have the power to craft the future of technology and culture by leveraging their unique talents to build solutions that address real-world problems. We know that our movement is not limited to the three pillars of rap, dance, and technology. We are artists and creators from all walks of life who have the potential to combine their expertise across a variety of disciplines to empower the culture.

Why Hip Hop Hackathon?

Hip Hop was built on the idea of making the most of what you have, not waiting for permission. That’s why Hip Hop Hackathon is excited to announce the launch of our first ever STEM challenge. By creating Hip Hop workshops that focus on technology and programming, we’re making it easier for minority students to break into the tech industry. Join us as we present this challenge to rising talent with updated creative, technical and innovative resources.

We are focused on providing opportunities and mentorship to traditionally underrepresented and underserved communities through the power of technology. The hackathon's goals are: 1. to promote STEM education and careers, 2. to encourage everyone with an interest in computer science to pursue higher education or training, 3. to build community within the larger Hip Hop communities around the United States and beyond to a global audience, and 4. to celebrate the legacy of the culture of Hip Hop.

How will the funds be used?

We will be using the funds as follows:

• $15,000 for marketing and recruiting:
  • An Advisory Board
  • Organizing and Marketing Committee Members
  • Administrative Staff (3 months)
• $5,000 for graphic design and social media support
• $5,000 for creating videos, YouTube curriculum and SWAG

What is the impact you going to make?

We are looking to measure two things from Hip Hop Hackathon participants. 

1. Those hackathon participants that go on to pursue tech certifications
2. Those hackathon participants that go on to pursue tech careers
3. Those hackathon that get new tech skills and increase their wages and/or job position

Data 360's past training programs have helped its trainees get jobs at:

As a Google partner, Data 360 can also guide all participants for certification with Google in IT Support, Project Management, UX Design, and Data Analytics.  These certificates are flexible training designed to put you on the fast track to jobs in high growth fields. 

The program includes connections to get your foot in the door with over 150 top employers through the Google Employer Consortium including Cognizant, T-Mobile, NTT Data, Qualtrics, Wal-Mart, Spectrum, Accenture, Best Buy, Target, Smuckers, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Bvlugari, Snap, Nasdaq, Verizon, SAP, Coursera, Bayer, Wayfair, Infosys, Google and many, many others.

Who is behind Hip Hop Hackathon?

ABOUT MARIE SMITH, CIO AND CO-FOUNDER DATA 360

Marie is a prolific leader, advisor, coach and mentor who works and advocates locally, regionally and nationally for digital and technology literacy, closing the economic gap using technology and ethical, equitable and explainable AI.  See more of her work on Data 360's sample talks and workshops page and her long bio.  Marie has been involved from the start of the IFundWomen of Color and has mentored and advised many in the IFundWomen of Color community as well as dozens of communities in social media as a micro-influencer and with Data 360, her content and partners have captured 25,000 fans and reach up to 4 million users per month on social media.
 

ABOUT LAWRENCE MORROW, JR., CEO AND CO-FOUNDER DATA 360

Lawrence Morrow has spent the last 20 years of his career in insurance, sales and counseling. He and his family have spent over 20 years in the aerospace and insurance industry. His family currently works for a subsidiary of PIMCO based in Newport Beach, California. Lawrence specializes in a unique combination of his background as a trained counselor and history in sales to identify unique opportunities in markets for consumers and government programs.

ABOUT CHRIS WALKER, FOUNDER, URBANIME

Chris Walker is a Marvel/DC veteran and creativepreneur who founded Urbanime to make comics more inclusive for Black and Brown audiences. After years of collaborating with Fortune 500 brands as a Brand Strategist, and formative creative years as an artist for Marvel and DC, he decided to create his own platform to fill a void in the comics world often felt by Black and Brown folx who are as big of fans of comics as they are of culture. Merging his passion for the medium of comics with his love of urban culture, Chris has developed an empowering lifestyle brand that sits at the intersection of art, culture, and storytelling.

ABOUT DATA 360

Data 360 is a women-led community interest company with an ambitious mission to create software that transforms the way companies, governments and communities use data. Our mission is to build software that enables individuals, groups and organizations to harness their own data, to tell their own stories, and to take control of their future in powerful decentralized platforms.  

Data 360 helps non-technical business users learn to use advanced technologies to build their ideal communities using our low-code and no-code system and services which saves up to 90% of operational expenses. We are a low-cost development alternative to social media groups, online paid advertising, traditional SaaS tech stacks and traditional websites.

Bad data costs U.S. businesses nearly 3 trillion in losses per year. And, nearly 90 million workers and 73% of businesses are technically illiterate.  These problems urgently need to be fixed now.  The solutions for these problems can be found with Data 360's solutions and offerings using big data and AI/ML.

We've collaborated and worked with Accenture, Autodesk, ESRI, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, MacArthur Foundation, Knight Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, the city and county of Los Angeles, LA Chamber of Commerce, O'Reilly Media, Oracle, Salesforce, Amazon, Google, IKEA, Morgan Stanley and over 10,000 SMEs and individuals.

Data 360 holds hackathons, workshops and educational events through its partnership with Google for Google Developer Cloud Los Angeles.

ABOUT URBANIME

Urbanime is a culture x comics company that creates authentic experiences that empower multicultural audiences through imaginative storytelling. Urbanime publications make culture the hero whether they are unique editorials using comic art to tell a story of the culture or fantastic, urban-themed genre fiction that place Black and Brown characters at the center of adventure.   The initial Urbanime books include Urbanime Mixtape Volume One, RELIC (currently available on Amazon Kindle), Style EP (in celebration of  Air Max Day), and Black Music Month.  For more information about Urbanime or to download our library of Culture-zines visit: Urbanime.com, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitch and Twitter. 

See Urbanime's launch on Sway in the morning

About Google Developer Group Cloud Los Angeles

This initiative is created with the support of Data 360's partnership with Google for Google Developer Group Cloud Los Angeles.

When you join a Google Developer Grop, you'll have the opportunity to learn new skills in a variety of formats.  You'll also meet local developers virtually or in person with similar interests in technology.  The community prides itslef on being an inclusive environment where everyone and anyone interested in tech--from beginner developers to experienced professional--are all welcome to join.