Fund People, Not the Tech Industry
The S.F. Hackathon, Hack for Social Impact, is the city’s new event hosting hundreds of data scientists and computer science focused professionals as a way to find tech solutions to social problems. Attendees are invited to use their skills to find creative ways to combat social issues in the city, presenting them to Bay Area organizations. Winners will receive large cash prizes and grants for whichever projects are taken up by the organizations for their causes. Due to a lack of resources in the organizations that normally take up these social causes, they’ve turned to the tech industry to help find new solutions.
Tech has taken over the Bay Area in innumerable ways, largely impacting the most vulnerable populations. This competition seeks unreliable and theoretical tech solutions to apply to real-world situations, when there are skilled professionals that are highly knowledgeable in their own fields that we could invest in instead! These organizations deserve real funding to be able to do the work they were assigned to do, rather than having to rely on competitions that allow tech into more spaces. We should tax wealthy corporations that are largely profiting and not paying their fair share in order to force them to invest in the community. This will ensure funding not only for causes that matter to our communities, but the resources that are consistently unable to properly operate because of austerity politics.
Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle
AI for public good: S.F. hackathon seeks to solve real-world problems
By Joaquin Palomino, Investigative ReporterNov 9, 2024