Until now, you needed to be a coder to participate in a hackathon. Not anymore.  

Code, Carve, Sing, Dance, Write

At Z HACKS, your project entry can be code, OR any form of ART: a dance, a song, a poem, artwork, a short story, a sculpture, just about anything. Why? Because you care about inclusivity.  

Why Z?

Z is for Gen Z.  Z is for Zentrepreneur.  Z is for Zeitgeist.  You are "Z" change needed in the World.

Categories

•  Social Justice 
  • From wealth to education, housing to homeless, your project will increase the awareness of disparities for underserved communities.  How do we address police brutality? Democracy? Affordable housing?
• Environment
  • Our oceans are polluted with plastics, our air unbreathable, our drinking water has lead, our housing is not energy efficient.  How can we inspire and help entire communities to reduce our emissions? Reuse? Recycle?
• Pandemic
  • COVID 19 is not our first health crisis, nor our last.  How do we help those at high risk? How do we create vibrant supply chains, fast vaccine testing, better PPE designs, better signage and solutions for restaurants, stores, etc. How do we help small businesses and performers stay afloat during Shelter-in-Place?

Award Distribution

Donations are for the organizations listed below (Become a Sponsor).  As indicated in the Prizes, cash stipends go to Winners to fund their next brilliant project. The following non-profits are donation designees:

• Oakland Black Business Fund (OBBF) is a Black-led investment platform, providing capital, technical assistance, and growth strategy to Black-owned businesses. The nonprofit relief & recovery fund deploys recovery grants and technical assistance to stabilize Oakland businesses and prepare them to receive capital investments to grow their businesses.
  • Funds Raised: 9/11/20: $150,628
• Equal Access Santa Cruz County - the Equal Access Santa Cruz County Fund has a simple goal: bridge the digital divide and bring true high-speed broadband to every family in the Santa Cruz community, regardless of income level. This project is spearheaded by Cruzio Internet, working with the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, Pajaro Valley School District, and other local organizations.
  • Funds Raised (9/11/2020): $50,500
• Digital NEST - a youth workforce development and empowerment center located in Watsonville and Salinas, CA, has moved all of their in-person classroom curricula online and has found new ways to support a community in need.
  • Funds Raised (9/11/20): $65,000
• Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay - addresses affordable homeownership in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. In our coastal region, there is a growing gap between house prices and what the local workforce can afford. One in three households spends more than 50% of their income on housing.
  • Funds Raised: not reported to Z Hacks

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

• Participants: this event is open to anyone anywhere who attended school in 2019, or will attend in 2020-21.  Schools can include public, private, online, full time or part time. Physical prizes to US only. Coders and Artists are welcome. A Participant does not need to be on a Team. Anyone younger than 16 will be required to submit the Parental Consent Agreement.  Attend a Clinic (see Resources) to get an extra point towards your final score!
• Teams: a Team must include at least 1 Participant.  Teams should not be larger than 6 persons. 
• Mentors: a Mentor can be of any age, and does not need to be in school.  The purpose of a Mentor is to help others.  Mentors must list "Mentor" in their skill set.
• Sponsors - would you like to support this event? Click on this Become a Sponsor

Ask Us Anything

Got questions? Click on this: Ask Us.  Or, use the Slack channel, or Register to join us via Zoom to Ask Us Anything on the following dates:

• September 15 3:30pm PT: Register to Attend
• September 17 at 12:30pm PT: Register to Attend

And check out one of the videos by Jordan Corey who will judge song projects. She wrote this song, Google bought it: SHAKE

$34,700 in prizes

• Inclusivity (10%)
  The final output considers equity, accessibility, and inclusiveness.
• Collaborative (20%)
  Did team conduct Discovery, gather input, collaboration whether in the form of a team or advisors.
• Potential for impact at scale (30%)
  The final output can work for a broad range of people and geographies.
• Creativity (20%)
  How original is the idea? How does it uniquely address the problem?
• Project Completeness (20%)
  Finalists will be judged on their abilities to narrate their creation process, identifying a problem, innovation, and final solution.