On March 5th we had a heavy storm in San Francisco but rain and wind didn’t stop 90+ people who came together to hack for good at San Francisco’s third CodeAcross. The event, organized by Code for SF and hosted at Microsoft Reactor, coincided with the International Open Data Day.
This event was not only open to those with a technical background, but even those who just had great ideas and needed help implementing them.
We kicked off the event with project pitches from several Code for SF projects like Brigadehub, CivicMakers, Data Science Working Group, AskDarcel, Open Impact Challenge and pdfHook, as well as some individual projects, such as Gyver. After that the real fun began. People joined groups that they were interested in, shared their ideas, and worked on finding solutions for various issues facing San Francisco.
This year’s event focus was on open data. City of SF Open Data program manager Jason Lally led a workshop on accessing city data while Code for 
SF’s Data Science Working Group brought together attendees interested in using their data science skills. Others formed unconference-style discussion groups or tended to their own project ideas and in the true spirit of collaboration one particular idea that started as an unconference debate developed into a new project that will help connect people to the right healthcare programs. It was truly awesome having three different tracks occurring during the event; it gave everyone a place to fit in.
It’s hard to think about a single highlight considering the amazing progress that different teams have made. However, if I had to pick one that inspired me the most it would be Code for SF Research Group’s Open Impact Challenge that led to a new project team working to prevent violence against women. Their goal was to test forms of engaging new members using design and co-creation 
methodologies to better understand the problem and prototype solutions. Why this one? While the group didn’t start at CodeAcross it generated so much interest that by the end of the day they decided to split into three separate projects. The groups will work on different approaches – an app, a walking group, and a support network tool. Many groups, like this one, were able to present their incredible progress made in a day’s time; it was truly inspirational. This goes to show the level of engagement that working on important causes can generate among the community.
To learn more about different projects and hear stories from CodeAcross check out this cool video.
Lastly, stay tuned for(NDoCH) coming up on June 3-5! NDoCH will be an opportunity to dig much deeper into issues and data, and see many of the projects that started or gained momentum at CodeAcross being launched.
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