Serve Joins Forces to Host San Francisco Hackathon for Social Good
This weekend, our team here at Serve is proud to kick off an initiative in San Francisco focused on socialgood, alongside our friends at Hub Bay Area, The Gray Area Foundation for the Arts (GAFFTA) and The City of San Francisco’s Office of Innovation. The initiative, Creative Currency, brings community workers and non-tech social service experts together with developers, designers and business luminaries – all focused on the common goal ofaddressing community-level problems in San Francisco’s Mid-Market District (also known to many as the Tenderloin).
The Tenderloin has one of the highest rates of poverty in the San Francisco Bay Area—31 percent of the 39,000 residents earn less than $15,000 per year, and only 54 percent are employed—but also has a rich history. The Tenderloin was home to the Musician’s Union Building, where jazz greats such as Miles Davis recorded live albums in the mid-1900s, and also features a number of historic buildings that were rebuilt after the devastation caused by the1906 earthquake.
Creative Currency is commencing with “Collaboration Weekend,” a hackathon-style event that will run from April 27 through 29. (What’s a hackathon? It’s an event where attendees will collaborate intensively on innovation-related projects,,) and in this case, center on promoting social good for the Tenderloin.
The initiative will continue beyond Collaboration Weekend with a public “Demo Day” and continued development over a six month period allowing time for projects to be completed, integrated into the community or evolve into operating independent initiatives. The winning ideas will be showcased at SOCAP12 in San Francisco (October 1-4), and the best projects will share $15,000 inseed money. More details to come, but in the meantime, check back for our recap and footage from the event this weekend.
We’re excited about the opportunities to help foster entrepreneurship, responsible financial services, and hopefully to help make a difference while driving sustainable change with and for the community. If you have ideas or would like to help, drop me a note at madho@aexp.com
about the author
Jason Madhosingh
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Jason (although everyone calls him "Madho") leads the Developer Product and Community for Serve, American Express digital payments platform. Prior to American Express, he held various product and brand marketing roles at Nokia, Disney, Omnicom, ElectricArtists (a boutique agency), and Capitol Records. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, soccer ball, 3 bikes and skateboard.
