Open Sprints Civic Tech Camp

Call for Civic Tech Fellows: Apply by April 15, 2025

Are you passionate about using your tech skills to make a positive impact on the world? The Open Sprints Hackathon invites technologists of all levels to contribute to impactful open-source projects that benefit communities.

Who is Eligible to Join the Open Sprints Hackathon?

We’re looking for civic tech fellows from all backgrounds to join us in-person or virtually for this impactful event. If you’re passionate about making a difference through tech, join us.

We welcome:

• Recent Grads: Whether you’ve recently graduated in product design, software engineering, or data science, your fresh perspective and skills are exactly what we need to help drive these projects forward.
• Mid-Career Professionals: If you’re a seasoned professional with experience in product design, software engineering, or data science, we encourage you to apply. Share your knowledge and guidance with the next generation of technologists while contributing to the development of solutions that matter.
• BIPOC and BIPOC Women and Femmes in Tech: We are committed to creating an inclusive and diverse environment. We strongly encourage BIPOC individuals, as well as BIPOC women and femmes, to apply and bring their unique experiences to the table as part of this important civic tech movement.

• *COMPLETE THE APPLICATION FORM ***

https://www.opensprints.tech/join-today/

Project Highlights: Building for Social Impact

• Project Foxhound (Virtual Starts May 16th – July 2nd – 4 Sessions): Join a team dedicated to researching inclusive hiring practices. Help improve the jobseeker experience by contributing to a one-day workshop aimed at creating more accessible pathways to employment for all.
• Project Great Dane (One-week Sprint): Dive into New York City’s open data through opendata.nyc and collaborate with experts to develop innovative, equitable maps that empower NYC’s diverse communities. Existing research work in critical areas such as heat vulnerability index, health impact of air pollution, or community health profile are good examples of data-driven design where using open data can make an impact.
• Project Husky (Virtual Starts May 16th – July 2nd – 4 Sessions): Over four weeks, work with the UCLA team to develop a Conversational AI aimed at supporting families of children with Autism in Southern California. Through the Bridge Labs project, the team will create technology that directly benefits these families with crucial, user-friendly content.
• Project Beagle (Workshop-based only): Designers and developers—this one’s for you! Help build vital frontend components and contribute to the EQUITY Design System published on Figma and Storybook. At this time, we are looking for more experienced contributors to grow this library, and host workshops.

Attending the Kickoff Event in NYC

Open Sprints: Civic Tech Hackathon is back for its second year, bringing together passionate teams dedicated to building open-source solutions for the public good. Join us in creating impactful projects that can drive real change in communities!

Hosted by Femmecubator and proudly sponsored by Perforce Software and The Tides Foundation.

When you join as a fellow, your contributions will have a lasting, positive impact on society. You’ll have the opportunity to learn from your peers and mentors, build on existing tools, and collaborate with organizations that need help developing prototypes. (Team merch, prizes, and pizza on us! )

Kickoff Event: Friday, May 16th, 10:00am – 5:00pm

Location: Amazon NYC HQ | 12 W 39th St, New York, NY 10018

Types of Contributors Needed

Details on open roles can be found here

Although there are projects that are beginner-friendly, some have a specific need for contributors that require a level of skillset and proficiency.

As a Project Contributor, we recommend that fellows attend a minimum of 4 sessions. Time commitment is required.

• Attendance required – 30-min bi-weekly stand-ups for 4 weeks starting May 16th-July 2nd.
• Recommended 4 hours weekly devoted to hands-on offline project work and as-needed reviews with mentors.

Adhoc Hackathon attendees can be involved in a one-day hackathon capacity, to attend workshop or demos and to be able to give feedback to teams.

• Project Foxhound is a project about hiring culture research with a goal to build an effective job board. Project leads will be hosting a 2-hour sprint workshop on 05/16.
• Project Great Dane is an equitable mapping project in its conceptual stage. Project leads will be hosting a 2-hour sprint workshop on 05/16.
• COMPLETE THE APPLICATION FORM ***

https://www.opensprints.tech/join-today/