eMerge Americas, Wyncode Academy, And Code Fever Announce Virtual Hackathon To Develop Applications Combating Racism

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-City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez will hold a meeting with final project creators to discuss solutions for combating racism and social injustice.-

-Final projects will be presented and featured in the program agenda at the upcoming eMerge Americas tech conference.-

News provided by

eMerge Americas

Jun 16, 2020, 09:13 ET

MIAMI, June 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- eMerge Americas, a platform which fosters innovation and investment throughout the Americas, has signed on with Wyncode Academy, a premier technical training academy to host a virtual hackathon scheduled for July 2, 2020. The hackathon, titled Unite & Fight, is in response to recent events throughout the U.S. that have reiterated the systemic racism and social injustices that have afflicted communities of color. Code Fever has signed on to be a community partner. The objective of the hackathon is to develop tech solutions to combat racism, such as apps, which will be presented at the upcoming eMerge Americas conference. City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez will hold a meeting with the final project creators.

"Leaders in the tech and entrepreneurial ecosystem have a unique vantage point to steward innovation as a tool for systemic change," said Felice Gorordo, CEO of eMerge Americas. "eMerge Americas is committed to taking action to combat systemic racism and leveraging tech to fight social injustices."

The hackathon will kick off with a virtual webinar highlighting the Black community's experience encountering racial discrimination, which will inform the project creators on the problems they will solve using technology. The teams participating in the virtual hackathon will be tasked with designing and building a solution that combats racial injustice.

"The impetus for this initiative is to create a framework to learn and educate our community about racism and channel our collective brain trust for tangible solutions to dismantle systemic racism," said Johanna Mikkola, co-founder of Wyncode Academy. "By design, we're extending the initiative to continue after the hackathon for multiple months because we want an ongoing solution-oriented dialogue."

Following the hackathon, project developers and designers will meet weekly to continue development on their solutions leading up to a final presentation before a panel of judges in September. The winner of those presentations will meet with Mayor Suarez prior to the eMerge Americas conference.

"We use technology to create solutions to problems, and it really can be a driving force to end systemic racism and equity issues," said Felecia Hatcher, Founder of Code Fever. "Partnering with eMerge Americas and Wyncode creates actionable first steps that can lead to tangible solutions."

Software developers and product designers interested in participating may register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unite-fight-hackathon-tickets-109014218462?ref=eios

For more information or to register to attend the eMerge Americas 2020 conference, visit www.emergeamericas.com.

About eMerge Americas
eMerge Americas is the premier technology event connecting the Americas held annually at the Miami Beach Convention Center. By connecting global industry leaders and investors with corporate business executives, government leaders, and entrepreneurs, eMerge Americas is transforming Miami into the tech hub of the Americas. In 2019, eMerge Americas attracted over 16,000 attendees and more than 400 participating companies from over 40 countries. eMerge Americas serves as a catalyst in order to foster innovation and investment in South Florida and Latin America. The eMerge Americas founding partners include: Medina Capital, A Rod Corporation, Greenberg Traurig, Knight Foundation, Miami-Dade County, and the Miami Herald. The upcoming eMerge Americas conference is scheduled for November 4-5, 2020. For more information about eMerge Americas, please visit: www.emergeamericas.com.

About Wyncode Academy
Wyncode Academy is the premier accelerated learning provider in South Florida. Wyncode currently offers in-person and remote/online courses for Full Stack Web Development, User Experience & User Interface (UX/UI) Design, Front End Web Development, and Digital Marketing with a campus in Wynwood, Miami, Florida. Wyncode has graduated over 850 technologists and maintained a 90% job placement rate for job seeking graduates. Wyncode also has the ability to create custom cohorts and corporate training programs in addition to our newest venture Wyntalent, a consulting service for mid and senior-level dev talent. Wyncode is proud to be licensed by the Florida Department of Education, for more information visit their website.

About Code Fever
Code Fever is a nonprofit committed to getting our communities up to code. The mission of Code Fever is to inspire more underserved minority students between the ages of 13 to 21 to code, build and create technology enterprises within their communities, close the gap in technology education, and become leaders in STEM fields by increasing the number of young startup founders. For more, visit www.CodeFeverMiami.com

SOURCE eMerge Americas