RECAP: Code For Syracuse Kickoff!
We recently celebrated the launch of a brand new tech initiative here in Central New York — Code for Syracuse! We are proud sponsors of this group and had an amazing time welcoming them to the local tech community at its kickoff event.
Code for Syracuse is a group of technologists with a simple purpose — to work together on things that matter — led by Jennifer Tran, Mark Headd, Jason Scharf, Ryan Gaus, and Kris Micinski. It is a part of the national Code for America movement, which addresses “the widening gap between the public and private sectors in their effective use of technology and design.”
Their mission is to partner with local nonprofits and government to build a better Syracuse for everyone, and its community includes local leaders and coders, subject-matter experts and project managers, activists and designers, public servants, and curious residents.
Our mission at Hack Upstate is to unite and facilitate collaboration among the greater Upstate New York technology community in order to contribute to the growth of our technology sector, and to create a robust network of technologists and regional technology companies. Our shared goals to lift up and improve the local community naturally aligned, so it was no question to become involved with the initiative as a sponsor.
At the kickoff event on July 30, we had a crowd of over 50 enthusiastic attendees — an amazing turnout! They got to meet the Code for Syracuse crew, learn about its mission and affiliation with Code for America, and heard from Sam Edelstein, who is the Innovation Team Chief Data Officer for the City of Syracuse. He joined the event to discuss potential collaborative projects for the betterment of the city.
The group took part in an interactive exercise to identify areas that folks were interested in working to help in our city. The primary issues identified were housing and education, which Code for Syracuse members will help local government, local nonprofits, and residents to address more efficiently.
To support Code for Syracuse, interested folks can attend the next meetup, which will be on August 27. More information about this and future events can be found here.
Potential nonprofit and government partners can can also reach out to the Code for Syracuse team directly at codeforsyracuse@gmail.com. We look forward to the awesome things that we are going to create together!
