On March 8th Mayor Ras J. Baraka held the judging portion of the Women’s Safety Hack-Newark at Nan Tech World that included attendees from the local community. Hosted by the Department of Health and Community and Department of Public Safety, the event was the culmination of the groundbreaking Women’s Safety Hackathon launched in November 2016.
The nationwide competition gave entrants three months to create a technology that will improve safety for women in Newark. Entrants submitted their proposed apps via the internet from which demos were selected for presentation to a panel of judges. Four “use cases” were addressed: Safety on the Street; Domestic Violence; Teen Dating; and Evidence Collection.
The winning entrant will be announced on Monday, March 20, at Mayor Baraka‘s State of the City Address. They will receive $15,000 to build out their prototype for deployment on June 1, 2017, and then $35,000 to maintain the system for one year.
In addition to the judging, the invited local tech community dialoged with the Mayor and a panel of distinguished judges comprised of: Asia Smith, Domestic Violence Expert Health Dept., Mayor Ras J. Baraka, Lieutenant Crystal Burroughs, Department of Public Safety, and Aisha Glover, CEO Newark CEDC.
