City plans virtual ‘hack-a-thon’ in October

Elyria is collaborating with Lorain County Community College, Case Western Reserve University, Dataswift and Kinetic by Windstream on a first virtual “hack-a-thon” competition set for Oct. 22-24, according to a news release.

Elyria says it is hosting the Hack-a-thon to empower its residents, business owners and community leaders to design a more vibrant community, the release said.

In addition to a prize, the winning ideas will have the opportunity for consideration for potential funding under the American Rescue Plan, and will be supported by xLab at the Weatherhead

School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, and incubated at the Veale Institute of Entrepreneurship also at Case, according to the release.

Everyone is encouraged to participate in the weekend-long virtual intensive event.

Teams will problem-solve with the support of a mentor, a subject matter expert and a design consultant.

Participants do not have to be from Elyria.

“We have an opportunity to reimagine what the future of Elyria looks like,” said Elyria Mayor Frank Whitfield. “With this oncein-a-lifetime investment opportunity, with the American Rescue Plan coupled with the resources we already have in our community, we have an opportunity for transformation.

“To do this, the city needs to do this together between the citizens, government, business and community leaders, and our education and cultural institutions,” he said. “The hack-a-thon is one tool that we are utilizing in engaging and mobilizing our citizens.

“We plan to use American Rescue Plan funding to further develop and implement the winning solutions,” Whitfield said.

A hack-a-thon is a crowdand talent-sourced “working conference” that breaks participants into teams to work intensively on developing a solution to a community-wide problem, a news release related.

In this case, participants work over the weekend to “hack” together a solution to community-wide issues in Elyria, according to a news release.

The winning team will receive prize money, the release said.

The Hack-a-thon will be looking for solutions for the following community issues:

• Community violence and crime

• Social, emotional and mental wellness

• Improvements or expansions of local parks

• Small business ideas or business support

• Out-of-school youth development

• Unemployment and under employment

• Revitalizing the local travel, tourism and hospitality industries

All solutions submitted must use data to drive measurable improvements.

How to get involved

Those interested in participating in the Hack-athon can begin thinking of a solution to a societal issue that Elyria residents are facing.

Ideas can be submitted from Oct. 1-15 on the hackfromhome.com/Elyria website.

Next, plan to register and attend the virtual opening night Oct. 22 and join a team and to “hack” an issue.

On Oct. 22, there is the welcome, idea presentation by the committee, team selection and orientation to idea development from Case Western design specialists.

On Oct. 23, there will be morning team work, lunch with a speech and interview with Tony Thomas, CEO of Windstream with Whitfield, followed by team time finalizing ideas.

On Oct. 24, there will be a presentation of ideas and plans of action from the teams.

Winning teams will be announced by Nov. 1, and the prize money will be divided among the team members.