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Australian Red Cross and AMES Australia unite with the tech community for social good at Techfugees Melbourne Hackathon

Announcement posted by LULUMPR 08 Apr 2016

 
Techfugees Melbourne Hackathon is set to bring human-centered Tech design and humanitarian problem-solving to whole new level. 

Melbourne, Australia 8,April 2016- Techfugees Melbourne is pleased to announce Australian Red Cross and AMES Australia as non-profit partners for the upcoming Techfugees Melbourne Hackathon. The hackathon will run from 15 to 17 April 2016 at LaunchPad in Richmond, and will bring together the Australian non profit sector and the tech community to co-design and develop tech solutions to help refugee families settle into the Australian community.

The Hackathon weekend is set to build collaboration, inclusion and connectivity among a diverse range of participants including developers, designers, entrepreneurs and community members. Former refugees who have already settled in Australia will also participate and help teams understand problems and challenges faced by new settlers and assist to co-design solutions.

Leaders from the Melbourne tech community will mentor teams through the weekend. On Sunday teams will pitch their solutions to judging panel of tech and community leaders.

“Red Cross is known across the world for helping people in need, building stronger communities and helping people connect with each other. This hackathon is a terrific opportunity to go one step further - connecting different and distinct groups who might not ordinarily meet but who have a common interest – that is, a movement which supports refugees,” said Judy Slatyer, CEO Australian Red Cross.
 
“By linking up the start up industry, migrant communities and the community sector this hackathon is the chance to bring valuable new skills and innovative ways of working to supporting refugees as they live in Australia.”

“AMES Australia welcomes all initiatives that improve settlement outcomes for refugees and new arrivals to this country. The Techfugees Melbourne Hackathon is a great opportunity for the technology sector to work directly with our clients to jointly identify and solve barriers to successful settlement. We thank all those generous partners who have donated their valuable time and expertise to help improve the lives of our clients and their families,” said AMES Australia CEO, Catherine Scarth.

Techfugees Melbourne Hackathon is non-profit event organised and curated by people for people. Techfugees Melbourne volunteer organisers consists of:
   • Shelli Trung, Angel Investor
   • Lama Tayeh, LULUMPR Founder & CEO
   • Michael Coburn, Full Stack Strategy
   • Lynda Ford, iGen Foundation Director 
   • Wesa Chau and Jieh-Yung Lo, Co-Founders of Poliversity 
   • Frank Arrigo, Telstra API Evangelist

Techfugees Melbourne Hackathon weekend is supported by the generosity of a number of event sponsors that include: Telstra Foundation, LaunchPad, Stripe, LawPath, Dropbox, Amazon Web Services, General Assembly and Wide Open Road.
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For all media inquiries and interview requests with Melbourne Techfugees Hackathon sponsors, non-profit partners and organisers,please contact:  Lama Tayeh | E: lama@lulumpr.comM: +61 478 933 154