Techfugees Sydney Hackathon in Blacktown 2018

#HACK4REFUGEES: HACKERS, HUSTLERS, HIPSTERS AND HUMANITARIANS BUILDING SOLUTIONS WITH REFUGEES IN BLACKTOWN GET INSPIRED: JOIN A GLOBAL COMMUNITY MAKING A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN REFUGEES’ LIVES AND HAVE A TON OF FUN DOING IT Techfugees was founded in 2015 to bring the tech start-up and NGO communities together with refugees settling into a new life in Australia. Our community of 'Hackers, Hipsters, Hustlers and Humanitarians' has grown to many Hackathons and meetups in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. At our events, businesses have been founded, skills learned and friendships made. The model developed in Australia to ‘co-design’ solutions with refugees is now used in the growing global Techfugees movement. If you’ve never been to a Techfugees event, you’re in for an extraordinary weekend working alongside some of Australia’s most talented and committed tech stars, mentors, designers, business leaders and community people, together with newly arrived and settled refugees. It doesn't matter if you're not a "techie" and you have no idea what a hackathon is: everyone is welcome! We come together as a community of like-minded people and we roll up our sleeves to develop solutions to the challenges faced by refugees when they come to Australia. Techfugees is now a huge global movement with 15,000 members and dozens of chapters around the world. In Australia, many of the solutions developed at our events are now operating as tech start-ups or social ventures in their own right. This means our weekend events have a lasting positive impact. And you can be part of it! BLACKTOWN HACK Our next Hackathon will be held at the end of November in Blacktown, one of the largest and fastest growing local government areas in Australia and the heart of Western Sydney. The city hosts residents from more than 188 different birthplaces with 182 languages spoken. The Top 5 countries of origin include Philippines, India, New Zealand, Fiji and England and the Top 5 languages spoken other than English are Tagalog, Hindi, Punjabi, Arabic and Filipino. The Western Sydney suburb is also home to Australia’s largest Sudanese and South Sudanese community. We will learn more about the refugees who have settled in Blacktown at the Hackathon. This will be the fourth hack in Sydney and we will bring together developers, designers, entrepreneurs, community members and mentors to develop creative tech solutions. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never been to a Hackathon everyone is welcome and you’ll have tons of fun while learning new skills and meeting lots of great people.  Hacker Teams will develop tech solutions for the settlement challenges articulated by our partners Settlement Services International (SSI), the largest not-for-profit humanitarian settlement organisation in Australia and STARTTS a service for the rehabilitation of torture and trauma victims. Teams usually form at the event - no one is left out - although you are of course welcome to bring a Hacker Team to the event. Refugees who have already settled in Australia will participate in the event to help teams deeply understand problems and challenges faced by new arrivals. Those who participated in our first events know that hearing from and working alongside refugees is an absolute highlight of our Hackathons. Key Themes:  Access to services beyond settlement eligibility period Cultural Gaps in the Mainstream Services Access to housing Multicultural Justice Program with a focus on Youth Need for disability and aged care support Transport and access to services Mental Health Domestic and Family Violence Education and Training Connecting with South Sudnanese Community More detail on the themes is included at the end of this Eventbrite. PRIZES, SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS - Please contact us if you'd like to contribute a prize or sponsor the Hack! Prizes-to be announced! As we are planning to award sensational prizes including a significant cash prize that help teams complete and launch their solutions/ stay tuned for more info on prizes! Sponsors and Supporters Settlement Services Australia STARTTS Academy XI Devpost Microsoft for Startups Chief Disrupter Spark Festival Blacktown Venue HACKATHON PROGRAM DATES Saturday to Sunday 24-25 November, 9 to 5pm both days. Pitches Sunday Afternoon from around 3pm. Leaders from the Tech Community will mentor teams through the weekend. On Sunday afternoon, teams will pitch their solutions to a Judging Panel of Tech and Community Leaders. There is no cost to participate and wonderful food and snacks will be available all weekend sponsored by our partners. Come make a difference, have some fun, learn a lot and help to welcome refugees to the Australian community. VENUE To be announced - in BLACKTOWN CONNECT WITH US! Twitter: @TechfugeesAust1 #hack4refugees Facebook: facebook.com/techfugeesaustralia Web: Techfugees.com (for the global movement) For questions about the event including media enquiries please email Nicky Williamson at techfugeesaustralia@gmail.com. We are always looking for sponsors to provide in-kind support for the event. We can't wait to see you there! Love Nicky, Annie and Anne-Mariexx Techfugees Australia 2018 – Blacktown Hackathon Themes  1. Access to services beyond settlement eligibility period Many migrant and refugee residents who have been in Australia beyond the five year settlement services program eligibility criterion do present with significant needs that may arise due to change in life circumstances e.g. transition to adulthood, or circumstances that prevented them accessing services when they first arrived e.g. caring for small children. Addressing this would look at initiatives that explore range of options such as building capacity and engaging volunteers to support people outside the settlement target group. 2. Cultural Gaps in the Mainstream Services Many mainstream services lack cultural competency. It is very important to ensure the mainstream sector is well-equipped to support people with their resettlement. This could be done through initiatives that: Ensure mainstream service providers are culturally informed and skilled in client-focused, strengths based and trauma informed approaches Build the capacity of mainstream services to ensure they are effectively responding to the needs of people from refugee and migrant backgrounds. 3. Access to housing Access to affordable and secure rental accommodation is one of the significant issues of challenge to newly arrived communities. This increases the risk of homelessness as people are unable to secure alternative accommodation. 4. Multicultural Justice Program with a focus on Youth Lack of culturally appropriate connections and supports limits the rehabilitative components of incarceration and involvement with the justice system. Engagement with the justice system focuses on the punitive elements which have significant re-traumatising impacts on refugees already suffering from the effects of refugee trauma. Access to tailored justice programs and early intervention supports is needed on release to support re-integration in the community and prevent re-offending. 5. Need for disability and aged care support There is an increase in disability or aged related issues and associated difficulties in accessing Disability Support Pension payments, NDIS and / or MyAged Care. Program that will facilitate easy to these services is needed to personalise support. 6. Transport and access to services Through our work with the newly arrived families we often see access and cost of transport as barrier to people’s access to services. This event could explore options to further develop affordable and accessible transport options, and support services with the associated costs of transport within service delivery. As such, many programs will need to embed the provisions of transport within their service design and delivery. 7. Mental Health Members of newly arrived communities face a number of mental health risk factors in addition to those of the general population. For example: racism, discrimination, and pre-settlement experiences of trauma or torture. Initiatives that explore mental health programs providing targeted supports to newly arrived young people from refugee backgrounds and to support mainstream agencies to better meet the needs of this group would go a long way to increasing access to mental health services by new members of our community. 8. Domestic and Family Violence Domestic and family violence continues to be a significant issue for refugee and migrant families. Specific issues include: Limited knowledge about the family law system and supports available to victims of domestic and family violence Lack of support for women on partner visas experience domestic and family violence who are not eligible for income support services during their initial settlement period Specialised domestic violence supported services overstretched especially in regional areas 9. Education and Training Understanding and navigating the complex education and training system are often challenges for families who have long settled as well as new arrival. Access to information on academic pathways and career choice is a significant issue that has continued to surface are different stages of settlement. Programs that engage parents in co-designing child’s academic/career plan, showcase case studies demonstrating successes and challenges of different academic pathways, etc would work well in this situation. 10. Connecting with South Sudanese Community Blacktown city LGA has the largest Sudanese / South Sudanese communities in Australia in a single LGA, representing more than half of Blacktown LGA’s ‘emerging community’ settlers. Previously, the Sudanese communities have courageously responded to challenges such as finding jobs and work experience opportunities, sourcing rental properties, learning English, building on existing and learning new life, adopting to new parenting styles, settling into school or vocational study, establishing new social networks and relationships and adapt to vastly different cultural attitudes and lifestyles. Still today, there are continued challenges brought about by harmful stereotypes related to African Gang conundrum. Programs that would bring multiple stakeholders to coordinate and bring cultures together and provide work and education opportunities would bring about social participation, community harmony in Blacktown and create sense of belonging for the Sudanese communities. Other ongoing issues include; recognition of overseas qualifications, racism/discrimination, financial strains due to rise in cost of livings, language barrier, need to engage in cultural activities and leadership development.