Collaborators
Each of our four hackathon tracks is mentored by phenomenal organizations already doing work in their communities. We encourage you to follow and support their work!
The SisterSong Women of Color collective defines Reproductive Justice as the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. This track is mentored by two organizations — The Renée and Period Equity.
The Renée, represented by Whitney Robinson, is a lab focused on re-designing maternal health experiences for Black and Brown people. Whitney is an expert at creating community design spaces that center storytelling, and the Renée recently hosted a maternal health design jam with Stacey Abrams!
Period Equity, represented by Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, is an organization focused on making menstrual products tax-exempt, affordable, available for all, and safe for our bodies and the planet. Jennifer uses the tools of law and policy in her advocacy work and recently wrote an awesome book called Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand for Menstrual Equity.
Environmental justice promotes healing the land and waters, restoring and protecting Indigenous land rights, and advocating for sustainable ways of living. Environmental justice centers the people most impacted by environmental and climate catastrophes. This track is mentored by Pueblo Action Alliance.
Pueblo Action Alliance (PAA) is a community organization based in the so-called Southwestern US that promotes cultural sustainability and community defense by addressing environmental and social impacts in Indigenous communities. PAA focuses on education, mutual aid, and specific campaigns around restoring Indigenous land and water rights. PAA is represented by Lauren Howland, Jae Littlebear, and Somah Haaland, an awesome trio with combined expertise in youth organizing, storytelling, art, and more.
Care workers include home care workers, nannies and house cleaners, and this work happens in formal and informal sectors, in private households with individual employers. In a feminist care economy that centers race and gender equity, care work is valued and generously compensated, care workers are treated with the dignity they deserve, and we would cease exploitation of the underpaid and unpaid labor of women. All care workers — especially domestic workers — work in safe conditions, fair and consensual labor relationships, and are protected by labor laws and benefit from all social welfare systems. This track is mentored by the National Domestic Workers Alliance Labs (NDWA Labs).
National Domestic Workers Alliance Labs (NDWA Labs) is the innovation arm of the NDWA. NDWA Labs focuses on strategies for improving job quality for the 2.2 million domestic workers — nannies, house cleaners and home care workers — in the US. As part of this work, NDWA Labs creates technologies like Alia: "a portable benefits platform that makes it easy for employers and clients to contribute to the benefits for the domestic worker who works in their home." NDWA Labs is represented by Palak Shah and her team, who have expertise in social innovation, digital product strategy, labor policy, public speaking, and lots more.
Prison abolition demands a world without carceral or punitive systems, which inflict violence on individuals, families, and communities. These carceral systems result in the social construction of “crime” and do not address the root causes of harm or violence in a community. This track is mentored by Sisters Unchained.
Sisters Unchained is a prison abolitionist organization based in Boston dedicated to building community and power with young women affected by parental incarceration. Sisters Unchained, represented by Ayana Aubourg and Vanessa Ly, focuses on education, healing, art, sisterhood and activism. You can learn more about their creative projects that blend practical support with radical education and healing.