Hack for Inclusion 2019 Returns to MIT to Combat Bias

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Boston, MA — Today marks the return of the second annual MIT Hack for Inclusion. Hosted on MIT Campus (Building E14, 75 Amherst St, Cambridge, MA) from Friday, February 22nd – 23rd, innovators from all over Boston convene to hack solutions to today’s biggest problems related to bias, diversity, and inclusion. The two-day event was born from the partnership of MIT alumni-based organizations MIT Sloan Breaking the Mold and Hacking Discrimination to combat bias and empower students, businesses, and communities to “break the mold.”

Hack for Inclusion 2018 Grand Prize Winners – Black Space Boston

This year, 200 participants will form into teams to tackle twelve challenge statements designed to reflect real diversity and inclusion problems faced by corporate and nonprofit partners. To enable solution-building during the hack, the teams are guided through two days of facilitated exercises by design thinking experts, as well as provided with a mentor who has domain expertise in the particular challenge area. The hackathon closes with teams pitching their solutions to a panel of judges and winners taking home over $6500 in prizes.

Here are a few of the challenges to be hacked this year:

• Accessible mental health services
• Creating a more socioeconomically diverse pipeline for consulting (Sponsored by BCG)
• Fostering inclusive commercial development in Somerville (Sponsored by the City of Somerville)
• Gender equity in corporate settings: Women in STEM (Sponsored by Novartis)
• Improving financial literacy among women (Sponsored by Invest in Girls)
• Improving navigation technologies for the blind (Sponsored by Microsoft)
• And more!

Hack for Inclusion 2019 will also include a “How We Hack for Inclusion” Guest Panel Friday evening featuring Anastacia Berzat Awad, PH.D., Associate Director, Novartis Head, Emerging Talent and Leadership; Rosa Carson, Head of Tech Talent Development at Wayfair; Dria James, Senior Program Manager of Diversity at Bain and Company; Tiara Moten, Senior Emerging Leader Program Associate at T-Mobile Leaders 2 Executive Program; and Tim Zachas-Lei a consultant with Boston Consulting Group.

As a part of the closing ceremonies, Hack for Inclusion 2019 invited Vice President of Intersectionality, Culture, and Diversity at Twitter, Candi Castleberry Singleton to keynote this dynamic event.

MIT Hack for Inclusion 2019 opens registration at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, February 22nd and kicks off the competition with a design thinking workshop at 1:40 pm. Don’t miss your chance to witness the future of inclusion in STEM and beyond!

Feature Photo: 2018 Hack for Inclusion Co-Directors representing both MIT Sloan Breaking the Mold and Hacking Discrimination (provided by MIT)

For event schedule visit: http://www.mitbreakingthemold.com/hackathon-agenda-1

For speaker info visit: http://www.mitbreakingthemold.com/speakers-judges

For Hackathon Challenges visit: http://www.mitbreakingthemold.com/challenges-2