Today we’d like to introduce you to QWER Hacks at UCLA.
QWER Hacks is UCLA’s first-ever LGBTQIA+ Hackathon. In association with Major League Hacking and the Society of Women Engineers @ UCLA, this year’s Hackathon focused on Food Security, Healthcare Equity, and Housing Access. Participants will work together to create technologies to solve and reduce problems associated with these areas over a 24-hour period!
Hi Margaret, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We hosted QWER Hacks at UCLA from January 28th to 29th, 2023. This year, over 100 college students and 30 mentors and company representatives attend QWER Hacks. We hosted 10+ workshops in under 24 hours while integrating intersectional components with queer and nonbinary workshop hosts to talk about their experiences in the tech space.
QWER Hacks was founded in 2020, and this year was the 4th ever QWER Hacks! In addition, this was our first year back in person.
Our team this year is 17 people strong, the biggest team in QWER Hacks history. There have been challenges along the way organizing with a team of this size, but ultimately everyone really outdid themselves. With our first year back in person, there was the challenge of figuring out what needed to be done. This is the first year that our hackathon organizers had only at most one year of experience organizing QWER Hacks, which was both an obstacle that we overcame as well as an opportunity to innovate change.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
At first, we struggled with making the tracks of Food Security, Housing Access, and Healthcare Equity viable for hackers to ideate and implement projects within 24 hours. Our collaborator relations team worked very hard to find relevant speakers on each of these topics to present during our opening ceremony to inform and inspire hackers. Our student experience team worked very hard to provide a curated guide of resources for each of these tracks on our Medium blog.
QWER Hacks is one of the nation’s first flagship LGBTQIA+ hackathons and UCLA’s only queer hackathon. In addition, we are Major League Hacking’s first LGBTQIA+ hackathon. We specialize in creating a safe and inclusive space for queer individuals and allies. We are proud of bringing people together, empowering the queer community, and inspiring hackers.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
This year we focused on affecting change for queer and other marginalized communities by exploring intersectionality in the topics of Food Security, Housing Access, and Healthcare Equity. We are really impressed with some of the projects that hackers came up with this year, including the following: Foodsurf, which connects food insecure individuals with those with food surplus; Allynd, an app that connects queer people in need of gender-affirming procedures in other states/cities to community members who want to provide housing to help them; and Bruin Den, a website for transparent rent prices in Westwood. Feel free to see the rest of this year’s projects here:
https://qwer-hacks-2023.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.qwerhacks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/qwerhacks/
Image Credits
Chantal Wang
