Big news!

Spurred by a grant from Google, we’ll produce a six-month social impact innovation incubator affectionately dubbed Goodie Innovation [Econ Dev]: Atlanta x (Q3 + Q4 2016). It is designed to combine passionate people with subject-matter experts and highly-skilled professionals in an effort to produce ten (10) tech startups focused on gentrification financial inclusion. More specifically, this cohort will hone in on economic development with the challenge of connecting 500,000 people nationally, who live, work, or invest in areas affected by gentrification, to emerging nearby economic opportunities by December 2018.

More on the full program later, but it starts next Friday as we’re partnering with Level Playing Field Institute to produce a Hack Mob Innovation Lab for rising 9th grade students in the SMASH (Summer Math and Science Honors Academy) Pathways program at Morehouse College. During the hip-hop influenced design thinking session, the students will hear from local leaders of the innovation economy before breaking into teams to generate moonshot ideas to solve the challenge. Also, parents will hear key insights by experts from The Scholarship Academy and BK International Education Consultancy on how to use social impact for college scholarship positioning and high school STEM preparedness.

We’re looking for a few more volunteers to assist. If interested and available, please register at http://goodiex.org/hackmobsmash0716