The hackers will receive support from expert mentors representing organizations who work directly with those vulnerable groups, and in addition to the Jericho Project, the nonprofits include AARP: Community Connections, the Crisis Text Line, and Foster America. The hackathon is inviting participants to address social isolation and mental health issues that have arisen during the pandemic, particularly in vulnerable populations like the elderly, children, people of color, and the unhoused. As a member of the COVID-19 Technology Task Force, he quickly connected the lead organizers of the COVID-19 Global Hackathon 2.0: Social Isolation & Mental Health with Jericho and other social benefit organizations. On May 20, Moss, freshly elected to the Jericho Project Board of Directors, began helping build a bridge between under-resourced populations and the technology community. So he was intrigued when he heard from Alex Bennett, a young family friend who had recently started a job at the Jericho Project, a nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness at its roots by providing not only housing but extensive, results-based programs addressing employment, overall wellness, and other such issues.Īs a technologist concerned with hard data and evidence, Moss was especially impressed by the fact that the Jericho Project was able to provide demonstrably workable services for just $13,000 per adult client a year, compared to $36,000 for a cot in a New York City shelter, $70,000 for a room in a family shelter, or $118,000 for a City jail cell. He sits on the Steering Committee for the NYU Alliance for Public Interest Technology and contributes to the NYU Human Rights Innovation initiative, for example, as well as serving as a mentor in the Betaworks Ventures Circles program, part of the venture capital and accelerator’s mentorship program.

Andrew Moss, a visiting professor in NYU Tandon’s Department of Technology Management and Innovation, has long recognized the power of technology to contribute to the public good.

Fallout shelter hacking