ABOUT THE HACKATHON
The Rice-Columbia COVID-19 Health Policy Hackathon, organized by undergraduate students at Rice and Columbia, is seeking mentors for the weekend of August 7-9. This 36-hour policy challenge aims to bring Houston and NYC college students together to design a policy that tackles each city’s most pressing health disparities exacerbated by coronavirus. Students will compete among teams from their own city and create solutions to the health equity-related issues outlined by our partner healthcare institutions. In Houston, this institution is Harris Health. Winning student teams will receive a $2,500 seed grant and the opportunity to work with their city’s safety-net healthcare system to potentially implement their policy idea.
BECOME A MENTOR
The themes are navigation of the healthcare system and social programs, food insecurity, telehealth, and LGBTQIA+ healthcare.
The mentor role involves:
- 1 hour minimum commitment during the weekend of August 8-9
- advising student groups in 30-minute Zoom sessions (just once per group)
- being matched with student groups based on your areas of expertise (1 team per 30-minutes you dedicate to the hackathon)
- some base knowledge regarding any or all of the themes listed above and how they affect health disparities in Houston