About the Rural Health Policy Hackathon
This exciting, hands-on event – hosted by the Berkeley Public Health Social Impact Team and Impact Fellow Nikita Singareddy – will give UC Berkeley students the opportunity to develop policy proposals addressing urgent rural health and healthcare gaps, with a focus on underserved communities and Medicaid enrollees. Teams of 3-5 students will work over the weekend of March 13-15 to research and develop compelling solutions to specific policy prompts that will be shared at the kickoff on March 13. Finalist teams will pitch to a panel of policymakers and experts on March 16 to win $6,000 in prizes.
Rural health is a national and state priority
States have new opportunities to shift policies and introduce new models and innovation with funding from the $50 billion federal Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program. This is the time for new ideas, breakthrough solutions and out of the box thinking.
Policy hackathons are competitions in which participants work in teams to develop policy proposals within a short period of time. Participants do not know the specifics of the challenge until the kickoff event, with research, ideation, and proposal development all occurring over the following couple days. Teams will receive necessary background information about Medicaid, policy development, and rural health as part of the event.
Any current UC Berkeley student can participate in the rural health policy hackathon.
The competition is open to teams of 3-5 students. Students have three options when registering:
Registering as a fully formed team of 3-5 students
Registering as a team of 2-4 students that is open to additional members
Registering as an individual wanting to be connected with potential teammates
Cash Prizes
Winning teams will receive cash prizes!
1st Place: $3,000
2nd Place: $2,000
3rd Place: $1,000
November 17: Hackathon registration opens
December 3 and December 8: Information sessions (register here)
Information sessions are highly encouraged, but not required
Both sessions will be virtual and a recording will be available afterwards
*January 31: Hackathon registration closes
February: Expert panels and team matchmaking
*March 13: Hackathon kickoff, 3:30-5:30pm
*March 14-15: Teams research and develop policy proposals, meet with mentors
*March 16: Finalist pitches to panel of expert judges, 3-8pm
*Required events, options for virtual participation available for participants outside Bay Area