You can change LA for the better!
Can you design, write, or code? You can help Los Angeles live up to its potential at Hack for LA.
All of our meetings are remote. Everyone is welcome!
Current Projects
Have an idea? Submit your pitch
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Active
100 Automations
Hack for LA seeks to reduce repetitive work in our open source projects and for the open source community. This project will be both a showcase for the automations and/or microservices that we develop, but also a convenient home for those automations, so that they can be found, forked, and contributed to easily. We will be using JAMstack and a static site generator for building this website.
Looking for:Anyone who wants to write open source automations
,API writers
,API integrators
,Frontend Javascript Developers
,UI/UX Designer
Location:Remote
Technologies:GitHub Pages
,Jekyll
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Active
311 Data
The 311 Data project seeks to empower local Neighborhood Councils to improve the ideation and analysis of their initiatives using the wealth of publicly available 311 data.
Partner: EmpowerLALooking for:Business Analyst
,Project Manager
,Frontend Developers
,Backend Developers
,Product Owner
Location:Remote
Technologies:ReactJS
,Redux
,Material-UI
,Mapbox
,AWS
,Python
,FastAPI
,Redis
,PostgreSQL
,Prefect
,Docker
,Figma
,Adobe CC
,Miro
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Active
BallotNav
BallotNav is a tool that aims to help prevent disenfranchisement by providing reliable and up to date information on ballot drop off locations across the US. While some states have detailed information about ballot drop off locations, others leave it up to the local jurisdiction to publish that information. In some states, Counties, Towns, Parishes, etc, do not have websites, so there is no reliable online source for ballot drop off information. BallotNav was created to provide a reliable online resource about where to drop your ballot, hours, accessibility, etc. We do this by calling each Jurisdictional office provided by the secretary of state and confirming locations details.
Partner: Code for America, Other BrigadesLooking for:UX Researcher
,Marketing, PR & Partnerships
,Fundraising
,Translators (Spanish especially)
Location:Remote
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Active
Brigade Organizers Playbook
Each of the 80+ Code for America Brigades is an experiment which generates valuable learnings and new effective processes and practices. However, Brigades and other civic tech volunteer organizations need not start from scratch. This project aims to improve existing structures and create new ones that make it easier to share replicable processes and practices so that organizers and members can iterate on each others work, improving outcomes for the whole network.
Partner: Code for America (CfA), CfA National Advisory Council, Code for Boston, Code for CharlottesvilleLocation:Remote
Technologies:Markdown
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Active
Civic Opportunity Project
The mission of the Civic Opportunity project is to develop and curate the journey of all volunteers that we interact with to reach their fullest potential. Relationship bridge-building and workforce readiness development of volunteers is at the core of the Hack for LA brand. We have found that this effort enables and supports the delivery of a consistent pipeline of knowledge worker resources. In turn, our volunteers are more prepared to create products that are impactful in local government and beyond.
Partner: UndisclosedLooking for:Special Projects Coordinators
,Project/Pilot Management
,UI Designer
,UX Researcher
Location:Remote
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Active
Civic Tech Index
Our goal of the project is to create a comprehensive, searchable index of all civic tech open source software projects around the world. We have created the framework and an interest list. We are currently working on building out the website and other marketing tools that demonstrate the power of the index.
Partner: Code for America, Yale OpenLab and many more.Looking for:Fullstack Developer with Node/React knowledge
,Front end React developers
,UX specialist for testing and conducting interviews with stakeholders
Location:Remote
Technologies:ReactJS
,Django
,PostgreSQL
,ESLint
,Code Climate
,Cypress
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Active
Civic Tech Structure
Each of the 80+ Code for America Brigades is an experiment which generates valuable learnings and new effective processes and practices. However, Brigades and other civic tech volunteer organizations need not start from scratch. This project aims to improve existing structures and create new ones that make it easier to share replicable processes and practices so that organizers and members can iterate on each others work, improving outcomes for the whole network.
The Civic Tech Structure's first project seeks to improve the existing Code for America Brigade Organizer’s Playbook (BOP) into a communal, high-value resource for sharing. We will be performing an intensive UX Research phase with the BOP end users to understand their priorities, infrastructure, and potential contributions.Partner: Code for America & its BrigadesLooking for:UI Designer (brand building)
,UX Team manager / Lead
,UX Researchers (40)
,UX Designer
,UX Team Manager / Lead
Location:Remote
Technologies:Google Docs (Doc, Sheet, Slide, Forms)
,HackforLA.org guides
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Active
Engage
Engage is a civic participation platform. Currently in beta, Engage makes it easier for residents of Santa Monica, CA to offer their feedback on policy issues that City Council is considering. Engage aims to increase access for community stakeholders who are unable to attend public meetings or may otherwise feel unheard by their local government.
Partner: City of Santa MonicaLooking for:UX designers
,NLP engineers
Location:Remote
Technologies:ReactJS
,Django
,PostgreSQL
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Active
Food Oasis
The website is focused on individuals seeking food in Los Angeles who need an up-to-date resource about food pantries and meals. Our mission is to update the existing website, foodoasis.la with a simplified UI and verified data. Future development goals include creating functionality for referral services that will allow the end user to annotate and update listings through a peer verification system.
Partner: seekingLocation:Remote
Technologies:ReactJS
,Express
,Node.js
,PostgreSQL
,PostGIS
,AWS
,Docker
,Mapbox
,Material-UI
,SCSS
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Active
Hackforla.org Website
The hackforla.org website is our organization's way of communicating with volunteers, stakeholders, and donors. This project is a good place to start for new volunteers looking to polish their git protocol skills (branches, separation of concerns, etc.). We currently have two development paths: growth (building out new pages and guides) and optimization (taking inventory of our code and design systems) to ensure we are consistently delivering value to our users while being scalable in our approach to building the site.
Looking for:UI (wireframes)
,UX Researcher
,Junior JavaScript developers
,Javascript Mentor / PR reviewer
,anyone wanting to learn how to do Git commits in a collaborative work environment
Location:Remote
Technologies:GitHub Pages
,Jekyll
,Docker
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Active
Home Unite Us
We're working with community non-profits who have a Host Home initiative to develop a workflow management tool to make the process scaleable (across all providers), reduce institutional bias, and effectively capture data.
Host Home programs are centered around housing young people, 18 - 25 years old. Their approach focuses on low-cost, community-driven intervention by matching a willing host with a guest or group of guests, providing a stable housing environment for youths who are experiencing homelessness and seeking stable housing.Partner: Safe Place for Youth (SPY), Point Source Youth (PSY)Looking for:UI (including wireframes, familiar with Figma)
,Product Manager
,React Expert
Location:Remote
Technologies:ReactJS
,NoSQL
,Python 3
,Flask
,TypeScript
,Auth0 / OIDC / OAuth2
,MongoDB
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Active
LA TDM Calculator
The LA TDM Calculator is a web app, created in conjunction with the L.A. Department of Transportation (LADOT) and Los Angeles City Planning, to help real estate developers design better projects for Los Angeles. The Calculator is being implemented alongside a new ordinance reducing over-parking and improving the infrastructure to incentivize public transportation and discourage single occupancy vehicle trips.
Partner: LA Department of Transportation and Los Angeles City PlanningLooking for:UI/UX Designers and Researchers
,Front End Developers
,Experienced Back End Developers
Location:Remote
Technologies:ReactJS
,Express
,Node.js
,Microsoft SQL Server
,Docker
,Azure App Service
,SCSS
,Figma
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Active
Lucky Parking
Visualization of parking data to assist in understanding of the effects of parking policies on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis in the City of Los Angeles.
Partner: Department of Neighborhood EmpowermentLooking for:Experienced Frontend Software Engineer (Mapbox experience)
,Experienced Backend Software Engineer
,Early UI/UX product development
,Data Analyst/Data Scientist (data cleaning)
Location:Remote
Technologies:ReactJS
,PostgreSQL
,Node.js
,Mapbox
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Active
Open Community Survey
The Open Community Survey project creates transparent reports supported by a direct collection of personal perspectives from LA residents to help The LA Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (empowerla.org) and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils (NCs) to understand how constituents are interacting with, and what they need from, their websites.
Current project: NC website survey; Most NCs do not have access or resources to hire technical experts necessary to create a citywide survey so that they can use the data to create inclusive websites targeted towards the needs of their specific communities. Working with EmpowerLA and NCs, Hack for LA is providing the workforce and expertise to design and implement this survey that will give NCs a tool to understand the overall needs of their community -- beyond the people already involved in NCs.Partner: EmpowerLA, various Neighborhood Councils (e.g., Westlake NC)Looking for:Product Manager
,Product Owner
,Data Scientists
Location:Remote
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Active
Record Clearance Project
The Record Clearance Project aims to help people in California with criminal records accomplish record clearance, expungement or reduction and subsequently a second chance as a part of society.
We work with verifiable non-profits, the government and partners to build digital tools that can affect changes in the lives of these justice impacted individuals.Partner: NDICALooking for:Research
,UX-UI
,Content Writing
,React Developer
Location:Remote
Technologies:ReactJS
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Active
Undebate
For down ballot offices like school-board, voters often don’t know the candidates, so they skip it. With declining media attention, candidates for these offices have a hard time being heard by voters. But electing good people is important!
Undebates are automated online video Q&A so candidates can be heard, and voters can quickly decide - for every candidate, for every election, across the US.Partner: EnCiv.org, Ballotpedia.orgLooking for:Node Developer
,React Developer
,UI/UX
,Marketing/Branding/Social Media
Location:Remote
Technologies:MongoDB
,Express
,ReactJS
,Node.js
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Active
VRMS
VRMS is a tool used for the engagement, support, and retention of a network of volunteers.
Partner: TBDLooking for:Front End Devs (from mid level)
,Back End Devs (from mid level)
,UI/UX Designer
Location:Remote
Technologies:Node
,Express
,MongoDB
,Docker
,React
,Redux
,Sass
,Jest
,React Testing Library
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Active
Write for All™
We want to improve the language used in websites to be more inclusive (of all communities) while also educating the public about exclusionary language. @writeforallorg™
Partner: SeekingLooking for:Gender researcher
,Communications writer
,Videographer
,UX developer
,JavaScript programmer
,QA coder
,DevOps engineer
Location:Remote
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Active
Youth Justice Nav
We are creating a know your rights tool for youth and their families when interacting with the Juvenile Justice System. This interactive tool creates a resource for youth and their families to access information that is relevant to several different parts of the process from knowing your rights when you come into contact with law enforcement, to an explanation of the different types of hearings that take place, to knowing who various people in the courtroom are.
Partner: UCLA School of Law, Golden Gate University School of LawLooking for:Content Writer
,UI Designer
,UX Researcher
Location:Remote
Technologies:Google Docs
,Google Sheets
,Figma
,Miro
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Completed
Heart
Heart is a project working directly with the LA City Attorney’s Homeless Engagement and Response Team. The HEART program helps individuals experiencing homelessness resolve eligible traffic and pedestrian infractions and related warrants and fines by engaging with relevant services. Hack for LA is helping them build a database and case management system to streamline their workflow and enable them to scale their program.
Partner: LA City & County Attorney’s Homeless Engagement and Response Team -
Completed
HelloGOV
HelloGOV is helping grassroots organizations connect supporters to their state assembly and state senate representatives for call campaigns to advocate on the legislation that matters most to their work. The HelloGOV webapp generates a campaign shortlink that can be used in texts, social posts, and more.
Partner: Digital Defense FundLocation:Remote
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Completed
Public Tree Map
Public Tree Map helps connect people to Santa Monica's urban forest. The map includes information about each of the 35,000 trees (and vacant tree sites) in Santa Monica's publicly-owned urban forest (compiled from open datasets, digitized city records, and federal ecosystem services values), as well as tools for users to share favorite trees. To reflect tree plantings and removals, the map updates every day.
Partner: City of Santa MonicaLocation:Remote
Technologies:GeoPandas
,jQuery
,Leaflet
,Node.js
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Completed
Railstats LA
Railstats LA tracks LA Metro trains and generates punctuality reports. Our website enables both Metro officials and the public to easily review up-to-date statistics for LA's 6 train lines.
Partner: LA MetroLocation:Remote
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Completed
Work for LA
Applying for work should be simple—but the application process for the City of LA is confusing and cumbersome. We’re going to make it easier to find the job of your dreams.
Partner: LA City Department of PersonnelLocation:Remote
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On Hold
Jobs for Hope
We compiled job listings from 60+ different non-profit organization websites for the LA County Homeless Initiative and consolidated them into a single database so that it is easier for job-seekers to search and filter for jobs.
Partner: LA County Homeless Initiative;Location:Remote
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On Hold
New Schools Today
We’re building a platform for students across LA County to create more accessible school-related apps and web apps. Our desired impact is to make students feel more welcomed and included in their community through an online academic environment created by peers, for peers
Partner: SeekingLocation:Remote
Technologies:ReactJS
,Flutter
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On Hold
Not Today - Self-Defense Against Suicidal Thoughts
Not Today is an app intended to help people wait out periods of suicidal thinking without acting on their thoughts.
Links: GitHubPartner: SeekingLocation:Remote
Technologies:React Native
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On Hold
Spare
A fun new project project that connects people in need of clothing and other essentials with people in the community who have things to spare. It's kind of like one on one Goodwill. The main objective is to foster interactions between the housed and unhoused. The donation is the mechanism for building these connections throughout our community.
Partner: Hope of the Valley and hopefully others in the near future.Looking for:Front-end development
,Back-end development
,Product Management
,Marketing
Location:Remote
Hack for LA is a great example of how we can harness technology and our city's creativity to solve everyday problems. As Mayor, I will closely partner with our tech industry to create jobs and bring innovation to City Hall so government works faster and more efficiently.
Mayor Eric Garcetti
Press
Want to know more about Hack for LA?
We bring together civic-minded volunteers to build digital products, programs and services with community partners and local government to address issues in our LA region. Hack for LA is a project of Code for America and is it's official Los Angeles chapter.
