Chi Hack Night & City Tech Women’s History Month Speaker Series
Published on Mar 6, 2018 by Sonja Marziano , Derek Eder
The month of February was an inspiring showcase of incredible black individuals who activate technology and data to increase digital access and tech opportunities, reform the criminal justice system, found businesses, or build social justice movements. City Tech and Chi Hack Night are grateful to Kim Foxx, Charlene Carruthers, Fabian Elliott, Alvyn Walker and Colony 5 for sharing their stories and challenging us to reflect on the inequities that exist in our communities.
Monique Wingard, Andrea Smith, Britney Robbins, Ehi Aimiuwu-Jinadu and Deena McKay speak at Entrepreneurial Journeys: Black Women Activating Tech on Feb 28, 2018
This month, City Tech and Chi Hack Night will build on this momentum and highlight women who work in the civic and technology sectors as part of Women’s History Month. Our goal for this speaker series is to continue to address the lack of diversity we see in the civic tech community and elevate the experiences and stories of women who are leading impactful work.
Our speaker series will coincide with the four weekly Chi Hack Night events that occur on Tuesdays at Braintree in Merchandise Mart for the months of March. Additionally, one community event will be held in a satellite community location. We hope you will join us!
In celebration of Women’s History Month
March 6th - Alya Adamany Woods, ChicagoNEXT
On March 6, we will welcome Alya Adamany Woods, Executive Director of ChicagoNEXT. ChicagoNEXT is a dedicated effort to drive growth and opportunity in Chicago’s technology community, governed by a council of industry leaders. A veteran in Chicago policy, business and tech, Alya’s talk will focus on a broad question: As Chicago’s tech community grows up, what is the role of government and nonprofit partners in ensuring equitable access to our innovation ecosystem?
Tuesday, March 6, 6pm
Braintree
222 W Merchandise Mart Plz, 8th Floor
Chicago, IL 60654
RSVP
March 13th - Sana Jafri, Chicago Learning Exchange
On March 13, we will hear from Sana Jafri, Program Officer of the Chicago Learning Exchange (CLX). CLX is a new local non-profit dedicated to connected learning and digital equity. CLX will continue stewardship of the Hive Chicago Learning Network, which engages over 85 youth-serving organizations throughout Chicago to create and connect opportunities for young people to explore their interests and gain skills that prepare them for lifelong learning and success.
Tuesday, March 13, 6pm
Braintree
222 W Merchandise Mart Plz, 8th Floor
Chicago, IL 60654
March 20th - Vicki White, Chicago Books to Women in Prison
For our third event, Vicki White, President of Chicago Books to Women in Prison, will share her experiences leading an all-volunteer group that distributes books free of charge to incarcerated women nationwide.
Tuesday, March 20, 6pm
Braintree
222 W Merchandise Mart Plz, 8th Floor
Chicago, IL 60654
RSVP
Event #4 - March 27th - Michelle Frisque, Chicago Public Library CTO
Our speaker series will be closed out by Michelle Frisque, Chief of Technology, Innovation & Innovation for the Chicago Public Library. With 80 locations, the Chicago Public Library system serves over 2.8 million people each year. In her role, Michelle ensure that information technology, collections and data metrics support the library’s programs, services, operations and strategies and provides support and evaluation for the innovation process.
Tuesday, March 27, 6pm
Braintree
222 W Merchandise Mart Plz, 8th Floor
Chicago, IL 60654
RSVP
We also have plans to do another community event on March 22nd in Washington Park with a panel discussion on housing gentrification. More details coming soon!
We hope you will join us and Chicago’s civic technology community this month in celebration of Women’s History Month!
About the authors
Sonja Marziano
Sonja Marziano focuses on User Experience & Product Design at City Tech Collaborative. In this role, Sonja identifies and creates intersections for partners to learn from users and implement impactful changes to their products. In addition, she fosters sustained, meaningful collaboration with residents around data and the creation of technology through programs like the Civic User Testing Group (CUTgroup).
Derek Eder
Derek is an entrepreneur, developer and one of the leaders of the civic technology community in Chicago. He is a co-founder and partner at DataMade — a company that tells stories and builds tools with data — and is the lead organizer for Chi Hack Night.