Hacking Injustice: University Students Develop Tech Solutions for Immigration Challenges

Forty visionary coders from colleges and universities throughout Greater Boston converged at Harvard University in early March for Hacking Injustice, “a weekend of collaboration between students and community organizers to create innovative public interest technology solutions.” The two-day “hack-a-thon” was organized by Engineering Hope.  

Together they chose three “challenge areas,” ripe for creative tech solutions: Community Health, Forced Displacement, and Urban Sanitation. After creating their own research briefs on each topic, they invited local experts to present on challenges within their fields, and judge the hackers’ proposed solutions. IINE was invited to serve as an expert and judge for the Forced Displacement challenge area. 

Ayah Basmeh, an MA candidate in Innovation and Management at Tufts University with a passion for “using design technology not just for people’s convenience, but for things that they actually need,” served as the event’s Outreach Coordinator, and discovered IINE through its ongoing research and education partnership with Boston University’s Center For Forced Displacement. Ayah was excited that IINE could help bring immigration issues to life for enterprising app developers.  

“We know there are problems with the image that immigrants and refugees have,” says Ayah, “but nobody really knows the full scalable impacts because it’s not something that people talk about on a daily basis. So this was the chance for them to really understand from an expert what problems they’re facing and the genuine scale of this issue.” 

Day 1: The Build 

Hackers split into small teams based on interests identified in their applications, and then went into break-out groups to “meet the protagonists”—the experts from each challenge area.  

In IINE’s challenge session, Senior Vice President and Chief Advancement Officer Xan Weber provided an overview of the current displacement crises and IINE’s history and services. She outlined persistent obstacles faced by new arrivals, including language barriers, lack of transportation, affordable housing scarcity, and limited access to physical and mental healthcare. Then she moved through the challenges of this moment: the slashing of federal funding and support, roll-back of rights, and threat of mass deportation.  

Once the challenges were described, hackers had an hour-long “ideation” session to plan their solutions. Ayah explained that this included “office hours,” an opportunity to “meet with a representative from one of those organizations to show them their product and ask, Is this a good idea? Is the tech feasible? Do you think that this is something that would have genuine impact? And then from that feedback, they could go and reiterate.” 

After a break for lunch, it was time to hunker down for a long night of hacking! Simulating the intensity of a Silicon Valley workday, the “Build” phase, in which they coded their draft prototypes, lasted from 2:00 pm to 9:30 pm with one formal break for dinner and a nightcap of late-night snacks.  

Day 2: The Pitch 

On Day 2, the hackers returned to pitch their solutions. Each team had five-seven minutes to present and then five-seven minutes to answer questions from their judges. Winning teams would be awarded a stipend and encouraged to continue working on their projects.  

All three pitches were thoughtful and creative, incorporating elements like AI translators and chatbots—but the winner would have to be clearly achievable and practical. 

The winning pitch, offered by a team comprised of students from Harvard, Wellesley, and Tufts, was a matchmaker app to connect refugee resettlement and immigration service agencies with community volunteers and in-kind donations. Using their app, organizations would be able to create posts explaining needs, and volunteers could respond with bids to help.  

IINE Board Liaison and Advancement Administrator Lindsay Boudreau, who worked with Xan to judge the pitches, left feeling inspired, “It was really heartening to see that students from diverse academic backgrounds are interested in using their expertise for good, for social change, and to support organizations like IINE.” 

Xan agreed. 

“I was really impressed by the enthusiasm behind the hack-a-thon from both the organizers and participants. So many students today have developed solid computer science skills, and the opportunity to apply them to support solutions that advance non-profit work is rare and special. Students from some of Boston’s best universities displayed their expertise and creativity, and the winning student group’s app has awesome potential.” 

IINE has remained in touch with the winning hackers and hopes to collaborate on moving forward with the project. 

For her part, Ayah hopes that this inaugural “Hacking Injustice” event will be the first of many and will encourage participants to use their powers for good. 

“I was observing the participants and could tell they have genuine intentions, pure hearts, just from the way they interact with each other and the level of respect that they give to each other. It makes me really happy and proud. We’ve got to make sure that they’re getting all the support that they need to be at the level where they can make the impact that they want to make.” 

Learn how IINE partners with colleges and universities to provide students with hands-on service-learning opportunities and grow refugee families’ community connections and support.