"Houston, we have a problem." These immortal words from the Apollo 13 mission really hit home when Hurricane Harvey submerged the city of Houston. Memories of the 500-year event plagued me for years. Each new potential hurricane reminded me of those sleepless, powerless nights. Then, in 2021, Houston experienced nine days of sub-freezing temperatures. The Great Freeze, as it was called, led to downed powerlines and another humanitarian crisis. Huddled in a cold bedroom with neighborhood kids, little did I know these experiences would become the foundation of my personal and academic journey. 

The city planners had failed us. First, it was too much water. Now, it was too cold. Where were the solutions? My friend and I talked about the lack of forward-looking thinking that frozen night. How about asking our generation? We have ideas, too.

I envisioned a non-coding hackathon as the ideal platform to merge the creativity of students like me with real-world problems. A hackathon, defined as an event where people engage in a rapid and collaborative design sprint to solve a stated problem, seemed perfect on paper. How hard could it be? I was about to find out!

The crux of my initiative is to amplify youth voices in our community, a group often overlooked yet brimming with innovative solutions. Through Smart City Houston, I have structured a platform where young minds can convene, deliberate, and formulate solutions to pressing community issues. By targeting problems like flooding and social inequity, we not only strive for tangible solutions but also aim to create a culture of active civic engagement among the youth. Partnering with key local entities like the Houston Planning Commission and Rice University's Black Houston Symposium, we ensure our endeavors align closely with the community's needs and aspirations. To ensure that the people facing the issues we aim to solve are also solving these issues, we reached out to students from Title I schools for our DEI hackathon, ensuring that diverse perspectives are harnessed and allowed all to participate in our flooding hackathon. This journey is about more than just problem-solving; it's about nurturing a generation of empathetic, proactive citizens ready to take the helm in crafting a more equitable and resilient community.

Upon identifying a problem, I meticulously scout for a notable organization embodying expertise in that domain. For instance, for flooding issues, the Houston Planning Commission was the chosen collaborator. Establishing a partnership, we amplify our outreach through diverse channels: social media blasts, school presentations, and face-to-face interactions. Our partners, being recognized entities, significantly augment our outreach capability. After reaching out, the day of the hackathon arrives. A Zoom is hosted, in which a keynote speech is delivered by a head member of the partnered entity, and the participants get introduced to the prompt. This was the prompt for the DEI hackathon: Create a financially sustainable model for supporting entrepreneurship ventures of young adults in Houston, especially those launched by underrepresented populations. The model should:

• Promote DEI
• Sustain itself financially for at least 10 years
• Nurture ventures from idea to reality 

The participants have the following 48 hours to create a solution and upload a 5-minute video. After the 48 hours, a panel of judges comprised of experts in the field select a winner and give real-world feedback to all participants. 
Unlike traditional approaches, we’re inviting the youth to ideate solutions and presenting these to the adults, thereby bridging the existing generational dialogue gap.

The winning ideas from the Flooding hackathon—creating permeable roads, connecting bayous strategically, and deepening the reservoirs—were so promising that Houston City Council wanted to prototype some of the ideas for possible implementation. From eager conversations on a chilly night to now working with government officials to change our community, I was in awe of how far this had come.  The winners from the DEI hackathon, three girls from a Title I school with incredible ideas, were commended at the Symposium. Suddenly, it struck me that their win couldn’t end with just certificates and recognition—their ideas, like the flood proposals, needed to be brought to life.
From that realization, the Impact Lab was born. Through this nonprofit, I've made it my mission to champion and mentor these young visionaries. Together, we’ve created an entrepreneurship engine—a platform that offers guides, resources, mentors, and prototype funding to young adults from low-income schools to become entrepreneurs by turning their ideas into businesses. We are officially launching this platform in December, but so far, we have gotten the platform into the hands of over 5000+ students.

Our initiative has sparked a ripple effect of community engagement. By involving a diverse group of participants in our hackathons, we’ve created a platform for shared problem-solving. The engagement of expert judges like the Chief Recovery Officer for flooding and DEI professors from Rice University in our hackathons provided invaluable real-world feedback to the participants. This professional validation, seldom experienced by the youth, immensely inspired them. It not only upheld their ideas but also showcased a respectful consideration from the adult and professional realm.  The subsequent pursuit of some of these solutions by the city has further empowered the participants, reinforcing that their ideas are not just valid but valuable in addressing real-world community challenges, thus fostering a renewed sense of confidence and motivation among the young changemakers.

Our project's success has encouraged others to initiate their community improvement projects. The collaborative ethos of our hackathons has ignited a broader communal dialogue, driving a collective pursuit for solutions and inspiring individuals to realize their potential in effecting positive change within their community.