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Upstate coders pass halfway mark in civic-minded hackathon

Upstate coders are past the halfway mark in a massive public hacking event called theRochester Civic App Challenge which was launched February 20th.

The two-month long event is a tech collaboration between AT&T, R.I.T, Digital Rochester, High Tech Rochester and Hack Upstate who are partnering to inspire local developers, innovative computer scientists, entrepreneurs, software developers and hardware engineers to build and deliver apps that serve community needs, connect and engage citizens with their governments and demonstrate how mobile technologies can lead to the next generation of tech jobs and investment in the region.

On the last Innovation Friday program on Connections with Evan Dawson, three of the participants: Marissa McDowell, Tim Duffy and Remy DeCausemaker, talked about the projects under development in the challenge and the potential for civic apps to empower and inform communities.

Marissa McDowell's project for example, is going to provide a mobile app one-stop shop for people wanting to answer that important questions: "What are we going to do in Rochester today."

The hackathon officially closes on April 23rd.