Fwd: FWD.us Announces it's DREAMer Hackathon @ LinkedIn HQ in Nov
Kathe
Begin forwarded message:
From: Julieta Garibay <jul...@unitedwedream.org>
Date: October 18, 2013 at 3:04:17 PM EDT
To: United We Dream Field <fi...@unitedwedream.org>
Subject: Fwd: FWD.us Announces it's DREAMer Hackathon @ LinkedIn HQ in Nov
FYI! in case you are a dreamer who codes---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Alida Garcia <al...@fwd.us>
Date: Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 2:01 PM
Subject: FWD.us Announces it's DREAMer Hackathon @ LinkedIn HQ in NovColleagues -FWD.us is proud to announce it's DREAMer Hackathon that will take place at the LinkedIn HQ in California in November where tech CEO's like Mark Zuckerberg, Reid Hoffman, Drew Houston and Andrew Mason will be sitting side-by-side with undocumented youth creating tech products to help the immigration reform movement.Do you know any undocumented aspiring Americans who code? Please help us get the application out! http://www.fwd.us/dreamer_hackathonSome suggested tweet language below:
Are u a #DREAMer who codes? Apply here 2 code w/ Mark Zuckerberg @ @FWD_us' DREAMer Hackathon 2 help #CIR: http://www.fwd.us/dreamer_hackathon #TimeisNow
.@FWD_us announces #DREAMer Hackathon @ @LinkedIn HQ. w/ Hoffman & Zuckerberg. Undocumented & code? Apply: http://www.fwd.us/dreamer_hackathon #TimeisNow
.@FWD_us announces Mark Zuckerberg Will Join LinkedIn, Dropbox Founders At "Dreamer" Hackathon http://www.buzzfeed.com/adriancarrasquillo/mark-zuckerberg-will-join-linkedin-dropbox-founders-at-dream #TimeisNow
As Joe Green states describing the event on our website, "Only with comprehensive immigration reform will our participants and their families be able to work and reside permanently in the United States without fear of deportation. We hope the Hackathon sheds light on just a small fraction of the many talents of the undocumented immigrant community, and how our broken immigration system prevents 11 million people from realizing their full potential."I've copied a BuzzFeed article below to read more.Thank you!
Alida_____________________Mark Zuckerberg Will Join LinkedIn, Dropbox Founders At "Dreamer" Hackathon To Bring Attention Back To Immigration Reform
The Facebook CEO will join LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, and Groupon co-founder Anthony Mason at a tech event for undocumented immigrants in San Francisco in November.posted on October 18, 2013 at 1:48pm EDT
Mark Zuckerberg will join the founders of other top tech companies who are part of his immigration reform advocacy organization FWD.us at a “dreamer” hackathon, to advise undocumented youth on tech tools and projects to advance the prospect of reform, at LinkedIn’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., Nov. 20–21.
The event is announced at a time when the country has had all of its attention focused on the government shutdown and budget fight in Congress, while the momentum for immigration reform has stalled in the House after a bipartisan bill passed in the Senate.
FWD.us founder Joe Green said the organization is interested in ramping up the attention and appetite for reform.
“Congress had the budget and government shutdown stuff but we want to return the nation’s attention to immigration reform,” Green told BuzzFeed. “It has bipartisan support, it’s a win-win issue for the economy, for families and for our country.”
Drew Houston, the founder and CEO of Dropbox, said combining dreamers, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, with a hackathon is the manifestation of the way many in Silicon Valley see the immigration issue.
“A hackathon is a time-honored, Valley tech tradition,” he said. “This is an opportunity to bring in new talent. Dreamers are an important part of the talent pool for us.”
Houston said that as the importance of software engineering and computer science grows, it is also becoming a proportionally bigger part of the country’s competitive advantage, and the U.S. has to use the talent that is already in the country.
John Gara/BuzzFeedGreen said Zuckerberg often talks about the idea that talented dreamers who are trying to contribute could be stifled and how that goes against the valley’s ethos of meritocracy.
“They could be the next Drew Houston or Mark Zuckerberg,” he said.
Erika Andiola, a high-profile dreamer and immigration activist who was on the Timemagazine cover of undocumented immigrants, says an event like this means a lot to the youth who will be able to learn from the talented CEOs.
“I think that it is amazing to see that people like Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of these very important CEOs are taking the time to work on this issue and actually teach our own dreamers the skills to, not only grow as individuals, but also create new ways to move immigration reform forward,” she said.
President Obama spoke forcefully after the government shutdown ended in hopes of pivoting back toward immigration reform, but Raul Labrador, a House Republican who had previously been part of a bipartisan group working on reform, said the issue is dead right now.
“Nobody said this is going to be easy,” Green said in response to Labrador’s comments. “At the end of the day our approach has been to let the House work its process.” He added that the important thing is that reform gets done and he isn’t as concerned with whether it’s in the next couple of months or the first few months of 2014.
Steve PaveyDreamers will be joined by accomplished engineers and designers who will serve as mentors to provide guidance and advice on their projects.
“This will help people have a more tangible understanding of what a great experience tech can be and how cool it can be to build things and make it more exciting to study computer science and be on that path to engineering,” Houston said.
Green said it will be a one-of-a-kind event.
“It’s really exciting to be able to bring these communities together — it’s authentic to what Silicon Valley is all about,” he said. “[Groupon co-founder] Andrew Mason, Drew, and Mark are some of the top product thinkers of our time, and for them to take time with kids who are really talented — this is the future.”
Green said the hackathon fits with Zuckerberg’s philosophy on immigration and the importance of a comprehensive approach that solves the issue of visas for tech employees as well as for undocumented immigrants working in other fields in the U.S.
“He says we don’t see these issues as separate but as one main issue. It’s about unlocking the potential of our country — the best things have come from immigrants and children of immigrants.”
______________________________________________________________Alida M. Garcia, Esq.Director of Coalitions & Policy(c) 424.200.0816@leedsgarcia"We have a strange immigration policy for a country of immigrants. And it's a policy unfit for today's world." - Mark Zuckerberg--Julieta GaribayLegislative Affairs Associate | United We Dream
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