Fellowship to Build Tech That Fights Poverty
February 12, 2017 3:32 PM

Blue Ridge Labs at Robin Hood is a non-profit Brooklyn-based social impact incubator created to encourage entrepreneurs, designers, and developers to build products for communities that are often overlooked by technology.

We're looking for experienced full stack engineers, designers, product managers and topic area experts to join us this summer for a paid 5 month, paid, full-time intensive incubation program at our co-working space in Brooklyn to develop tech enabled social ventures that tackle issues faced by low income folks.

This summer, we will focus on Seniors and their caregivers.

Our nation is aging rapidly, but rather than enjoying their golden years, too many seniors find themselves struggling, forced each month to choose between food, medication, or rent. And there has been an alarming rise in the number of seniors who are homeless or relying on food banks.

In New York City, the number of seniors is projected to increase to nearly 1.9 million by 2030, making it the fastest-growing population. Unfortunately, seniors struggle disproportionately with access to benefits, health issues, and affordable housing.

One out of every six seniors relies on emergency food

One out of five lives below the poverty line

One out of four has limited mobility

Many face these challenges alone. In 2014, 32 percent of persons age 65 and over, and nearly half of persons 85 and older in New York City lived alone. In addition, seniors who live alone have the second highest poverty rate (among all older households).

A complex ecosystem of benefits and support systems exists to help seniors; however, navigating and accessing these benefits can be a challenge and many forgo help. As many as one million seniors in New York are eligible for SNAP aka food stamps, but only about half are enrolled in the program.

We think technology has a role to play.

We’ve had fellows join us from Google, Facebook, Twitter, NASA, and more. They’ve founded organizations that have raised millions of dollars and helped hundreds of thousands of people.

You can find out more here: https://labs.robinhood.org/fellowship/

payscale: $5k/month
job type: full-time
posted by Freen to Internet Engineering 1 user marked this as a favorite

« Older WordPress in Indy?... Associate Product Manager (ent... Newer »