Help us hack for family and domestic violence

1. vibewire.org
HACKING DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE
EVENT PROSPECTUS: 8-10 DECEMBER 2017

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HACKING
DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE
EVENT PROSPECTUS: 8-10
DECEMBER 2017
WILL YOU BE PART OF THE CHANGE?
Vibewire in association with NCOSS, Jewish House, Exodus
Foundation and Minerva Collective will be hosting the Hacking
Domestic Violence hackathon in Ultimo during the weekend of 8, 9 and
10 December 2017.
Hackathon events are the lifeblood of the Australian innovation
ecosystem - building capability, providing vital experience and
generating networks, connections and showcasing the work of
innovative young Australians.
But hackathons aren’t just about startups and technology – when we
can add a social impact layer, they become a vital way of addressing
intractable problems.
Our SOCIAL IMPACT hackathon will feature access to:
• Leading experts in the field of domestic and family violence
• People with the shared or lived experience of domestic and
family violence
• Local and international leaders seeking to address the myriad
challenges that face those dealing with domestic and family
violence.
Our event will attract Australia's leading social, community, technology
and engineering students, social entrepreneurs and startups. We are
collaborating with one of Australia's leading hackathon teams to create
a memorable, innovative and social impact event.
OUR HACK
This social impact
hackathon will source
ideas to help solve the
social, technical,
cultural and
behavioural
challenges of family
and domestic violence.

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The event will be featured through our media releases, live streaming of parts of the proceedings and in
our newsletters and social media.
WHY HOLD A SOCIAL IMPACT HACKATHON?
By bringing together those with the lived experience of a social challenge, with stakeholders, individuals
and corporations invested in solving it, our high impact social hackathon generates new business
models, prototypes and validated solutions from teams over a single weekend.
Our recent “Hack4Homelessness” attracted more than 80 participants working together to address the
technical, social and behavioural challenges of homelessness. Over 80 percent of attendees had never
been to a hackathon before – and yet two days later, 9 cohesive teams pitched powerful solutions to a
panel of homeless people and social service sector stakeholders. Three of these teams went on to
immediately pitch for funding through the NSW Office of Social Impact – with the support of NCOSS,
Jewish House and the Exodus Foundation. These are now under review.
Our social impact hackathons are not just another “talk fest” – we create teams that wrestle with the
realities, roadblocks and opportunities that only come with intense collaboration. We expertly manage
this event to show “what is possible” and drive teams to develop validated solutions.
Our event - will run for 2 days and one evening from Friday night to Sunday – 8-10 December 2017.
With this in mind, hackathons are a perfect vehicle to connect disparate groups including:
• Socially-aware businesses: Companies that understand the importance of a “social license”
can bring resources to support hackathon challenges, including expertise, data and financial
support
• Governments and agencies: Deep understanding of the policy levers available can help
participants create sustainable solutions
• Individuals: We believe in the power of co-design and will actively engage individuals with the
lived experience of family and domestic violence in the development of the hackathon
• Social, creative and tech entrepreneurs: We need to rethink the way that we tackle this
challenge. This means tapping networks of those who are able to quickly imagine, create and
prototype solutions to family and domestic violence.
WHO IS BEHIND THE HACKATHON?
This event is run by Vibewire, the launchpad for young change makers. We are supported by our Board
members, Anne-Marie Elias and Gavin Heaton who are providing services and support on a probono
basis.
Susan Shi is the Executive Director of Vibewire driving and curating the program of events,
workshops and opportunities. By day Susan works in product strategy in corporate banking.
Anne-Marie Elias is co-founder of TechFugees Australia. She is passionate about social design
hackathons that include end users or people with the shared or lived experience of the problem they
are solving. She has advised government, ministers, NGOs and business on social impact.

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Gavin Heaton is the founder of Disruptor’s Handbook, the strategy and innovation firm behind
Australia’s most successful commercial hackathons such as the Qantas Codeshare Hackathon and the
Johnson & Johnson HaTCHathon.
Why are we doing this?
Despite billions of dollars of investment and long term commitment to addressing family and domestic
violence, we continue to see rates and costs rise.
Domestic violence:
• Costs the Australian economy $13.6 billion a year
• Costs the NSW economy $4.5 billion a year
• Is massive in scale with NSW Police reporting over 27,000 domestic violence assaults in 2014
• Poses a bigger health risk to women aged 18-44 than smoking, diabetes and obesity
• Is 10 times higher in rural, regional and remote NSW
• Affects 1 million children and is present in 50% of households where children are abused.
Moreover:
• Aboriginal women are 35 times more likely to be hospitalised as a result of family and domestic
violence.
According to the Department of Human Services, family and domestic violence is conduct that is
violent, threatening, coercive, controlling or intended to cause the family or household member to be
fearful. It can include:
• Physical, verbal, emotional, sexual or psychological abuse
• Neglect
• Financial abuse
• Stalking
• Harm to an animal or property
• Restricting your spiritual or cultural participation, or
• Exposing children to the effects of these behaviours.
We are working with stakeholders to identify key themes in family and domestic violence. These will
form the basis of our “Challenge Statements” which will be used to help focus hackathon participants.
The themes include:
• Women, children and young people
• Perpetrators
• Prevention and early intervention
• Financial inclusion
• Accommodation (transitional, temporary and long term).

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HOW YOU CAN BECOME INVOLVED
We are actively seeking involvement from the community, business and technology industries and
across the social service sector.
We believe that innovation is a collaborative process, and hackathons provide a unique, low impact
opportunity to constructively engage across sectors.

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We would welcome the chance to work with you to develop a sponsorship package that is tailored to
your needs.
As a sponsor you will be included in our extensive communications campaigns pre- during and post-
event. You will also have an opportunity to work closely with participating teams throughout the
hackathon as well as beyond the event, posing “challenge statements”, participating in the judging
panel and more.
As an indicator, the following levels of investment could be considered:
• Naming rights partner $15,000
• Gold sponsor $10,000
• Silver sponsor $5,000
We are also accepting in-kind sponsorship for access to technology, data and catering.
IN-KIND SUPPORT
We are also accepting in-kind sponsorship for access to technology, data and catering.
If you have expertise, insights or interest in mentoring teams during the event, we’d also welcome your
participation.
CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION
Sophie Saville, Partnerships Manager, sophie@vibewire.org
Anne-Marie Elias, chiefdisrupter@anne-marieelias.com
Gavin Heaton, gavin@disruptorshandbook.com
Susan Shi, Executive Director susan@vibewire.org