The day is almost here! The 2017 Open Data Challenge Hackathon has arrived! As promised, we’ve pooled together ideas from all our #dataNinjas and come up with a list of our favorite hackathon resources. Whether you’re a seasoned hackathon coder, or this is your very first time, we guarantee you’ll be able to find something helpful here. We’ve broken up the links into segments to make everything easy to find.

Onboarding for the 2017 Open Data Challenge

• Open License Example
• Register for Slack - Everyone on your team should register here for quick, easy communcation. Make a channel specifically for your team. We can help if you don’t know how.
• Complete this Form - This will help us keep track of everyone here and quickly communicate with teams
• Judging Rubric - Consult back to this rubric as you’re building your plan! There’s one in your participant folder as well.
• Presentation Template - Make sure you talk about all of the things here. This template is also at the correct size for the presentation (16x9).

Data Resources

• Delaware Open Data Portal
• Delaware 211
• US Open Data Portal
• US Census
• American Community Survey
• Hunger Relief Partners
• Open Addresses

Dataset Catalogs

Both Food Bank and Network Delaware

• Delaware Open Data Portal
• Dev.Socrata - How to use Socrata’s APIs (They’re the guys that built Data.Delaware.Gov).
• Data.gov, Federal data sets
• Cornell University Data Sources
• Demographic Information
• Open Data Network- a collection of all datasets hosted in Socrata
• Facebook API
• Twitter API

Network Delaware

Work Training and Re-Training Programs

• Delaware Workforce Development Training Programs
• DEDO Workforce Training Grants
• Find Training Opportunities

Google Calendar Events for Work Training/ReTraining Programs in Delaware

• Wilmington Department of Labor Training Events
• Newark Department of Labor Training Events
• Dover Department of Labor Training Events
• Georgetown Department of Labor Training Events
• Delaware Division of Libraries Events
• Job Center at Dover Library Events
• Job Center at Georgetown Library Events
• Job Center at Wilmington Library Events
• More Workshops at Delaware Libraries, by Library
• Google Calendar API
• Open Up Resources
• Delaware Scholarships in List

Legal Services Resources

• Delaware Courts Legal Assistance – list of programs
• Delaware Volunteer Legal Services
• Delaware Legal Services Corporation
• Delaware Community Legal Aid Society
• Delaware State Bar Association – Access to Justice
• Individual Law Firms Who Do Pro Bono Work Morris James
• MNAT
• RLF
• YCST
• American Bar Association Legal Services, Delaware
• Avvo (for profit company) List of Lawyers

Food Bank

• Delaware Food Closets (list, not a dataset)
• Women, Infants, and Children (WIC, a food assistance program) Data
• Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP, a food assistance program) Data
• USDA Food Databases
• School Food Pantries List
• Food Consumption Data from the federal government
• Open Nutrition and Food Datasets, list of links
• Food Waste Data
• Measuring Food Waste Data
• EPA Sustainable Management of Food (Food Waste Prevention)
• ReFed, a nonprofit org, data on food waste (scroll down the page, you will see “download” or “share” dataset)
• USDA Food and Nutritional Assistance Page (links to more resources/data)
• List of Food Pantries and Shelters that contribute to State and federal programs

My First Hackathon (or My 100th)

• WTF is a hackathon? - An article of what, why, and how.
• Your First Hackathon - Helpful hints for your first event.
• The Hack Code of Conduct - The obvious, the important, and the kind.
• How You Can Prepare for a Hackathon - Find your “Hackathon Archetype”.
• 4 Things You Should Do To Prepare for A Hackathon - A short list with a lot of meaning.
• 10 Tips for Hackathon Success - A slightly longer list with a lot of meaning.
• A Hackathon Project Guide - A complete wakthrough.
• How To Present A Successful Hackathon Demo - Tips for public speaking to sell your project.
• 10 Tips to Rock Your Next Hackathon Demo - More tips for selling your project and making it shine.
• Civic App Challenge Presentation Tips and Tricks by Mark Headd

Technical Help!

• How to API - Learn what an API is, and then build an API and consume it with an Angular app.
• Build With Bootstrap - the official Bootstrap website.
• Design with CodePen - the official CodePen website.
• Give Design to Your Project - How to plan your web design.
• Content Strategy - How to plan the content of your project.
• NY Hackathons’ List of Awesome Tools - This is a list of general awesome.
• Shoutkey - Really simple way to share links
• HTML5 Boilerplate Starter
• Official HTML5 Boilerplate Site

Starting a Server on Heroku Using Node.js

• Heroku Postgres add-on
• Heroku Dev Center- Node.js
• freeCodeCamp Guide for using MongoDB and Deploying with Heroku
• Scotch.io Guide for using MongoDB, Node.js, and Heroku
• Scotch.io Guide for deploying a Node.js app to Heroku

There are thousands more amazing resources out there that will help make your hackathon experience awesome. But truthfully, what you really need is an open mind, an eagerness to learn, and volunteer spirit. We are very much looking forward to seeing all the projects that grow over the next few days. Good luck!

Not familiar with the hackathon, who can compete, or what’s in it for the winners? Check out the Open Data Challenge website for the full details and follow here for registration rules and award details! Can’t wait to see everyone there! There’s a place for everyone at the big event: coders, designers, concerned citizens, and anyone interested in helping our local Delaware community grow!