Civic Tech DC x GW OSPO Hackathon: RideScore DC + FEC Data
Saturday, October 3, 2026 · 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM · George Washington University Science & Engineering Hall - 800 22nd St NW, Washington, DC 20052. The building requires a GW badge, so please enter on the corner of 22nd & H street where event volunteers are placed. Doors open at 9:30 AM.
A one-day open source hackathon co-hosted by Civic Tech DC and GW's Open Source Program Office (OSPO). Two civic data projects, one room, one day. Pick a project, pick a track, form a team, and make real progress, whether you've been with a project for months or are showing up for the first time.
Project 1: RideScore DC
RideScore DC is a Civic Tech DC volunteer project building an open data pipeline and interactive map that scores DC streets for bike safety and comfort.
📘 Getting Started Guide: We highly encourage getting set up for your track before Saturday. The TL;DR tab tells you what to do.
Models: Build any model or analysis of cyclist safety in DC. Pick one of three challenges: safety scores, a stable base map, or a production data pipeline. A ready-made data snapshot and setup steps are in the guide.
Website / UI: Frontend work, new features and interface improvements on the RideScore DC map. A front-end or full-stack setup guide will have you running locally.
Community Research Track: Who does this map work for, and who does it miss? Look at ridescoredc.com through the eyes of new riders, parents, delivery workers, older adults, riders with disabilities, planners and advocates, and turn what you see into findings that shape next year's priorities. No coding or bike-safety expertise needed. Bring a pen, your phone and a laptop.
Project 2: FEC Data
Do you think money in politics is an important problem? The Federal Election Commission publishes clean datasets that help track how money is donated and spent to influence US politics.
Corporate PAC Problem Statement: Combine Corporate PAC data with details about members of congress including their voting scorecards. Build combined datasets & visualizations to highlight how corporate money is influencing policy issues such as LGBTQ+ rights, abortion rights, gun rights, and more.
Story Telling Problem Statement: Analyze data and build dashboards or visualizations to explore where money comes from and where it goes, and tell a clear story with the data.
Tools Problem Statement: Build tools using the openFEC API or bulk data to help people learn about donations to and from specific candidates, corporations, and individuals.
We encourage all attendees to make all data, analysis, and tools open source so they can be shared and will continue after the hackathon.
Schedule
9:30AM: Doors Open
10:00 AM: Check-in & Coffee
10:30 AM: Kickoff, project backgrounds & track introductions
11:00 AM: Choose a track & Build begins
1:00 PM: Lunch
1:45 PM: Volunteer & mentor check-ins
4:00 PM: Submissions close
4:15 PM: Demos & showcase
5:15 PM: Wrap-up & group photo
5:30 PM: Happy hour at Dukes Grocery - Come celebrate with us!
Who should come
Developers, data scientists, designers, students, cyclists, safety advocates, policymakers, open source contributors, people who care about campaign finance transparency, and anyone who wants better civic data in DC. No prior involvement with either project needed. Bring a laptop.
Before the day
We'll run an onboarding session ahead of the hackathon to walk through the projects, the data, and the codebases. Details will be posted here and sent to registered guests.
The RideScore DC Getting Started Guide is live. We highly encourage setting up ahead of time, since event Wi-Fi is slow with a full room. If you don't get to it, come anyway! We'll walk through the projects, the data and the codebases during the kickoff onboarding session.
Here is a public open source GW FEC repo (called PALS) with some data and visualizations that may be helpful to get you started and please check FEC.gov for access to bulk data and APIs.
Want to help run it?
We need setup and registration volunteers, breakdown volunteers, and moderators to help present at the onboarding session. Tell us at a Civic Tech DC Project Night or use the Contact Host button on this page.