CivicHacks, the Columbus-based organization that was to participate in the National Day of Civic Hacking between May 31 and June 1, abruptly announced on Wednesday that its event has been canceled.
The announcement was made through a post on the group’s website, citing “unforeseen circumstances” as having led to the cancellation and saying the group “cannot discuss specifics of the circumstances surrounding this cancellation.” The CivicHacks team has promised to issue full refunds for people who have already registered for the event, and that followers of the group will be kept informed of its future plans.
The National Day of Civic Hacking started in 2013, supported by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The goal of the nation event is to encourage local groups and entrepreneurs to use technology, engineering and innovation to improve their communities. The CivicHacks event would have been the first time a Columbus group had participated in the National Day of Civic Hacking.
David All, who participated in the 2013 National Day of Civic Hacking event in San Francisco and had hoped to bring civic hacking to his hometown of Columbus this year, launched CivicHacks in April. The group planned to present six civic challenges to teams of innovators who would come up with solutions. All and CivicHacks hoped that those solutions could then be replicated in other cities.
“Columbus is a great place to inspire invention to solve those problems,” said All.
Though Columbus will not be among them, more than 100 cities are still expected to host events during the National Day of Civic Hacking.