Explanation
Background: This ordinance authorizes the City Clerk to enter into an advance payment grant agreement with Tech Corps Ohio, a non-profit corporation, in support of their 2026 TECHCORPShack Hackathon event for under-served Franklin County high school students.
The TECH CORPS Hackathon is an energetic, full-day event designed for high school students to team up and engage with the latest technology. Participants will unleash their creativity as they tackle real-world challenges and compete for cash prizes. Throughout the event, students will be immersed in a hands-on experience, learning new skills, collaborating with industry professionals, and building lasting connections with peers and mentors. This exciting opportunity fosters teamwork and innovation and provides valuable insights into potential career paths in technology.
What makes Hackathon different from other high school activities, is that it is a fast-paced, collaborative build environment with industry interaction and competition elements that raise stakes and motivation. It matters because it strengthens teamwork, creativity, and exposure to tech careers while building connections with peers and mentors. It is not just a competition, students are learning new skills and building professional networks while solving authentic problems.
The Hackathon will also include the provision of food and non-alcoholic beverages for participants, which Council deems to serve a public purpose. Furthermore, this ordinance also authorizes funding to be provided to Tech Corps Ohio in advance in order to accommodate event planning expenses on a pre-determined schedule as set forth in the grant agreement.
Fiscal Impact: Funding in the amount of $20,000.00 is available within the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund.
Emergency action is requested in order to ensure that Tech Corps Ohio has the resources necessary to execute the event without delay,
Title
To authorize the City Clerk to enter into an advance payment grant agreement with Tech Corps Ohio, a non-profit corporation, in support of their 2026 TECHCORPShack Hackathon event; to authorize an appropriation and expenditure of $20,000.00 within the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund; and to declare an emergency. ($20,000.00)
Body
WHEREAS, Columbus City Council seeks to promote access to STEM opportunities for Columbus students, including computer science learning opportunities; and
WHEREAS, According to the National Science Foundation, those working in STEM tend to earn more than 50% more than those working in non-STEM fields; and
WHEREAS, Tech Corps Ohio is an Ohio nonprofit that believes that all K-12 students should have access to high-quality computer science learning experiences, thereby promoting career pathways in STEM; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily business of City Council in that it is immediately necessary to authorize an advance payment grant agreement in order to ensure that Tech Corps Ohio has the resources necessary to execute the event without delay, all for the immediate preservation of the public health, peace, property, safety and welfare; and NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That the City Clerk is hereby authorized to enter into an advance payment grant agreement with Tech Corps Ohio in support of their 2026 TECHCORPShack Hackathon event serving underrepresented Franklin County high school students, and that funding shall be provided in advance on a predetermined advance payment schedule set forth in the grant agreement to Tech Corps Ohio for purposes of assisting with the event planning needs.
SECTION 2. That the Auditor is hereby authorized to appropriate $20,000.00 within the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 3. That the expenditure of $20,000.00 or so much thereof as may be needed pursuant to the action authorized in SECTION 1 of this ordinance, is hereby authorized in the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund, fund 1000, subfund 100018, per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 4. That the distribution of food and non-alcoholic beverages associated with the execution of this advance pay grant agreement are hereby determined by this Council to be for a proper public purpose; such food and non-alcoholic beverage costs shall not to exceed the per-person, per-meal, per diem cost set by the City of Columbus Department of Finance and Management.
SECTION 5. That the funds necessary to carry out the purpose of this ordinance are hereby deemed appropriated, and the City Auditor shall establish such accounting codes as necessary.
SECTION 6. That the City Auditor is authorized to make any accounting changes to revise the funding source for all contracts or contract modifications associated with this ordinance.
SECTION 7. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.