Hungerless Wins Rep. Smith’s (WA-09) 2019 Congressional App Challenge

Rep. Adam Smith has named a Tukwila student as the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in Washington’s 9th district. Abas Hersi submitted Hungerless, an app connects  individuals and families from food unstable backgrounds with resources to find free food.

When asked why they were passionate about creating an app that that aids in food stability the student replied, “Walking around the streets of both Tukwila and Seattle, I’m constantly reminded of the homelessness crisis that’s ravaged the greater Seattle area within this past decade. I really wanted to empower myself by attempting to make the crisis at least a little bit better for those that have to endure it.” The student hopes to encourage other students to better their communities by using their computer science skills.  

Over 10,000 students registered for the 2019 Congressional App Challenge. These students created and submitted 2,177 functioning apps, marking the end of the most successful Congressional App Challenge to date. All told, 304 Members of Congress hosted Congressional App Challenges in their districts across 48 states, Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands, and Washington, D.C.

The CAC is an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Members of Congress host contests in their districts for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science. The non-profit Internet Education Foundation provides the CAC with supplemental staffing and support. In the five years of the Congressional App Challenge, the program has yielded 1134 App Challenges across 48 states. Thousands of functional apps have been created by over 25,000 students, and participant demographics surpass all industry diversity metrics.