RVA Hacks · Replication Playbook
Run a civic hackathon in your city
The one thing: run the event as a pipeline. Experts write the problems. Research comes before code. Every idea is scored on whether the city can ship it.
This is the planning sequence Richmond used for RVA Hacks 2026. The open-source toolkit packages it as 19 AI planning skills and 79 blank templates. Each skill below turns templates into planning documents for your city.
- Start here: 1 skill
- Before the event: 13 skills
- During the event: 1 skill
- After the event: 4 skills
Get the toolkit: github.com/hack4rva/annual-civic-hackathon-toolkit · See Richmond's event: rvahacks.org
The 19 planning skills, in order
Plugin Orientation
5-15 minutes · 2 artifacts
Inspect the repository, classify what planning work is present vs.
Produces: planning state, status
Civic Alignment
2-6 weeks · 3 artifacts
Anchor the event in a real, public, government-owned strategic plan and confirm the executive sponsor inside city government.
Produces: civic priority map, city sponsor brief, success definition
Event Charter
1-2 weeks · 3 artifacts
Convert civic alignment into a small set of documents the organizing team and external stakeholders can read in 5 minutes.
Produces: event charter, operating principles, scope boundaries
Stakeholder Map
2-4 weeks · 4 artifacts
Identify every category of stakeholder, every named partner, and every decision maker the event will engage.
Produces: stakeholder map, partner register.csv, partner register.csv.meta.yaml, decision maker map
Governance Model
1-3 weeks · 3 artifacts
Define how the event is governed: the organizing body's structure, per-track committees, and the decision-rights matrix that says who decides what.
Produces: governance model, track committee roster, decision rights matrix
Track Strategy
2-4 weeks · 3 artifacts
Decide the track structure: how many tracks, what each is called, which civic priorities each maps to, which committee owns each.
Produces: final track strategy, track list, track rationale
Problem Statement Development
4-8 weeks · 4 artifacts
Convert each track into named, scoped, data-grounded problem statements that participants can build against.
Produces: final problem statements, track context briefs, dataset inventory, open questions for city sponsors
Data Readiness
3-6 weeks · 3 artifacts
For every dataset the problem statements reference, answer four questions before participants arrive on day 1.
Produces: data readiness matrix, data access plan, data blockers register
Partnership and Sponsor Plan
8-16 weeks · 5 artifacts
Define how the event raises money, in-kind contributions, and partnerships, and document the legal vehicle (fiscal sponsor) that makes any of it possible.
Produces: sponsor tier structure, sponsor pipeline.csv, sponsor pipeline.csv.meta.yaml, partnership asks, fiscal sponsor agreement
Community Outreach Plan
6-12 weeks · 4 artifacts
Plan and stage the public communications that bring participants, mentors, and judges to the event.
Produces: outreach plan, audience segments, outreach calendar, README
Participant Experience Plan
4-8 weeks · 4 artifacts
Design what a participant actually goes through: register, arrive, form a team, pick a track, hack, demo, leave.
Produces: participant journey, registration flow, code of conduct, accessibility plan
Mentor and Volunteer Ops
4-8 weeks · 7 artifacts
Recruit, onboard, and schedule the two cohorts that make an event function: subject-matter mentors (who help teams) and operations volunteers (who help the event).
Produces: mentor roster.csv, mentor roster.csv.meta.yaml, volunteer roster.csv, volunteer roster.csv.meta.yaml, mentor onboarding, volunteer runbook, shift schedule
Event Operations Plan
6-10 weeks · 5 artifacts
Resolve everything upstream into the operational artifacts the event runs on.
Produces: run of show, venue plan, safety plan, comms tree, incident response
Technology Setup
4-8 weeks · 5 artifacts
Decide and document every tool the event runs on: communications, code hosting, AI assistance, registration plumbing.
Produces: tech stack, slack config.yaml, github org plan, ai tooling plan, tech runbook
Judging System
4-8 weeks · 5 artifacts
Define how the event evaluates and recognizes work: rubric, awards and weighting, judges, day-of cadence, submission format.
Produces: rubric, awards, judge roster, judging runbook, submission spec
AI-Assisted Evaluation
1-3 weeks (compressed; runs after event) · 5 artifacts
Run a structured AI evaluation pass over the full submission corpus (and any post-event idea expansion) using a fixed rubric, named evaluator personas, and…
Produces: ai eval plan, evaluator personas, implementation reality rubric, eval runbook, results package spec
Post-Event Pipeline
4-8 weeks · 4 artifacts
Convert the event's outputs (submissions + AI evaluation + judging results) into a structured handoff the City can actually act on, and a parallel…
Produces: day 30 plan, city champion path, civic working session plan, handoff shortlist
Open-Source Handoff
2-4 weeks · 4 artifacts
Define how the event's outputs become public, durable artifacts the city and other regions can build on.
Produces: oss handoff plan, license policy, public marketplace listing, contributor guide
Retrospective and Next-Year Plan
4-8 weeks · 4 artifacts
Close the loop.
Produces: retrospective report, lessons log, next year charter deltas, README
Built from hack4rva/annual-civic-hackathon-toolkit (planning-plugin/skills). Durations are each skill's own estimate.