PVD Version of Geekcorps?

Posted on May 17th, 2008, by sondernagle

General Discussion

Wondering if there is a loosely (or not-so-loosely) joined group of individuals who could serve not-for-profits in the area?

By which I mean a core team of individuals who could offer design/programming/networking/2.0 assistance to those who probably need it most. I know AS220 has Design Providence but I believe they are mostly print-based.

If such a group does not exist should it? Surely the Providence Geeks could put together a hell of a team. Assuming they could find the time ;).

Comments

Russ Conway

Submitted on May 22nd, 2008 - 4:14pm link

I like the idea. If any nonprofits are currently looking for something like this, Johnson and Wales created The Alan Shawn Feinstein Technology & Design Center in 2007 to provide "design and web development services to local non-profits." That's one option already out there.

aktear

Submitted on May 29th, 2008 - 1:48pm link

I like the idea as well. I do some of this, but it is catch-as-catch-can when I meet a non-profit that asks, I have free cycles, and there is a fit. This is an idea that would probably get some external support from both the Rhode Island Foundation, which has a new capacity-building Initiative for NonProfit Excellence, as well as with the Providence Knowledge Economy project, which has a lot of time investment right now from the powers-that-be.

sondernagle

Submitted on June 7th, 2008 - 3:45pm link

Just stumbled on this: http://www.taprootfoundation.org/ wonder if they'd consider adding Providence into the mix? Or could we roll our own following a similar model?