The Upskilling Labs is \;a fast-growing civic learning community bri nging together mission-driven professionals to explore how emerging tech ( AI and others) and skill-sharing can unlock new value for our local commun ities\, designed as a three-month "build cycle" that consists of monthly m eetups\, weekly workshops\, and an online community for collaboration and discussion on Slack (an online communication platform). The Upskilling Lab s Meetups are a great place to come together with like-minded people to ex plore and experiment with emerging technologies like AI. To learn more abo ut The Upskilling Labs and join the community slack: \;The Upskilling Labs.
\n​​Pods a re small communities of Upskillers (that you can join!) who have formed ar ound thematic problems that they'd like to explore emerging technologies w ith. At Meet the Pods\, Upskillers will share their problem statement rese arch and findings to date\, and will solicit input from invited energy\, c limate and emerging tech experts. Interested in getting involved? This is a great opportunity to learn about this quarter's theme and get involved i n a project group working on one of the problem statements you'll hear abo ut.
\n​​Meetups are preceded by upskilling workshops. The workshops are designed for Upskillers in the build cycle but are open to the public!
\nAugust 11\, 2026 @ Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library's 5th floor events space
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5:00-5:30pm &mdash\; Registration and Upskilling Labs Orientation
â
€‹5:30pm-6:30pm &mdash\; Building Out Loud Workshop
​6:30p
m&ndash\;7:30pm &mdash\; Meet the Pods presentations
​7:30pm&n
dash\;8:00pm &mdash\; Networking
​8:15pm &mdash\; Happy Hour!<
/p>\n
Meetups convene commun ity around quarterly themes\, with each three-month build cycle following a structured progression\, generally happening on second Tuesdays of the m onth:
\nMonth 1: \;Theme Launch &\; Expert Panel- A panel of experts from government (local\, national\, international)\, private secto r\, academia\, and nonprofit organizations presents current challenges wit hin the quarterly theme. The discussion catalyzes ideas about how emerging technologies can address these problems and identifies opportunities for innovation. Community members who'd like to participate in the cycle can s ubmit problem statements related to the theme\, which will serve as the ba sis for project groups throughout the cycle.
\nMonth 2: \;Meet t he Pods- Community members have the opportunity to present on their proble m statements and initial research and receive feedback from subject matter s. At meet the pods\, new participants have the opportunity to join a pod and project group based on what they hear.
\nMonth 3: \;Progress Showcase- Community members voluntarily present their work to date\, shar ing what they've built\, lessons learned\, and next steps. This creates ac countability\, facilitates knowledge sharing\, and builds momentum across the community.
\nThis cycle repeats quarterly with new themes\, crea ting sustained engagement while allowing flexibility for participants to j oin at any point or contribute to multiple cycles\, and work on their proj ects as long as they would like to. The working themes are as follows: Q1 - Health\, Q2 - Climate and Environment\, Q3 - Civics &\; Elections.
\n\nhttps://dclibrary.libnet.info/event/17126323 URL;VALUE=URI:https://dclibrary.libnet.info/event/17126323 ATTACH:https://static.libnet.info/images/events/dclibrary/00_theupskilling labs.png END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR