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The Upskilling Labs July Meetup

part of our Monthly Innovation Meetup Series

Join The Upskilling Labs, a civic learning community open to all, focused on building practical skills with emerging technologies like AI.

The Upskilling Labs is a fast-growing civic learning community bringing together mission-driven professionals to explore how emerging tech (AI and others) and skill-sharing can unlock new value for our local communities. The Upskilling Labs Meetups are a great place to come together with like-minded people to explore and experiment with emerging technologies like AI.

​The evening:

​4:30pm - Arrive, mingle, connect with the community, and explore the tabling area featuring projects built by The Upskilling Labs' community.
​5:00pm - Kickoff & About the Upskilling Labs
​5:15pm - Keynote closing Energy & Climate
​5:45pm - Energy & Climate Build Cycle project team demos (these are projects made by members of the public who has participated in The Upskilling Labs over the past 3 months- this could be you!)

​🍃 Clean Clarified: A web app that lets homeowners search by zip code and income to instantly find every clean energy incentive they qualify for — no expertise or endless research required.
​☀️ Clean Start: A conversational AI guide that meets households at the "curious but overwhelmed" stage, helping them navigate clean energy decisions before they've even started shopping.
​💄 Empties: A tool tackling recycling confusion for makeup and beauty products, helping users know exactly what can (and can't) go in curbside recycling… down to the lip gloss cap.
​✈️ Get 2 Zero: A browser extension for maps that shows you trip time, price, and CO2 emissions, so that you can pick the route that's best for you and the planet.

​6:45pm - Moderated Panel: Civics and Elections

​Moderator: Kaela Roeder, Lead Reporter, DC & Virginia at Technical.ly

​Panelists:

• ​Nicol Turner Lee, PhD, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies and Director, at Center for Technology Innovation, Brookings Institution
• ​Karissa Minnich, Associate Director of Design at The Lab @ DC
• ​Nick Garcia, Senior Policy Counsel at Public Knowledge
  
• Kenny Diggs, Assistant Political Director, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

​7:45pm - Tabling and Networking

​The (4) Energy and Climate build cycle project teams
​DC Open Government Coalition (https://www.dcogc.org/)
​The Upskilling Labs (https://theupskillinglabs.org/)

​8:15pm - Depart for Happy hour

​You don't need a technical background to get started—just curiosity and commitment.

​Why climate and energy? Why civics and elections?

​These are foundational industries—ones that are critical to the future of our country, and where AI will immensely reshape how work gets done. We believe that disruption in sectors this important shouldn't happen to people. It should happen with them. That's why we're building a community where professionals from all backgrounds can learn, experiment, and shape how these tools show up in the real world.

*Interested in diving deeper into critical engagement with AI? Check out the upcoming AI & Us series, meant to complement this build cycle.

This quarter's theme: Civics & Elections

Meetups convene community around quarterly themes, with each three-month cycle following a structured progression, generally happening on second Tuesdays of the month:

Month 1: Theme Launch & Expert Panel- A panel of experts from government (local, national, international), private sector, academia, and nonprofit organizations presents current challenges within the quarterly theme. The discussion catalyzes ideas about how emerging technologies can address these problems and identifies opportunities for innovation.

Month 2: Workshops & Collaboration- Community members meet to collaborate on projects & attend workshops or other help sessions held by mentors. This affords community members the opportunity to learn from each other and from experts.

Month 3: Progress Showcase- Community members voluntarily present their work to date, sharing what they've built, lessons learned, and next steps. This creates accountability, facilitates knowledge sharing, and builds momentum across the community.

This cycle repeats quarterly with new themes, creating sustained engagement while allowing flexibility for participants to join at any point or contribute to multiple cycles, and work on their projects as long as they would like to. The working themes are as follows: Q1 - Health, Q2 - Climate and Environment, Q3 - Technology and Trust.

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