[Foss-outreach-la] Welcome to the organizing group for open source outreach events in LA!

[miguel at openmindz.net]

Hello everyone.

I could've sworn I'd filled this out already but when I came to look for
any updates I realized I hadn't. Dang. Well, here goes.

A) My name is Miguel Hernandez. I've been working in tech & working to
bridge the Digital Divide for 20 years. I've been a part of the open
source community for 15 years, have contributed to many open source
projects for the last 10 & have organized many open-source based tech
meetups/conferences/hackathons (in both English & Spanish) for the last 5.
I'm a public speaker on the topics of Open Source, Test-Driven Development
(TDD/BDD) & startups. I'm very active in LA's startup ecosystem but have
been disappointed in the lack of investment for builders/makers/geeks in
the inner-city & for minorities of all kinds. I donate a lot of my time to
mentoring youth & folks in the inner-city. I'm a Web Developer,
specializing in Drupal, with a long history of Software QA.

B) My dream for an open source education event would be introductions into
the open source community via hackathons in the inner-city (South LA, East
LA, etc.) aimed at youth, minorities of all kinds & even for the elderly
(I studied Gerontology in college & did Alzheimers research so I don't
want us to forget about the aged). It could be held at schools, colleges
or community centers. LA now being over 50% Spanish-speakers, I've got
some ideas to engage this traditionally underrepresented group, as well.

C) Having organized quite a few events over the years, I'd be happy to be
an organizer & a mentor. However, I'm terrible at asking sponsors for
money so I usually leave that job to others. Considering that OpenHatch
would be organizing this as well, not sure how much of that is needed.
Being here in LA, I'm very interested in getting together with folks on
this list & brainstorming ideas on what type of event would touch on
everyone's passion points, pool our resources/contacts together & make an
awesome event that can serve as a model for future events of its kind
here.

Ok. That was entirely way too long. Sorry about that. Looking forward to
hearing from more of you.

Cheers.

Miguel Hernandez
Founder & CEO
the OpenMindz Group

> Hello everyone,
>
> This is Shauna Gordon-McKeon of OpenHatch.  We met at SCaLE in February
> and
> talked about Open Source Comes to Campus <http://campus.openhatch.org/>,
> and about running open source education/outreach events in the LA area.
> As
> I mentioned to many of you, I want to put you all in touch with each
> other,
> so we can work together to make these events a reality.
>
> I'd love it if folks could introduce themselves by saying:
>
> A) who they are and, if they'd like, what they do/what their background is
> B) what their dreams are for an open source education event (where?  what
> size?  aimed at who?)
> C) in what capacity they'd like to be involved (organizer, volunteer
> mentor, attendee, etc)
>
> I'll start:
>
> A) I'm Shauna Gordon-McKeon.  I work at OpenHatch and run our Open Source
> Comes to Campus <http://campus.openhatch.org/> event series.  I've got a
> particular interest in FOSS for scientists and FOSS built to serve
> humanitarian/social justice purposes.
>
> B)  I'd love to see us run multiple events in the area, and to be part
> of/grow the ongoing FOSS community in the area.  We're very open to
> adapting our curriculum for high school students or other groups, and
> we've
> also been experimenting with running both shorter and longer events.
>  Basically, we want to do what works for you.  I am especially excited
> about reaching out into new communities and reaching more underrepresented
> groups.
>
> C)  I live in Boston, so I won't be able to attend most events but I can
> help with most aspects of planning.  I can be available remotely for most
> events, and may even be able to attend a couple (I may come back to the LA
> area either around Grace Hopper (August) or SCaLE next year).
>
> It was a pleasure to meet all of you last weekend, and I'm looking forward
> to working with you.  :)
>
> - Shauna
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>