After two years of acting as Co-directors, Marieke and Michael are excited to announce that Kat Jost has taken over as Co-director!

From Marieke & Michael

A HUGE thank you to our incredible non-profit partners, and volunteers that worked tirelessly for their fellow philadelphians. We have learned so much from our partners about the challenges facing people in Philadelphia:

  • Prevention Point and Health Federation’s work on the opioid crisis
  • Penn Medicine’s work predicting hospital capacity during the pandemic
  • PLSE’s work to expedite pardons and expungements
  • Philly Bail Fund’s efforts to remove the income barrier to freedom
  • The compassionate folks over at PAWS working to give every animal the chance to have a loving family

Thanks to all the volunteers, you took the time to learn from organizations close to the problems, and found ways to contribute. We are so proud to be a part of a community that shows up en masse to use their skills just to help, with no expectation of reward.

We wholeheartedly support the work that Code for Philly does and the capacity we have here to help our friends and neighbors. When we signed up to be co-directors, we knew this was a time limited tenure. It’s time for new voices and new perspectives to take the lead! But don’t worry - we’re sticking around to support projects, non-profit partners, our brilliant new co-director (and her yet unknown partner in crime!), and the mission of the organization. Don’t be a stranger!

Welcome Kat Jost as Code for Philly Co-Director

Kat Jost is a technology consulting leader who builds and guides high-performing software development teams on mission-driven projects as the VP of Client Engagement at Jarvus Innovations. Side hustles include mentoring small business owners in Philly and serving as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at Technology Learning Collaborate (TLC), a nonprofit that promotes digital equity in Philadelphia. In a past life, she was the founder of Skilled Not Ill, a mental wellness social club and consultancy in Center City.

Coming Soon: In-person Events

We are currently scouting out locations for in-person Hack Nights (weekly or bi-weekly, TBD) and monthly meetups as well as the yearly Hackathon. Hack Nights will be for project teams to meet and work on their projects together in person and for technology enthusiasts of all kinds to meet and socialize. Monthly meetups will be centered around a topic for technological engagement. Topics in the past have included criminal record expungement and the battle against the opioid crisis. Hackathons are fun and engaging multi-day events that allow multi-disciplinary teams including subject matter experts and civic technologists (not just coders) to solve civic issues around a common theme. So far we have been exploring rooms in coworking spaces that can fit anywhere from 30-150 people. If you have a space you’d like to donate or provide a nonprofit discount for, contact Co-Director Kat Jost at kjost@codeforphilly.org.

Help Us Help Philly

Our strategy is to build up our leadership team with two new roles: Project Kickoff Lead and Project Success Lead. The former will help source projects and walk the partner organization through the onboarding process. The latter will source and connect volunteers to join new projects and ensure that existing project leads have the team members and resources they need.

Help Us Promote Underrepresented People in Tech

We’re in the early planning process of our annual Tech Fellowship program presented by Comcast. Heading into its third year, the Tech Fellowship has allowed individuals who are newer to tech or want to break into a more senior role in the industry, a paid, 10 week, part time position supporting a Code for Philly project while offering skill-building, networking, and other professional development opportunities.

For this year’s program, we’re currently working to identify a benefiting Code for Philly project that would benefit from the contributions of paid, part-time Fellow contributions. Fellows will work together with experienced technical mentors from Comcast to deliver on the goals of the benefiting project.

Could your project benefit from a swarm of contributions? Do you know of an exciting new project idea that could use the help to get it kickstarted? Please contact Co-Director Kat Jost! kjost@codeforphilly.org

Stay tuned in the coming months for more information on the Fellowship. Fellow applications should open in late summer / early fall!