Diversity & Inclusion

Here’s what Philly tech was up to during MLK Day

From impact-oriented dev projects to good ol' fashioned clothing drives, here's how some Philly technologists spent their day of service.

Code for Philly and Think Company working on Project Cognoma, an open source project to better analyze cancer data, on MLK Day 2017. (Courtesy photo)

While some view Martin Luther King Day as a straight-up holiday, a few Philly technologists honored the day’s spirit by taking on impact projects across town on Monday.

We saw Code for Philly partner with Think Company developers to lend a hand to Project Cognoma, an open-source project which is using machine learning to help biologists with cancer research.

“Code for Philly was able to connect civic technologists with a private company, bringing together unique skill sets to collaborate and make a big impact in a small amount of time,” wrote Code for Philly’s comms lead Pat Woods in a blog post. “Project Cognoma received expertise consulting on their user interfaces. Think Company designers and UX volunteers were able to spend the day using design thinking to fight cancer.”

On a more low-tech note, Comcast’s Black Employee Network  teamed up with nonprofit City Year to help spruce up Harding Middle School in Frankford.

They also got some help from AT&T workers

Meanwhile, the Interactive Mechanics camp unplugged from tech by joining the Museum of Impact’s Upstanders project, which aimed to join artistic expressions with activism.

The scrappy team behind Philly Startup Leaders teamed up with Nationalities Service Center to help preparing inmigrants for the harsh winter with a good ol’ fashioned clothing drive:

And last but not least: while this reporter dedicated the day to tackle wonky administrative tasks for nonprofit Casa de Venezuela, the Technically Media team offered a day of service to the Bryant Baptist Church in Point Breeze.

And what did you do on MLK Day? Be sure to tell us in the comments below.

Companies: Interactive Mechanics / Think Company / AT&T / Philly Startup Leaders / Technical.ly

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