Find your people.Build your edge.
Free workshops and team projects at your local public library, made by volunteers and open to anyone.
Work is changing too fast to figure out alone. So we don't.
Whoever you are, you're in the right place.
Changing careers, just starting out, or decades in and ready to pass it on. We'll help you find your footing, and what you get out of it grows with what you put in.
186 people have joined so far.
No tech background needed, and nothing to buy.
It's free, and you sign in with Google. Then you'll see what's on near you.
Where it started
It started at the library.
In fall 2025, fifty former federal workers met at DC Public Library to work out their next move together. What they started is now open to everyone.
We believe what comes next should be shaped by many people, not a few, and that this can become part of how that happens for decades to come. It's early, and the people here now get to decide what it becomes.
Three ways in
Learn. Build. Share.
Come to a free workshop. Team up on a twelve-week project. Teach what you know. Start with whichever fits. Most people end up doing all three.
01
Learn.
Get sharp, in good company.
Twice a week, drop in
Free workshops at your local public library, and some online, on the skills that matter at work right now. No application, no experience needed. Anyone can come.
Workshops
Hands-on, with people at every level.
- Skills that lastCommunicating, telling a story, framing a problem well.
- Using AI wellWhat the tools can and can't do, getting good answers, and building simple apps and agents.
Come once, or every week.
How workshops work →
Coming up
Pick one and come along.
Nothing is on the calendar right now. Join, and you'll hear the moment the next one is.
Every event →02
Build.
Make something real.
Twelve weeks, on a team
A Build Cycle is twelve weeks where strangers pick a problem worth solving, team up, and make something that helps.
The first month
Strangers become a Pod.
Everyone joins a group of nine or more, called a Pod, around a problem situation you choose together: a real, messy problem people face. It can feel uncertain at first. That's normal: everyone finds a Pod, and a Poderator keeps it together.
Teams
Then you find your team.
As ideas take shape, teams of three to five form around the ones people want to make. Mentors, experienced volunteers who've done this before, are there to help. The busiest weeks are at the start and the end.
When you get stuck
Every obstacle becomes a workshop.
When your team hits a wall, a Mentor helps you over it. Then they turn it into a workshop, so the next team doesn't hit the same one.
The Showcase
Show what you made.
At the end, every team shows its project in public, at the Showcase. Anyone can use what you made, and your name stays on it.
“The program gave me purpose again—connecting me with mission-driven public servants to tackle real problems.”
“I left realizing my gap is exactly where my strength lies—translating between tools, teams, and user needs.”
Applications open
Fall 2026 starts October 13.
It's free, and places are limited.
Fall 2026 is underway
The next cycle is coming.
Applications for Fall 2026 have closed, and the teams are building. You don't have to wait to get involved: drop into a workshop, come to the Showcase, or help as a Mentor.
Between cycles
The next cycle is coming.
Fall 2026 ended at its Showcase on January 12. You don't have to wait to get involved: drop into a workshop, or help as a Mentor.
- No lectures.Workshops teach skills; your Pod is where you practise.
- Not job placement.You leave with something you made, with your name on it, and people who've built with you.
- In person.Evenings at your local public library, with some sessions online.
- A real commitment.Twelve weeks, busiest at the start and the end.
Make your free account, then apply from there.
Your account tells you when the next cycle opens.
Your account tells you when the next cycle opens.
How a Build Cycle works →What you make goes further
One big open project.
The workshops, the guides, the way a Build Cycle runs, the tools: volunteers make all of it, in the open, and it's free for anyone. Anyone can add to it. What works best in practice is what we keep and share with Labs in other cities, with your name still on it.
It keeps getting better.
Every workshop helps a team. Every team's trouble becomes a workshop. Each cycle starts a little further ahead than the last.
Your city
It starts in your city.
Each city has its own Lab, run by the people in it and at home in its public library. DC is up and running, and we're opening in more cities now.
- Washington, DCUp and running · DC Public Library
- Baltimore, MDThe list has started
- Dallas, TXThe list has started
- Burlington, NCBe the first on the list
Join, and you'll hear the moment one opens near you.
Find a Lab →Start a Lab
The next Lab could start with you.
Every Lab starts with a few people who want one where they live. You don't need to have done this before.
You bring the people. We'll bring the workshops, the Build Cycle and the tools, and help you find it a home at your public library.
The first people in a city decide what its Lab becomes.
Make your free account and tell us where you are. We'll talk it through with you.
How starting a Lab works →Start this week.
Come to a workshop, apply for the fall, or tell us what you could teach. Bring what you've got, and we'll help with the rest.
You'd be one of the first.
- LearnYour account, then a workshop.→
- BuildYour account, then apply.→
- ShareYour account, then a place to help.→
It's free, and you sign in with Google. We'll show you what's on near you.