Come join us for our monthly meeting! We'll be brainstorming the answers to a few questions... 1. How can we partner with other organizations in town to create events? (TAO and others) 2. How should ChickTech take advantage of all of the talented people who want to volunteer now that our workshop teams are mainly formed? Also, those in other states... 3. How should we strategically build our board of advisors/directors? 4. What will ChickTech: Career look like? What will best support women in tech/women who want to be in tech? We look forward to seeing you all there!

We'll be discussing two questions: 1. Could we create ChickTech chapters in the schools to grow the movement in each high school and strengthen our connection with them?
2. What would that look like and who can we partner with to support it?

Join ChickTech at our annual Mid-Summer Picnic! Families (including children) are welcome. Please make sure each person is counted in your registration so we have an accurate count!

Other than eating free food, we'll have two fun activities. The first will be a soldering station, where anyone can learn to solder (or teach others to solder!). The second will be an activity creating a simple e-textile project (using fabric or felt to create an item that uses a small battery, sensors, and lights/sounds to react to the sensors--here are some more complex examples: http://makezine.com/2010/04/06/geek-chic-massive-e-textiles-roundu/). This is going to be a really fun event! We're excited, and we hope you'll join us to celebrate a summer that is starting any day now, tasty food, and of course women in tech. :)

This is a free event, but please feel free to make a donation to help defray our costs if you are able. All donations are tax-deductible and help keep our K-12 activities free to participants.

Food will be provided. Transportation will be provided as needed to HS participants, either through transit passes or pickup.

NOTE: This is now a 1 day event. We hope you can join us.

Let's use our skills to make our community a better place for women and girls!

Are you a woman interested in brainstorming and creating solutions for a nonprofit? Well, we have the event for you! We're bringing in nonprofits who are focused on women and girls (or issues that women and girls encounter) who have something that they've been struggling with...and our goal is to have a viable solution for each of them by the end of the weekend!

Do I have the skills to attend?

• Are you a women who is 15 years of age or older?
• Are you a programmer?
• Are you an interface designer?
• Are you a manager?
• Are you a teacher (either officially or not)?
• Do you have experience with psychology?
• Are you an artist?
• Are you passionate about helping non-profits?

If you answered yes to any of those, then yes! You should. We are looking to have teams of women with diverse backgrounds. If you are under 15, let us know and we will see if we can work something out.

Why should I attend?

• Altruism. Community-Mindedness. You'd like to help the local community with your skills.
• Learn from your group members. You'll be on a diverse team of women. We are sure that you'll learn a lot from each other!
• Learn about the non-profits. Portland has a great nonprofit community and this event will help you get in touch with some of them.
• Help fundraise for ChickTech K-12 events. By paying for your participation, you are not only getting this experience (and food for days!), you are also helping to make our K-12 events free for participants. Thank you in advance for your support!
• Childcare is provided.
• Delicious food is provided. Eat up!

What are we doing, exactly?

You will be in a group of women working on a project for a local nonprofit. The projects are listed below under the Nonprofits section.

Each project will have a tech component, but we're looking to create a team with diverse skills to address the needs of the nonprofit. Each group will have a ChickTech or Thetus volunteer to help out. Each group will have a representative from the nonprofit to answer any questions. At the end of the weekend, we want to have a viable solution for the non-profit.

Can men attend?

YES! We are looking for supportive techie guys to help provide childcare for the event in order to break yet another stereotype. We are hoping to have some fun, hands-on activities for the kids too, depending on ages and age ranges.

Can I attend for free?

YES! We are offering a sliding scale because we do not want cost to be a barrier for anyone to attend. If you can afford any of the cost options, please help us out! This will help us cover the costs of this event. Any extra money goes to funding our K-12 programs to ensure that they remain free for participants.

Event Schedule

Friday: 6:30p - 9p, hors d'oeuvres, choose projects, meet teams! Saturday: 9:30a - 5:30p, breakfast, work with teams, lunch, more work! Sunday: 9:30a - 5:30p, breakfast, work, lunch, work, present (not the noun, the verb)!

Help us by spreading the word!

Tweet: "Let's help nonprofits in #pdx! Join me for @ChickTechOrg's Nonprofit Problem Storming Event! Learn more: http://chicktechproblemstorming.eventbrite.com/" Facebook: "Let's help nonprofits in #pdx! Join me for @ChickTech's Nonprofit Problem Storming Event! Learn more: http://chicktechproblemstorming.eventbrite.com/"

Nonprofits and Projects

Below are the nonprofits who are involved with this event. If you have one of any of the skills listed on any of the projects, consider attending this event to help out our nonprofit community.

My Sister's House

My Sister's House is a home for women with children who have suffered domestic violence/and or abuse and need a safe environment to create new lives.
Problem: Need complete website and branding overhaul! http://mysistershouse.net/ Skills needed (including but not limited to): website design, website development, user experience, branding, artists

Oregon Tradeswomen

Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. (OTI) is dedicated to promoting success for women in the trades through education, leadership and mentorship. Problem: Need help with communications throughout the organization! Especially around email, calendars, etc. Skills needed (including but not limited to): experience with nonprofits, organizational skills, management, software/website development

Girl Scouts

Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington serves members throughout Oregon, and Clark and Skamania Counties in Washington; they currently serve 24,000 girl and adult members. Problem: Need help creating a training strategy that works for the adult volunteers in the organization, especially with regards to online and blended methods. Skills needed (including but not limited to): education, pyschology, web service development, training experience, evaluation experience, web design

Betties360

Betties360's mission is to inspire confidence, well-being, and community in girls through action sports, outdoor adventure, and life-skill education. Problem: Need help with publicity and fundraising...in general getting the word out to more people! Possibly a creative marketing campaign? Skills needed (including but not limited to): nonprofit fundraising, marketing, social media experience, branding experience, designers, artists

Snowdrift.coop

Snowdrift.coop is an in-progress web platform aiming to provide on-going community engagement and fundraising for all manner of creative projects (software, music/art, research, educational resources, and more) where results are released freely with no proprietary restrictions on access, modification, or sharing. Problem: We need help introducing the Snowdrift.coop system to creative projects and to patrons; maybe an infographic or a game? Skills needed (including but not limited to): nonprofit fundraising, marketing, designer, game development, user experience designer

Lilka, Inc

[Note: Lilka is not a nonprofit, but their mission is to help nonprofits work together better, which we think is worth supporting! Plus, it's a women-founded tech startup, which is awesome.] Lilka, Inc is creating a project coordination tool for nonprofit organizations to help them coordinate both internal projects and projects between nonprofits who want to work together.
Problem: We're at the stage where we're fleshing out our ideas, and we would love some help integrating the functionality of Asana and Google Docs/Drive as a first step. This tool will be used to coordinate NPOs in both everyday situations and emergencies where cooperation between NPOs will save lives. Skills needed (including but not limited to): Front end web design, user interface design, business, project management, back-end programming, nonprofit experience, graphic design

If you know of other nonprofits who would like to participate email us at [email protected]. If you would like to get more information on volunteering for this event, also email us at [email protected]. ChickTech's fiscal sponsor is TechStart, a registered 501(c)(3).

Nov 20, 5:30-8:30 Nov 21, 5:30-8:30

Come learn how to make a simple project with hardware!! No experience necessary.

$50, which pays for the hardware and food; if you have your own hardware, $20. Scholarships available. Limit 30, so sign up soon! Also, if you're interested in volunteering, let us know.

We'd love to start an group of women who meet monthly to continue working on their projects, and/or to go to different hardware groups and events together!