Drupal for Good - Twin Cities Style

As many of you are aware, our friend and colleague Matthew Tift has been writing a lot about the Drupal Community and most recently, Drupal as a Political Act.

He has also been having discussions with a number of people about re-emphasizing the idea of Drupal as a social good and encouraging more thought on how the Drupal community is doing things to make the world a better place. I've had a couple of such discussions with him and he's inspired me to think more about these topics.

This week is a period of important political and social transition in the United States (and beyond). I have been reflecting a lot on this fact and how I personally plan to respond to the potential changes happening in our country. Rather than being an observer, I would like to take time this week to take action that uses my professional skills and reflects my own values of participation, social engagement, and social justice.

This Saturday, I'm going to find someplace pubic (coffee shop or library) and volunteer my time and skills to work on a project that promotes my own version of the social good. If anyone would like to join me, that would be great. It's short notice and I'm not expecting more than a few people, but I'd like to think of this as a start towards something that Matthew has been talking about for the last few months (or longer). I know that Matthew would love to be there, but due to his personal schedule will probably not be available this week.

I have some ideas for a project or two that we could work on. But, I'd love to hear suggestions from others. In the longer term, I think that as a community we might consider partnering with some local non-profits to provide them with technical assistance to achieve some of our shared goals.

I wrote something like this on my website.
http://www.stpaultim.com/articles/drupal-good-or-public-service-therapy

Let me know if you are interested or have ideas for projects we might work on.