Civic Engagement Near Me

Walk & Talk About Life's Big Questions

ServiceNow Knowledge 26 Recap + Topgolf Happy Hour

Couldn't make Knowledge? Or want to debrief the dancing robots or Autonomous Workforce? Join us for a Knowledge '26 recap, insights sharing, a couple rounds of golf, and fun at Topgolf. As always, drinks and food will be provided. More details to come — mark your calendar, RSVP, and save your spot today!

COUNT RMH Housewarmer Volunteering (Ronald McDonald House)

Some trained COUNT volunteers work together once a month at RMH (http://www.rmhc-centralohio.org/volunteer.php) as Housewarmers (usually on the 1st Sunday from 1 – 5 PM). Some schedule other shifts at their convenience. You may try this out with less fuss by following a "Fast track" or go through the normal process. Fast track • Arrange a time to shadow a COUNT volunteer. Call Dave Nohle at 614-268-9558 (cell). • Show up and try it out. • Complete application, etc. later. Normal process • Complete an online application (http://rmhc-centralohio.org/volunteer/). • Attend orientation in advance. • At orientation you will complete forms agreeing to keep family/patient info private and allowing a background check and tour the facility. • Complete one training shift. Daily shifts are: morning 9 AM - 1 PM, afternoon 1 - 5 PM and evening 5 - 9 PM. • Schedule shifts online using the on the RMH scheduling system (http://www.volgistics.com/ex/portal.dll/?FROM=32895). The Ronald McDonald House (RMH) provides housing and meals for families with sick children. The Columbus RMH is the largest in the world with 137 rooms. COUNT has been volunteering there since May 2014. Housewarmers work with RMH guests to provide a home-like environment - greet, assist with family needs, answer phones, give tours, assist with checkin/checkout, prepare guest rooms after checkout, clean facility, laundry, restock supplies and staff the front desk. RMH Housewarmers volunteer at least one four-hour shift a month. All Housewarmers must complete an application and agree to a background check before they can be full fledged volunteers.

Prompting Is Not Magic: How to Give AI Better Context

Most people use AI like a search box: they type one sentence, hope for the best, and get frustrated when the answer is generic, wrong, or useless. But getting better results from tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other AI systems is not about memorizing magic prompts. It is about learning how to give the AI better context. In this beginner-friendly session, we’ll break down how to make AI dramatically more useful by improving the way you communicate with it. You’ll learn how to give clearer instructions, provide examples, set constraints, ask for better output formats, and use follow-up questions to turn a mediocre answer into a genuinely useful one. We’ll cover practical techniques you can use immediately for work, learning, writing, coding, planning, research, and everyday problem solving. We’ll also touch on why these same ideas show up in more advanced AI systems, including RAG, agents, evaluations, and AI workflows. No technical background required. Bring your curiosity, your questions, and maybe one real task you wish AI was better at helping you with. **What you’ll learn:** * Why “better prompting” is really about better context * How to structure requests so AI gives more useful answers * How to use examples, constraints, and output formats * How to iterate when the first answer is not good enough * How these skills connect to more advanced AI workflows This meetup is for anyone who wants to move beyond basic ChatGPT usage and start getting more practical value out of AI. LOGISTICS AND PARKING: The talk starts at 7:00 PM. The first half hour is reserved for everyone to get set up and mingle. Free pizza and drinks! The cheapest parking option is to find street parking, which will only cost you a few bucks. Otherwise, park in the nearby veteran's museum lot for $8. It's highly recommended you avoid the nearby $15 garage parking.

Columbus Museum of Art, Free Admission Sundays

Let’s meet and wander the galleries! General admission on Sundays is free.

June 2026 AWS Columbus - Topic to be announced

Topic to be announced. **THANK YOU** *Franklin University* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Franklin University*, please visit their website: https://www.franklin.edu/ **DIRECTIONS** Franklin University Fisher Hall 300 E. Main St, Columbus, OH 43215 Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jxjBA2hUmS5qrvhq8 Parking is FREE! Please park in Lot C in front of Fisher Hall. See attached map. NOTE: Map the address only. When mapping with Google Maps it may use the Fisher Hall at OSU, which is NOT correct. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com

COUNT Discussion Meeting: Topic: Current Events

We may pick a specific topic and post in advance or may discuss current events and various ad hoc topics . We would love to spend time hanging out and getting to know one another. Atheist, agnostics, other non-theists, and atheist-friendly people are welcome to join us. Note: COUNT operates a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/groups/COUNT.discussions (http://www.facebook.com/groups/COUNT.discussions/) to promote discussions among members and visitors.

Let's Discover the Discovery District

Free- Backyard Conservation Workshop - get $50 voucher for your yard! - Gahanna

Community Backyards Workshop Join us at the Ohio Herb Center in Gahanna to learn about sustainable home gardening. We can make small changes in our yards to make a BIG impact for a better environment and healthier waterways while saving money. This workshop is presented by Friends of Alum Creek and hosted by Ohio Herb Center. By attending, any participating community resident can receive a voucher for a rain barrel, compost bin, or native plants for attending. Vouchers are limited to one per household per year. Registration in advance is encouraged but NOT required. Click here: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/65f65aw (Free Workshop Registration: Registration is free. Registering in advance provides your information to Franklin Soil and Water ahead of time, so when you come to the workshop, we will have your voucher ready for you when you arrive) * Location: Ohio Herb Center, 110 Mill St, Gahanna, OH 43230 * Date and time: Sat, May 23, 2026 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM * Organizer: The Community Backyards Program, (614) 486-9613, communitybackyards@franklinswcd.org **FAQs** **Our Community Backyards workshops are FREE and a great way to participate in the rebate program. Our workshops are typically 1 to 1 and a half hours long and held in-person. Our workshops cover the same content as the online course, but they are more detailed and allow the chance to ask questions and have discussions with the presenters and other residents. We occassionally have "advanced topics" classes where you dive deeper into one topic of Community Backyards such as invasive vs. native plants or rain gardens.** **Registration is encouraged but not required.** You can register in advance to receive your voucher at the workshop. If you don't register in advance, that's okay - you can still show up (unless otherwise noted - which is very rare) and sign up for a voucher at the class, and we will send you one via email or mail within a few business days after the workshop. **"Do I have to be a resident of that community to attend that workshop?"** Nope! Our workshops are open to everyone (unless otherwise noted - which is extremely rare). You can attend a workshop that best suits your schedule even if it is in a different community than your own. **"Why is registration closed?** Can I just show up?" Yes, you can show up without registering! We close registration typically 1-2 days before the workshop to give the vouchers and materials to the presenters. However, you are always welcome to just show up and fill out a short form to request a voucher at the workshop. If eligible, we will send one to you within 1-2 business days after the workshop. **Voucher note**: Classes are free for everyone but vouchers are for residents of Franklin county or participating community (list here: https://www.communitybackyards.org/participate) 2026 Participating Vendors: City Folk's Farm Shop, Fisher's Gardens, Leaves for Wildlife, Scioto Gardens, Hoover Gardens & Gift Center, and the FSWCD/SWACO Compost Bin Sale. *when redeeming your voucher at a vendor, Please bring a physical copy of your voucher to receive an immediate discount on your purchase. Additionally, to keep up with number of vouchers that are given out, we have changed the expiration date on the vouchers to 30 days

Free Backyard Conservation Workshop - get $50 voucher for your yard! Westerville

Community Backyards Workshop .Community Backyards Workshop - Westerville Join us for the Westerville Community Backyards workshop! This is a FREE class on how you can protect our waterways and environment with small changes in your gardening habits. We will discuss rain barrels, rain gardens, composting, and native plants. This workshop is presented by Friends of Alum Creek. By attending, any participating community resident can receive a voucher for a rain barrel, compost bin, or native plants for attending. Vouchers are limited to one per household per year. Registration in advance is encouraged but not required. * Location: Westerville Community Center, 350 N Cleveland Ave, Westerville, OH 43082 * Date and time: Sat, May 30, 2026 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM * Organizer: Community Backyards Program, (614) 486-9613, communitybackyards@franklinswcd.org (Free Workshop Registration: Registration is free. Registering in advance provides your information to Franklin Soil and Water ahead of time, so when you come to the workshop, we will have your voucher ready for you when you arrive) https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/h2w5ms8 **FAQs** **Our Community Backyards workshops are FREE and a great way to participate in the rebate program. Our workshops are typically 1 to 1 and a half hours long and held in-person. Our workshops cover the same content as the online course, but they are more detailed and allow the chance to ask questions and have discussions with the presenters and other residents. We occassionally have "advanced topics" classes where you dive deeper into one topic of Community Backyards such as invasive vs. native plants or rain gardens.** **Registration is encouraged but not required.** You can register in advance to receive your voucher at the workshop. If you don't register in advance, that's okay - you can still show up (unless otherwise noted - which is very rare) and sign up for a voucher at the class, and we will send you one via email or mail within a few business days after the workshop. **"Do I have to be a resident of that community to attend that workshop?"** Nope! Our workshops are open to everyone (unless otherwise noted - which is extremely rare). You can attend a workshop that best suits your schedule even if it is in a different community than your own. **"Why is registration closed?** Can I just show up?" Yes, you can show up without registering! We close registration typically 1-2 days before the workshop to give the vouchers and materials to the presenters. However, you are always welcome to just show up and fill out a short form to request a voucher at the workshop. If eligible, we will send one to you within 1-2 business days after the workshop. **Voucher note**: Classes are free for everyone but vouchers are for residents of Franklin county or participating community (list here: https://www.communitybackyards.org/participate) 2026 Participating Vendors: City Folk's Farm Shop, Fisher's Gardens, Leaves for Wildlife, Scioto Gardens, Hoover Gardens & Gift Center, and the FSWCD/SWACO Compost Bin Sale. *when redeeming your voucher at a vendor, Please bring a physical copy of your voucher to receive an immediate discount on your purchase. Additionally, to keep up with number of vouchers that are given out, we have changed the expiration date on the vouchers to 30 days

Drunken Philosophy: What’s up with all the AI hate?

**Welcome to Drunken Philosophy** a casual, curious social discussion **Optional topic for this meetup: What's up with all the AI hate?** A recent survey found that 74% of Americans have a negative view of AI, and I want to know why. Come out and debate whether AI is good or bad. My hot take: a labor-saving tool that could potentially help cure cancer gets called dangerous because it might raise unemployment or cause a speculative investment bubble, that tells you a lot more about capitalism and the economic system we live under than it does about the tool itself. As a computer programmer, I think AI is a wonderful tool that has increased my productivity by at least an order of magnitude. I'd go so far as to say Claude Code is the best tool I have ever used. Debate me and name a better one. Is AI potentially dangerous? Yes, but so are a lot of tools. Chainsaws. Steam engines (early ones would occasionally explode and kill everyone in the room). Do you think cavemen sat around debating whether fire could be used as a weapon or for self-harm, and decided not to discover it? I have two friends who hate AI for opposite reasons: one thinks it's a fad and not useful, and the other thinks it's going to take over everything and cause human extinction. Come out tonight, have a friendly debate, and make some friends. No lectures. Friendly crowd. Drop in for one drink and stay if it's fun.

Sunday Afternoon Coffee at Grandview Grind

Who else is ready to sit outside? Join us for a casual chat over coffee & tea at Grandview Grind! Come out and meet some new people, enjoy your favorite drink, and make some new friends!