service organization

We’re excited to continue building AI in Practice with our monthly social! 🎉 Each month, we’ll host an informal happy hour and dinner at Upside on Moore in Rosslyn. Come join fellow AI builders, professionals, and curious minds for a relaxed evening of conversation, connection, and community. Whether you’re working on AI systems, advising on responsible adoption, or just interested in how AI is shaping law, compliance, finance, healthcare, defense, software, mission-driven organizations, or public service — this is a chance to meet like-minded people and help shape what this community becomes. 🍸 Drinks and food are available for purchase at the venue. 🤝 No formal agenda — just introductions, networking, and sharing what excites us about AI in practice. We’re so grateful for the early enthusiasm, and we look forward to seeing you each month as this community grows! **Date, Time & Location** 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM Thursday 23 October 2025 Upside on Moore 1831 Moore Street Arlington, VA 22209

Join us for Career Night to learn how our agency works, what we do, and how you can earn part-time or full-time income helping families with financial literacy and protection.

Holy Cross-Words Toastmasters Club (http://1341379.toastmastersclubs.org/) is open to all. The club meets 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month at 5:30pm via Zoom Meeting: Meeting ID: 848 0115 8880 Password: 996403 In addition, on 4th Tuesday of each month for an in-person meeting at the Professional and Community Education Center (PCEC) at Holy Cross Hospital. The PCEC is located on the first floor of Holy Cross Hospital, 1500 Forest Glen Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910

Come learn how money really works. We’ll cover how to grow it, protect it, get out of debt, and use smart retirement and infinite banking strategies to build long-term security.

We will have open shop hours for anyone to bring their bikes to work on or need help fixing your own bike. We will also have bikes that need to be fixed so you can learn if you like. We will need everyone to sign in when arriving and sign out when leaving so we can keep track of volunteer hours and shop times. Suggested donation of $15 per hour for use of tools and space would be appreciated. Thank you!

Svalbard isn’t on most people’s bucket lists—but it should be. At 78° N, this remote Arctic archipelago offers stunning glaciers, tundra, and endless daylight. Polar bears roam the pack ice, Arctic foxes prowl the tundra, and Svalbard reindeer graze among snowfields. For birders, it’s a world of extremes—alive with Thick-billed Murres, Dovekies, Northern Fulmars, and Ivory Gulls patrolling the ice edge. In June, Alex Pellegrini led a small-group expedition there with *Caretta Inspired Nature Journeys*, a nonprofit helping wildlife “one trip at a time.” Join Alex for breathtaking photos, close encounters, and stories from the top of the world. The meeting will be at the Hap Arnold Center, College Park Airport. It will start at 7:30PM, the door opens at 7:00. Free and open to the public.

Come volunteer with us refurbishing donated bicycles so that they can be used again by the community! This event is open to both new and existing volunteers. No mechanical experience is necessary. Note: The warehouse location is in the alley behind 1502 Mt Vernon Ave. Enter through the gray door next to a roll-down garage door. If you drive to the location, be sure to park in the street, not in the alleys or parking lots surrounding the warehouse. And wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty with bicycle grease! Please be aware that volunteers under 18 need a parent or guardian to accompany them to their first volunteer experience and sign a liability waiver, while volunteers under 16 need a parent or guardian to accompany them at all times while volunteering with Vélocity.

**DC Service Jam is back.** This March, SD:DC is hosting the DC edition of Global Service Jam 2026 week. We are part of a worldwide movement of designers, strategists, and curious minds who come together to build real service concepts from scratch. From **Saturday March 14 to Sunday March 15**, you'll work in a small team around a secret theme revealed at kick-off. No briefs, no client. Just hands-on design, rapid prototyping, and plenty of Post-its. This year we're bringing AI into the mix. Throughout the weekend we'll look at how AI tools can support service design work, as a sensemaking tool, to build artifacts faster, and to push prototypes further. **WHAT TO EXPECT** **Saturday March 14th** * **9 - 10am:** social / breakfast (theme reveal + team formation) * **10am - 6pm:** full day of research, ideation, and prototyping (meals provided) * **6:30pm (optional):** social / happy hour (nearby bar) **Sunday March 15th** * **9 - 10am:** social / breakfast * **10am - 12pm:** finalize prototyping & storytelling * **12pm - 2pm:** present your work and share what DC made with the world **WHO SHOULD COME** You don't need to be a service designer. If you're a UX or product designer, strategist, public servant, researcher, or just someone curious about how services actually work, you're welcome here. **LOGISTICS** * **Dates:** Saturday March 14th & Sunday 15th (ending at 2pm) * **Venue:** SteamPunk, McLean, VA * **Capacity:** 50 spots only (first come, first served) * **Attendee fee:** $60\* (covers meals, materials, and space) *\* If the fee is a barrier for you, we have a limited number of discounted tickets available, just reach out to Sergio Venegas directly for a code.* **WHAT TO BRING** ✔️ An open mind and a willingness to make things ✔️ Laptop and charger ✔️ Curiosity about Service Design (no experience needed) **Follow SD:DC on LinkedIn and @DCServiceJam on Instagram for updates!** \*\*\* Many thanks to our host and sponsor, **SteamPunk** *Design. Disrupt, Repeat. Steampunk is anchored by a startup culture with a customer-centered delivery approach. We put our Federal government clients in the center of everything we design, develop, and deliver to drive high quality mission impacts and user experiences at speed.*

**Join a work party to organize the Velocity Bike Co-op warehouse from 9 a.m. to noon, usually on the first Saturday of each month--but on the second Saturday this time.** Mike Pattisall, Velocity's business manager, will guide volunteers in improving the space where we work. You don't need to be there the whole time. Just come when you can, and wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty with bicycle grease. **Help keep the warehouse organized so there's space to work on bikes on volunteer nights!** Please note that volunteers under 18 are required to have a parent or guardian attend the beginning of their first volunteering session in order to sign a waiver for them, and volunteers under 16 are required to have a parent or guardian present with them during all the time they spend volunteering at Velocity.

⭐️Ready to expand your professional network in a meaningful way? ⭐️Join us for a networking mixer designed to help you make real connections, not just small talk. Lets meet at Punch Bowl Social an amazing venue "eatertainment" combining a scratch-kitchen restaurant, craft cocktail bar, and social gaming hub in a large, retro-designed space. It features activities like bowling, karaoke, ping-pong, and arcade games. It is designed as a lively hangout spot for groups, offering comfort food with a modern twist. 📍Address: Punch Bowl Social 4238 Wilson Blvd Ste 1180, Arlington, VA 22203 🚆Ballston Metro is a 5 min walk and you can park in the Ballston Public Parking Garage Rate: Up to 3 hours - $1 and 3-4 hours - $3 🏷At this event, you’ll receive a name tag where you’ll write: Your Name Your Industry / Profession 👀This makes it easy to spot people in your field (or ones you want to connect with) Whether you're looking for new opportunities, Hiring, Building a business, exploring a career change, or just expanding your circle, this event is designed to help spark relevant conversations 🎯 Who Should Attend: Professionals across all industries - Entrepreneurs - Job seeker - Hiring manager - Career switcher - Students & recent grad See you there!

Come celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Arlington Jaycees! We will be heading to Celtic House Irish Pub in the Columbia Pike neighborhood for some drinks and good times. Come stop by to mingle, meet friends, and enjoy one of the area's best bars. **First 10 people to show up receive a free beer of the host's choosing!** Celtic House is located along Columbia Pike in south Arlington and is accessible by bus or car. Parking is limited, so public transportation/rideshare is encouraged. We will be meeting inside the bar at 8pm. Keep a look out in the chat or comments for where we are if you can't find us!

This is an opportunity for volunteers to support a professional mechanic as he guides customers working on their own bikes. If you know how to do some basic repairs, that's a plus, but even if you don't, you can greet customers and manage who gets helped next. Feel free to attend for only a portion of the time if you can't be there the whole three hours. Please note that this event is not usually an opportunity to learn about bicycle repair, since the mechanic tends to be very busy helping customers, especially during the warmer months. But it's a great way to contribute to Velocity, since almost all the funding for the volunteer program comes from the work done at the shops.

Join the CONNECTED Westerville Mastermind Group for a dynamic afternoon of B2B networking! This event is perfect for professionals looking to expand their business connections, share insights, and foster collaboration within the community. Whether you are a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, this event offers a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas, build relationships, and grow your network in a supportive environment. Connect with like-minded individuals, explore potential partnerships, and discover new opportunities for professional growth. Don't miss out on this chance to enhance your business network and take your career to the next level with CONNECTED Westerville Mastermind Group! We meet the 4th Monday of every month from 11am-1pm. Welcome and general networking from 11am - 11:30am with core meeting 11;30 - 12:30 and a final round of networking from 12:30 - 1pm.

Builders, creators, architects, admins, consultants - come one, come all. This one's for you. We're bringing a little friendly competition to the Columbus ServiceNow community while highlighting the cool things people have built on the platform. Five presenters will take the stage to showcase something they've built, solved, designed, or imagined on the ServiceNow platform - and a panel of judges (plus YOU, our amazing audience) will score them live. So basically, America's Got Talent but make it ServiceNow's Got Talent. Bring a notepad if you'd like 'cause you'll definitely be learning something new. Each presenter gets 10 minutes max to wow the crowd with: • A demo • A real-world business solution • A bold idea • A UX transformation • Or a creative use of the platform Judging Criteria: 🏆 Business Value 🚀 Innovation ✨ User Experience This event is about celebrating ideas, sharing knowledge, and showing how ServiceNow can drive both business impact and meaningful user value. Come learn. Come support. Come get inspired. Refreshments and bites will be provided. And maybe next time… you’ll be on stage.

Discover Kiro, AWS’s innovative development environment that adapts to your workflow. Whether you prefer specification-driven development or a more intuitive, vibe-based approach, Kiro empowers you to build applications your way. In this session, speakers will explore Kiro’s core functionality and its evolution through re:Invent 2025, along with demonstrations of prompts used to create APIs, hooks, and steering documents. In the latter part of the session, watch as we build a complete example from scratch, showcasing Kiro’s agentic AI workflow in action for spec-driven development and vibe coding. What You'll Learn - Core Kiro concepts and development philosophy Feature evolution: pre and post re:Invent 2025 Practical examples: API creation, hooks, and steering docs Live coding demonstration with real-time problem solving Who Should Attend - Developers, solutions architects, and technical leaders interested in modern AWS development tools and AI-assisted coding workflows. **Speakers Bio:** Matthew Jorat: Matthew Jorat is a Customer Solutions Manager at AWS with nearly three decades of expertise in AI, cloud transformation, migration, modernization, IT, technology, and business. His career spans infrastructure engineer, solutions architect, security auditor, customer success director, support and services director, and operations officer. He was an early adopter of AWS services as a customer, and his current role at AWS uniquely blends his technical and business skills as he partners with executive teams to translate strategic priorities into measurable business outcomes through cloud adoption, AI implementation, and operational excellence. Matt leads end-to-end AI initiatives for enterprise customers, identifying high-impact use cases and maintaining relentless focus on measurable ROI. He holds eight AWS certifications and serves as Adjunct Professor at Franklin University teaching cloud computing and AWS architecture. His expertise encompasses GenAI, agentic AI systems, migration, modernization, and optimization strategies that drive transformation at scale. [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/) Girish Bhatia: Girish Bhatia is a seasoned technology delivery leader with deep expertise in cross-domain program management. He holds multiple AWS certifications, including AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, AWS Certified Developer – Associate, and AWS Generative AI Practitioner, and is also an AWS Community Builder. Girish brings over two decades of experience in the information technology industry. Throughout his career, Girish has led major technology-driven business transformation from modernizing on-premises applications to driving large-scale cloud migrations. His work includes API-based integration platforms, data-center and mainframe modernization, and enterprise cloud adoption initiatives. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Girish works at a tech-forward fintech company. He is passionate about AWS serverless architectures, Generative AI and emerging cloud technologies. An avid learner and builder, he continues to explore and apply the latest innovations in AWS to help organizations accelerate their digital transformation. https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/[https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/) **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

One of the most valuable parts of this community is the opportunity to think out loud with other product professionals. This session is built for exactly that. As we wrap up the quarter, it’s a great time to pause and reflect. What’s on track? What needs adjustment? Where could a small shift create bigger impact? Join fellow product professionals for a focused, interactive conversation designed to help you recalibrate for the next quarter. You’ll have the opportunity to share where you are, hear how others are thinking through similar challenges, and gain fresh perspective you can bring back to your team and organization. We’ll gather at 8:00AM, with discussion starting promptly at 8:15AM. 📍 First Watch - 7227 N High St Located in: The Shops at Worthington Ample parking is available. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Start your morning with clarity and connection — we hope to see you there! ☀️

WQC has weekly Thursday night social nights at the Westerville Java Central. Come and grab a coffee and connect with the community: low stakes, chill environment, and tasty drinks. No registration is required; come as you are.

Is your business taking more of your time than you would like? [Rob Young](https://www.linkedin.com/in/cinci-robyoung/) principal at [Stage 3 Group](https://www.linkedin.com/company/stage-3-group/), hosts this workshop series and is the author of Stage 3 Success. * Provides a framework and a playbook for leaders of emerging businesses * Reviews business management tools and techniques for scaling and maturing a business * How to recognize and leverage stories hidden in financial statements * How to implement financial and operational controls and use leading indicators to spot trouble before it occurs * How to manage your time for maximum effect * How to deal with nonperforming employees * How to create standard operating procedures throughout your organization Four sessions will include two hours of content and an optional 90-minute hands-on lab. Reserve your spot via this link: https://clintonvilleba.com/calendar/#!event/2026/3/20/chaos-to-clarity-to-control ($200 for non-CABA members.)