Open Patterson was an idea years in the making, but it was not until mid-February 2022 that we took the first steps to launch the Open Patterson Brigade. In late-April 2022, Carlos signed the Memorandum of Understanding, making Open Patterson an official Code for America brigade. After the dissolution of the Code for America Brigade Network, we joined the Open Collective who continues to be our fiscal sponsor.
Far too often in the the Technology industry, we have people presenting solutions without first consulting the people who it will affect the most. To us, Community-Led and Community-Centered means that our members will be mostly made up of members in our community, but we will also reach out to members of the community outside our team to consult. We must meet folks where they are, rather than expecting them to come to us.
Unfortunately, the Stanislaus area is severely lacking in tech opportunities. So, when a member of our community ends up learning tech skills or graduates with a Computer Science degree, they almost always have to leave Stanislaus in search of opportunities, often to never return. While we hope that new ventures pop up in the area and the rise of remote work will allow these folks to remain in Stanislaus, we embrace a remote-first structure, so that those folks who did leave can continue to contribute to their hometowns.
As we launch and begin to grow, our focus is not only on those who already have the skills needed to contribute, but those interested in learning them. That is why we happily invite folks who have 10 years of experience or just a month, we want to be able to provide the space for folks to learn. In doing so, we can begin to foster a community of creators, engineers, leaders, and advocates who will continue to pay it forward in the future.