Aloha Network!
Today, I celebrate my final day as Senior Program Director for the Network, a journey that started in 2021 as Director for the Brigade Program. For someone who has been transformed as much and as many times by this work as I have, it has been a dream to be able to give back in this way. For someone who found “home” in this community, it has been the honor of a lifetime to serve you.
I could reflect for days about everything I would want to share from this experience especially since we are a community in transition and in a critical moment of collective reflection overall. I hope to be a part of that collective reflection in the coming weeks and months.
In the meantime, there are two things that have come up for me in this transition that I want to celebrate in this moment.
- We have accomplished so much! That has certainly been true of the Network since I started at Code for America, but it is even more true in the 10 years since the first captains rolled off the assembly line. I spent some time on the wayback machine looking at old brigade blog posts. I highly recommend it. Share out what you find. Rejoice!
- We continue to cultivate leadership in our communities. Whether we identify as Brigade organizers, Network volunteers, or human centered technologists, the work happening in the Network has always been to develop home-grown leadership. While our relationships, structures, and tactics will change with the times, the need to take and inspire bold, courageous action in all of our communities will never change. We may march forward on different paths, but we are all doing that.
Please know that I won’t be far (electronically speaking), among other things, continuing to volunteer with Code for Hawaii. In my new role at the Hawaii Leadership Forum/Omidyar Fellows, I will continue to focus on networks and network impact, and I hope I can be a resource to this networked Brigade community as we continue our journies as legally independent entities.
For those of you who know me, you know this is very personal work for me. And on a personal note, I have cherished each and every volunteer relationship Iʻve had the opportunity to cultivate over the last two years in these roles. Thank you for being there for me and thank you for being there for each other. Iʻm endlessly grateful for the transformations we’ve been through together so far. Iʻm looking forward to the transformation we will continue to go through together!
Imua!
Ben…