DemocracyLab

Would you believe if I told you a single LinkedIn message could impact the lives of thousands of kids? Here’s how it went... A mate of mine reached out the other day. He runs a non-profit in New Zealand that has helped 1000s of kids who, for socioeconomic reasons, don't get the best shot in life, like you and me. He had a new idea or, more to the point, borrowed an idea from Dolly Parton, who created the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. When he contacted me, he had secured authors, publishers, and financial resources to start distributing books to kids to increase their literacy. He needed a solution to track the books, publishers, authors, schools, and the children and caregivers who would be receiving the books. I could see that the Power Platform could meet his needs. Using Dataverse, all private information can be kept private, and with role-based security, only approved users will have access to the data they need access to. So that brings me to what happened after he asked me. As many of you know, I am not “on the tools” anymore, but through the 90 Day Mentoring Challenge, I know over 1000 people who are. I sent a message to this group asking who could build a solution at no cost. (I am sure we will get the cost of licenses sorted). Within 60 seconds someone in Australia responded saying they would build it. Within the hour over five people had offered to build it. It's here where I get a little choked up as the Power Platform Community never ceases to amaze me with its rich generosity. I often have people say to me that their employer doesn't give them projects to work on that use the new tools from Microsoft. They feel they are stuck on a Dynamics 365 project or some old-school tech like SharePoint, but the opportunity to build your portfolio is everywhere. I dare you to start looking for these types of projects that could result in impacting thousands of lives. #PowerPlatform #NFP #Books

Today I participated in my first hackathon with DemocracyLab! I signed up to help a co-founder with their app that will help single mothers and fathers get financial assistance for rent, groceries and other necessities. I helped with a technical issue with not one but two platforms I did not have experience in. Flutterflow and Firebase. I collaborated with the co-founder and a seasoned developer. After researching key resources and following the steps I was able to identify a few fixes that solved the issue that caused an issue between flutterflow and firebase. In addition, I provided some project management guidance that they found helpful. I am looking forward to providing more value to that project and being able to learn while fulfilling my purpose.