You're early. This is Greater Washington's prototype, built during Build Cycle C04. It will change, and data may be reset.

Greater Washington · DC · MD · VA

The future isa group project.

Learn the tools changing work by using them on a real problem, with people across Greater Washington. Leave able to take on the next new thing. Free, and open to anyone.

Join Greater WashingtonSee how it works
ALEXANDRIAARLINGTONDISTRICT of COLUMBIAMONTGOMERY COUNTYFAIRFAX COUNTYPRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTYPotomac RiverAnacostia River
Sessions coming up Public libraries MetrorailBoundaries and water: US Census Bureau. Metrorail: Open Data DC. Libraries: each system’s branch list. Locations: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Where we meet

Free sessions at your public library.

No library card needed. No experience either.

Here’s what’s on.

  • Tue, Oct 27 · 2:15 PM · Southeast Neighborhood LibraryHow Might We...? An Intro to Design Thinking
  • Tue, Nov 10 · 12:30 PM · Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial LibraryLife After Layoffs: Stories of Resilience - Featuring the faces, stories, and futures of displaced workers
  • Tue, Dec 8 · 12 PM · Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial LibraryThe Upskilling Meetup
  • Tue, Dec 15 · 11 AM · West End Neighborhood LibraryThinking or Predicting? How AI Actually Works
How it works

Three verbs. No clearance required.

  1. Learn

    Come to a session at a library near you. Nobody checks your credentials at the door.

  2. Build

    Join a pod working on a real problem. Help make the thing that answers it.

  3. Share

    Put the work where anyone can find it, so the next person starts where you left off.

What you'll learn

Everyone's new at this.

Retraining teaches you a different job. Upskilling here is practice at the one thing every job now asks for: take on something new and make it work.

This cycle, that means AI coding agents, Git and GitHub, reading data, and framing a problem before you solve it. Next cycle it’s whatever the problem needs. The tools change. Getting good at picking them up is what you keep.

Happening now · Oct 24 – Dec 8, 2026

Build Cycle C04

About this cycle

For the first time, the problem is The Labs itself. Three Research Pods (Scaffolding, Wayfinding, Front Door) research a hard problem about The Labs with frame creation, then build working changes to how The Labs runs.23 people · 3 pods

Scaffolding

How much structure does a learner need, when, and from whom?

Now: Archaeology

Open research. Read the work.

Wayfinding

How does an adaptive, self-directed experience stay legible to the people in it, and to the people deciding whether to back it?

Now: Archaeology

Open research. Read the work.

Front Door

What does each of The Labs' stakeholders need OLOS to be, and how does one shared home stay reachable from many places?

Now: Archaeology

Open research. Read the work.

A pod is an open research group. Join Greater Washington to follow one and add to its research. “Archaeology” is the first stage: how the problem came to be.

Why join

What you leave with.

Tools you've used on real work.

You built with them and shipped. That beats a certificate.

Work with your name on it.

Public, and yours to point to.

People who saw you do it.

Neighbors and mentors who know what you can do, because they were there.

Free, and open to anyone

Pull up a chair.

  1. Make a free account.

    Sign in with Google on The Upskilling Labs. It takes a minute.

  2. Greater Washington is already chosen.

    Live somewhere else? Pick your city.

  3. Come to a session.

    Meet the pods and find your question.

Join Greater WashingtonAlready a member? Log in

Greater Washington is a region of The Upskilling Labs. The Learning Library, the other cities and the rest of The Labs are on the main site.