DevFest Providence 2026 · Build for Good: AI Lab for Housing
A free, hands-on build day where affordable-housing professionals, nonprofit leaders, and civic organizers prototype pilot tools with agentic AI (Gemini, Antigravity, Claude Code). Co-hosted by GDG Providence, Ascend Impact Advisors, and Rhode Island's AI Hub.
Overview
Upcoming: Friday, October 16, 2026, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM ET. Gaige Hall, Rhode Island College, 600 Mount Pleasant Avenue, Providence.
DevFest Providence 2026 is a build day for people who work on affordable housing and have a real problem worth solving. Housing-sector staff, nonprofit leaders, and civic organizers bring the problem; developers and designers are welcome to join them. No coding experience is required.
How the day works
- Morning: a short AI 101, then a panel of local housing experts on the problems that most need solving. HousingWorks RI is a featured speaker.
- Afternoon: small teams of three or fewer build a pilot at their own tables with tools like Gemini, Antigravity, and Claude Code. Organizers and experienced builders circulate to help, so nobody sits stuck and nobody builds it for you.
- Close: teams share what they built, and the panel scores each pilot against a rubric shared up front.
Code built at the event is released under the MIT license.
After the event
Teams can continue with monthly GDG Providence check-ins through January, and have a path to pitch at a statewide summit hosted by Rhode Island's AI Hub in February 2027.
Details
- Register: DevFest Providence 2026 on the GDG event page. The event is free and in person, with limited seats; registered attendees also complete a short form linked from the event page.
- Livestream: youtube.com/live/7pR21Y1ONs8
- Co-hosts: GDG Providence, Ascend Impact Advisors, and Rhode Island's AI Hub, with Rhode Island College's Institute for Cybersecurity & Emerging Technologies as venue partner.
- Organizers: Stephen Szermer and Daniel Flügger, GDG Providence.