To help Chester County nonprofits overcome the challenge of adopting to AI technology, Penn State’s  Nittany AI Alliance joined forces with United Way of Chester County and Innovation Titan to host an “AI for Impact” workshop.

“For us, just the general knowledge about how to use AI and what it can do is a challenge,” said Jessica Rigo, executive director of YMCA of Greater Brandywine. “We are so used to our own systems and processes, that something like AI, that is new and innovative, not a lot of us have exposure to it.”

The event brought together nine area nonprofits and social enterprises with industry leaders and Penn State staff, faculty and students to explore ways these important community organizations could use AI in their everyday work.

Rigo said the workshop helped to demystify AI and see the potential the technology has to assist her organization in its mission to strengthen Chester County.

The workshop is one of many ways that the Nittany AI Alliance, a Penn State Outreach initiative, brings together students, faculty, staff, and industry leaders with nonprofit and community organizations to address real-world problems through experiential learning projects using AI.

Those are the type of opportunities that Youakim Badr, a professor of data analytics and artificial engineering at Penn State Great Valley, said he looks to provide for his students.

He participated in the workshop with 12 students from Penn State Great Valley, where they worked with the nonprofit leaders to identify and develop potential AI projects that could benefit the organizations.

Dheeraj Gosangi, a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in Data Analytics, said working with the nonprofits provided him a venue to apply the skills he has gained in the classroom.

“Back in college we learn the theory part of it, but this is giving me a chance to put my skills to use and get some practical knowledge,” Gosangi said. “As students we are always looking for opportunities on how we can improve our world. This is a good opportunity to do that. I would like to put AI to use where I can possibly give back to society.”

Mark Mintzer, CEO and founder of Youth Mentoring Partnership, said working with the team of students has helped him identify opportunities where AI could help his program as it works to close the mentoring gap for youth in Chester County.

“It was eye-opening, really eye-opening, especially for a baby boomer. I think there are so many applications of AI that are right at our fingertips, that could already enhance what we are doing presently with relative ease,” Mintzer said.

Moving forward, both Rigo and Mintzer said they plan for their organizations to continue working with the students to further develop the AI solutions that they identified during the workshop.

Read more about the innovative workshop with ‘Nittany AI Alliance’ on Penn State Great Valley’s website.

Penn State Nittany AI Alliance