AWS Public Sector Blog

Category: Nonprofit

AWS Africa (Cape Town) Region

AWS expands to South Africa, deepening roots in public sector

In April, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched the AWS Africa (Cape Town) Region. AWS has a long history in South Africa and numerous public sector organizations in the region are already spearheading technological innovations in the cloud. From healthcare to education, these four public sector organizations are leading innovation in the public sector in the Region.

AWS Cloud Champion

Announcing AWS Cloud Champion: An online, gamified tutorial on working, teaching, and engaging remotely

AWS announced the launch of a preview version of an online gamified tutorial, “AWS Cloud Champion: Virtual Workplace Interactive Challenge,” that highlights cloud capabilities available for online meetings, cloud-based contact centers, and virtual desktops. The tutorial is presented as a 3D, virtual tradeshow experience, which includes kiosks and an AWS avatar that guides you through a self-directed path, explaining applicable AWS services in a concise and engaging format.

AWS Public Sector Summit Online Activities

Choose your journey for the AWS Public Sector Summit Online

On June 30, 2020, you are invited to attend the AWS Public Sector Summit Online. We’ve curated content for this event so that you can learn the tools, have access to resources, and interact with AWS experts, tailored to the stage you and your organization are at in building on AWS — all from the comfort of your home. From our 30-minute breakout sessions to the keynote to our distinguished zones, there is content for everyone. Learn how to build your plan for the AWS Public Sector Summit Online, no matter where you are in your cloud journey.

Food bank food insecurity

Mission: Addressing food insecurity

The topic of food insecurity is personal for so many of us. Both of my parents were school teachers in Pulaski County, Kentucky, a county that has a 21.3 percent food insecurity rate for children—the same rate of childhood hunger as where I live now in Washington, DC. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), more than 11 million children across the country struggle with hunger and live in food insecure households. Here are ways that AWS technology is helping address this challenging issue.

Photo by person on computer looking COVID-19; Patrick Assalé on Unsplash

Updates and early lessons from our COVID-19 HPC Consortium research partners

The concept of a COVID-19 High Performance Computing (HPC) Consortium emerged from a roundtable discussion at the White House in March and included input from industry, government, and academic leaders. Following the announcement of the consortium, AWS has been collaborating with teams on a growing number of projects to provide cloud computing resources from AWS. I want to share three early learnings and insights into some of the innovative projects on which we are collaborating with the world’s leading researchers.

Automating Amazon WorkSpaces

Automating deployment of Amazon WorkSpaces from an Active Directory group

With the increase in remote work and education, government, education, and nonprofit organizations, are adopting virtual desktop solutions like Amazon WorkSpaces. Large scale deployments of virtual desktop solutions can decrease administrative burden and save time. In this post, you can learn how to deploy Amazon WorkSpaces with less engineering effort by leveraging a PowerShell script.

Open Government Solutions

Open source in the fight against COVID-19

As we continue to work with public sector bodies around the world, AWS understands how valuable open source software and development communities are at this time. To accelerate the combined global response to COVID-19, we gathered examples of third-party open code, tools, and standards that reformers in the public sector can immediately use. We’ve included these in a new resource now available in Open Government Solutions.

AWS Public Sector Summit Online(

Developers’ guide to the AWS Public Sector Summit Online 2020

The annual AWS Public Sector Summit is now an online experience. At the virtual event, developers can build their own agenda, choosing between two session tracks as well as multiple virtual booths, zones, and activities. If you’re a developer who has registered or are thinking about registering, here’s what you need to know.

Streetlives

Creating more customer-centric social service experiences with the power of the cloud

Streetlives, a nonprofit organization based in New York City, uses technology to host a community-built web app for people who are homeless, communities considered vulnerable, and social service providers in New York City (NYC). Streetlives is a community-built mobile website that enables people who are homeless or in poverty to easily find, rate, and recommend social services across New York City. Adam Bard, Founder of Streetlives, explains how AWS Promotional Credits helps the organization deliver up-to-date, validated social service information to the communities of New York City.