Press Office

Santa Clara, CA: March 26, 2016 — The Palisadoes Foundation, with the Jamaica Diaspora Technology Task Force, announce the initial application statistics for the 2016 Calico Challenge.

Applications closed on March 25 after a sustained campus education campaign by the UWI Computing Society and the UTech IEEE Student Branch student clubs. Activities included promotions on the Palisadoes Foundation’s Facebook and Twitter accounts,  email campaigns to the computer science student bodies at both universities, and weekly education sessions held as part of the student clubs days.

The interest in all three Calico Challenge projects was strong:

• Harvest API: 3 Students.
• Material-UI: 8 Students
• Infoset: 13 Students

Student applicants ranged from high schools to university. All undergraduate years of tertiary education were represented from UWI and UTech.

“The level of interest really exceeded our expectations from the beginning. The Calico launch in February attracted over 120 students which has resulted in us receiving 24 applications. Of that number, 5 were from women in technology,” remarked Peter Harrison, President of The Palisadoes Foundation. “We hope to see similarly strong numbers of applicants for the Google Summer of Code, for which Calico is a stepping stone. This is very encouraging.”

Over the next week students will work with their mentors to clarify the scope of their proposed summer projects and will submit their formal proposals on April 1, for review by the Acceptance Committee.

Details on each project can be found at: http://calico.palisadoes.org/

About the Calico Challenge

The Calico Challenge is a partnership between The Palisadoes Foundation and the Jamaica Diaspora Technology Task Force. It is a summer work study program for computer science students in Jamaica. Each selected student works on enhancing open source software used internationally under the guidance of a Diaspora mentor. Calico is also a feeder program for the similar Google Summer of Code.

About the Palisadoes Foundation

The Palisadoes Foundation aims to provide new avenues to promote Jamaica’s technology businesses and talent using a series of programs aimed at creating increased awareness of the island’s abilities in the global marketplace.

About the Jamaica Diaspora Technology Task Force

The Jamaica Diaspora Technology Task Force is a group of expatriate Jamaicans interested in assisting in the continued development of new and existing technologies in Jamaica. It is a member of the Jamaica Diaspora Movement.

The Palisadoes Foundation was featured in the Jamaica Observer today in an article titled “Jamaicans replicating Google’s Summer of Code“. You can download the PDF version here.

Here are some key observations from our student organizers in Jamaica.

“The programme has mentorships and workshops and it was right up UTech’s alley because at the time that was what we were working on. The expansion, however, has widened the horizon of what we can offer to students,” Chairman of UTech IEEE Student Branch, Jordan Jones.

“We were searching for a project that aligns with our vision and one that would make an impact on a cross section of students and not just members of the club”, Shane Richards, president of the UWI, Mona Computing Society, “we are eager to show others that a project like this can be successfully completed by students and it is not as difficult as it appears to be.”

About the Palisadoes Initiative

The Palisadoes initiative aims to provide new avenues to promote Jamaica’s technology businesses and talent using a series of programs aimed at creating increased awareness of the island’s abilities in the global marketplace.

Santa Clara, CA: The Palisadoes Foundation announces the initial software projects for Calico 2016.

Calico is an initiative to foster active software development among Jamaicans by sponsoring summer scholarship internships where students can contribute to a variety of open source software projects.

Detailed information on Calico’s entry requirements can be found on the Calico FAQ page at http://www.palisadoes.org/calico. Technical details of the approved projects can be found at
http://calico.palisadoes.org

The Palisadoes Foundation is proud of this accomplishment and encourages readers to both sponsor our students and encourage students to participate.

About the Palisadoes Foundation

The Palisadoes Foundation aims to provide new avenues to promote Jamaica’s technology businesses and talent using a series of programs aimed at creating increased awareness of the island’s abilities in the global marketplace.

Santa Clara, CA: The Palisadoes Foundation’s Project Calico was featured on the TVJ Smile Jamaica morning show.

During the show, Project Calico was outlined as the equivalent of a summer long student scholarship. The award is US$500.

1. During this time the students add desirable new features to approved software projects.
2. The software projects are approved by The Palisadoes Foundation and the UWI / UTech student computing societies.
3. All the projects are open source, meaning that they are free to use, download, and examine over the web. Software developers donate their time to these projects free of charge to enhance their skills, resumes and international credentials.
4. Students will have mentors from these projects to ensure they meet international standards.
5. Scholarship stipends would only be paid upon meeting mentor defined milestones.
6. Sponsors will have continued visibility into all student contributions, not just the ones they sponsor.
7. The features students add will be visible to the world for peers and potential employers to evaluate.

Project Calico is a feeder program into the international Google Summer of Code project. We encourage students to apply to both GSoC and Calico. Details can be found on the Calico page.

About the Palisadoes Foundation

The Palisadoes Foundation aims to provide new avenues to promote Jamaica’s technology businesses and talent using a series of programs aimed at creating increased awareness of the island’s abilities in the global marketplace.

Santa Clara, CA: The Palisadoes Foundation, is pleased to announces the JMMB Group as the first local Jamaican company to sponsor Project Calico.

“Joint sponsorship from local and overseas companies and individuals is a key component to the success of Project Calico. In addition to the nation building goals, it introduces sponsors to each other and creates closer ties between Jamaicans locally and abroad. I can think of at least two continuing conversations between local partners and sponsors in the US.” stated Peter Harrison, President of the Palisadoes Foundation. “This is a an important component of the industry’s development.”

Project Calico was launched on February 18, 2016 by The Palisadoes Foundation in association with the University of the West Indies Mona Computing Society and the University of Technology student branch of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is launching ‘Calico’, a program to offer Jamaican students a stipend to write software code for various international open source software projects during the summer holidays.

Calico is a program modeled on Google’s Summer of Code which offers post-secondary students around the world a chance to earn money by writing software code and learning about open source development, while being guided by a mentor. All Calico projects have a Jamaican connection. The total stipend for students participating in Calico is USD $500.

About the JMMB Group

The JMMB Group is one of the leading financial groups in the Caribbean, serving approximately 220,000 clients in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic combined. The JMMB Group provides a broad range of financial solutions including: investments; banking; remittances; and insurance brokering, to individual, corporate and institutional clients.

About the Palisadoes Foundation

The Palisadoes Foundation aims to provide new avenues to promote Jamaica’s technology businesses and talent using a series of programs aimed at creating increased awareness of the island’s abilities in the global marketplace.