To continue celebrating you and your unparalleled ability to bring people together, we are renaming our Community Builder award in your memory: the Courtney Brousseau Community Builder award.

Dear Courtney,

The Coding it Forward community misses you dearly.

Even before you joined us as a Civic Digital Fellow in 2019, our team was thrilled to see your leadership in the civic technology space. Starting a Code for America brigade is no easy feat, and you managed to do so while being a full-time college student. Your work in starting Code for Berkeley (go Bears!) was just one testament to your commitment to your communities—on campus and beyond.

When you applied to the Civic Digital Fellowship, our team had no doubt that you’d be the perfect fit. In addition to your technical skills, you exuded a passion for serving others—always going the extra mile to dive into policy issues, viewing technical solutions through a critical lens, and unfailingly putting people first.

In addition to your numerous contributions to civic tech, you were also an incredible person that acted with empathy and love towards everyone. Day by day, baked good by baked good, you fostered a warm and inclusive community (and taught us that food is always a conversation starter).

In organizing our inaugural Bake Off (which, to no one’s surprise, you won) and our Fellowship Firesides, you allowed us to share family recipes, present on subjects that are near and dear, and most importantly, helped us be authentically ourselves. Our community will never be the same without you.

To continue celebrating you and your unparalleled ability to bring people together, we are renaming our Community Builder award in your memory: the Courtney Brousseau Community Builder award. With your spirit in mind, we will continue to celebrate the people that bring joy and heart to our community. It’s a small gesture, but we hope that it will allow future Fellows to learn about you and the impact you had on so many.

Our Fellowship, and the world, is a better place for having had you in it. We miss you and love you.

With love,
Coding it Forward and the Civic Digital Fellowship Community