About Us
We place computer scientists, engineers, and other technologists to serve as technology policy advisors to Members of Congress through our Senior Congressional Innovation Fellowship (our mid-career pipeline), the Congressional Innovation Fellowship (our early-career pipeline), and the Congressional Digital Service Fellowship. We bridge the divide of knowledge and experience between DC and Silicon Valley for better outcomes for both.
We do so with two core values:
We believe diversity, equity, and inclusion should be central to all of our work.
We believe that ideological diversity should be central to all of our work.
We are proud to be among the few truly non-partisan organizations remaining in Washington, and work with Republicans, Democrats, Independents and everyone in between.
Fellows have served with the most influential offices in Congress including Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and many, many others.
We are a startup non-profit. We've got great staff and advisors doing all we can to bridge the gap between government and the technology community. We do not take positions on issues. We work hard in an intentional and productive manner, and have fun while we do it. We are building a new generation of technology leaders, and support our staff and fellows with professional development, networking, and freedom to tinker and test new ideas. Above all, we are vigilantly focused on adding value—to our people, our institutions and our society.
We operate three fellowship programs.
The Senior Congressional Innovation Fellowship, which places mid-career technologists on Capitol Hill for twelve months.
The Congressional Innovation Fellowship, which places early career technologists, including graduates of technical degree programs, on Capitol Hill for ten months.
The Congressional Digital Service Fellowship, a one-time program to help Congress manage the digital challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since 2016 we've sent over 95 fellows to Congress who have done groundbreaking work including changing defense procurement rules to allow startups to better compete for contracts and support our servicemembers, helping draft the House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee report on tech monopolies, issuing House Modernization Committee’s recommendations to make Congress more effective, efficient and transparent, and passing the OPEN Government Data Act into law.
TechCongress launched in late 2015 with the support of the Open Technology Institute (OTI) at New America, and with seed funding from Reid Hoffman’s charitable giving and a Ford Foundation-led initiative, the NetGain Partnership.
We incubated as a program within New America until fall 2021, when TechCongress graduated into a stand-alone 501(c)(3). We are tremendously grateful for the generous counsel and mentorship from New America leadership that enabled our growth and success, in particular from CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter, Senior Advisor Cecilia Muñoz, OTI Director Sarah Morris, OTI Chief of Staff Chhaya Kapadia, and former OTI Director Kevin Bankston.