The Washington Post writes about TechCongress' founding and mission.
Travis Moore thinks Congress has a tech talent problem.
Moore spent six years on Capitol Hill as a legislative and operations director in the office of former Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). In that time, he encountered just a handful of staffers with backgrounds in computer science and engineering. It’s not an educational pedigree that naturally leads one to politics, of course, but Moore believes it’s a knowledge base that Congress sorely needs as technology plays a more prominent role in policy discussions.
That premise led Moore to Silicon Valley, where he is developing Tech Congress. The fellowship program aims to provide lawmakers with a pipeline of skilled technologists who can lend their expertise to the policy-making process. Moore raised nearly $8,000 on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo to develop the program through the summer and, if the pieces fall into place, the first Tech Congress fellows could arrive in Washington next January.