Learn more about our January 2025 Congressional Fellowships by listening to a recording of one of our info sessions.
We’re looking for up to 16 engineers, computer scientists, and other technologists to join us as fellows in January 2025.
We award $500 to someone who refers a veteran or transitioning service member, underrepresented person of color, woman, or nonbinary individual to the fellowship.
We are excited to highlight our June 2023 Fellows and their placements in Congress!
When the opportunity came around to apply to and join TechCongress, I knew that this was the opportunity. I want to dedicate my life to having a more direct impact on social change. From my experience in the Net Neutrality fight, I knew what it was like to change the minds of one company on one issue; what excites me about working in Congress is the ability to have more of a profound impact. My fellowship is just beginning, but I’m incredibly excited about the work I’ll do over the course of this year.
FedScoop announces the creation of the new House Digital Services (HDS) and mentions how TechCongress has contributed to its development:
The new service is tasked with building intuitive solutions that improve on member offices’ most significant challenges. It comes after nonprofit groups, like TechCongress and others, have for years looked to inject tech talent into Congress through digital service fellowships.
Since being placed, I’ve drafted bills, staffed hearings with Facebook, met with interest groups, and had countless other illuminating experiences about the legislative process that only working in the United States Senate can provide. It’s been very rewarding to combine my background in information privacy and emerging technology with the legal reasoning skills I developed from law school. There’s simply no other place quite like the halls of Congress, and no other place where I could apply my skillset in service of a goal as laudable as making sound policy decisions for the American people. This is just the beginning and I look forward to what the future holds.
As a Congressional Innovation Scholar, I have the opportunities to leverage my training and knowledge to help promote science-based regulation of AI and other technologies that can be used to disenfranchise and discriminate against minority groups, threaten democracy, and propagate disinformation. I am excited to grow and learn through the fellowship as I continue to support the pursuit of knowledge while also promoting a more equitable and better informed society.
During my short tenure on the Hill so far, I’ve become convinced that policy is only as good as its implementation, and that technology (along with good technologists who can build it) is one key to this implementation. Poor implementation means fewer people access the services they need and ultimately contributes to government distrust.
A few weeks ago, TechCongress’ founder, Travis Moore, spoke as a panelist with A BETTER TECH alongside representatives of the Ford Foundation and Schmidt Futures. The theme of the discussion was how philanthropy can be used to build an ecosystem for public interest technology.
Watch the full discussion below:
Over the 2022 Fellowship recruitment cycle, TechCongress will be hosting a series of informational calls about the 2022 Congressional Innovation Fellowship and Scholars Program!
If you’d like to listen to a prior call, you can listen below.
Many of the problems I had encountered, however, had reached the halls of Congress, and I understood the value that those experiences of mine would bring if I ever worked for Congress. Considering all of that, it’s hardly surprising that I joined TechCongress. I did not come here with some grand political ambition, nor do I have my path fully laid out, but I did make one important decision about my path: once again, I would not put my head down and ignore the problem.
