Equitable Tech Policy Initiative
Key Issues
At this moment in our country, we believe technology is central to the fight for racial justice. And, we believe that policy change is critical to transforming systems and structures preventing the full participation and protection of communities of color across the technology ecosystem.
We have developed a framework for systemic change that outlines a set of nine core technology policy areas that call for expanded access to technology pathways, increased tech accountability and worker protections, and greater investment in infrastructure and innovation.
Addressing the Issue
Through our investments in research, programs, and partner organizations, we aim to:
(A) build awareness about the need for equitable technology policy and specifically, awareness about our nine technology policy priorities
(B) build infrastructure and capacity for non-profit organizations, higher education institutions, researchers, and individuals to understand trends, develop solutions, and take action to advance equitable tech policy
(C) drive collective advocacy leading to policy change across federal, state, and local levels and within the private sector.
Tech at the Center in the Fight for Racial Justice
Hear from Dr. Allison Scott, Ph.D., CEO of the Kapor Foundation, Lili Gangas, Chief Technology Community Officer at the Kapor Center as well as some of our grant partners at Consumer Reports (Leah Fischman and Amira Dhalla) and The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University (Maria Madison, Ph.D., Alexandra Piñeros-Shields, Ph.D., and Janelle Ridley). We’ll be sharing additional partners in the future.
Organizations the Foundation is Supporting
Through our investments in research, programs, and partners, we aim to build knowledge and awareness about these nine technology policy priorities, build capacity to develop solutions, and take action, with the ultimate goal of catalyzing collective advocacy towards policy change. We have jump-started these efforts this past year by awarding over $5.3M in grants to the following organizations:
Fight For Our Future: How The Fate of Our Democracy Impacts Tech Policy
We hosted a national voter engagement virtual forum that brought together our civic engagement partners to raise awareness on how tech platforms are impacting their voter engagement work and overall impact on democracy due to mis/disinformation.
Panelists:
Derrick Johnson, NAACP
Maria Teresa Kumar, Voto Latino
Rev. Barbara Skinner, Faiths United to Save Democracy
Damon Hewitt, Lawyer’s Committee For Civil Rights
DeJuana Thompson, Woke Vote